Which Utah homes styles will remain classic, and which are passing trends?

Which home is trendy, which is classic?*

Filed Under Utah Homes, Utah McMansions, architecture |

For some reason, I find it fascinating to look at past Utah home design trends, and to think about where it might go in the future. I’m always asking myself what classic really means, or if it even exists in home design.

I recently got into a conversation about stone siding for homes, and how it has changed over the years. You had the huge orange colored stone slabs that people used to use for their fireplaces and sometimes on their home’s exterior. We’ve also seen near white, round river rocks used for home exteriors, then those gave way to a more jagged, cut look. Then we started to see the colors darken and the stone became uneven and flat, to create an uneven brick look. Where will they go from here?

What about colors? We’ve gone through white-wash phases, creme colored phases, brown phases, and now we seem to be into the trend of darker is better. Some people say it is richer and more elegant. When will that change? I wonder if we’ll ever do it like they do in southern Mexico and other warm regions where there are pink homes, blue homes, etc.

We’ve used brick, stucco, stone, wood, glass, and anything else you can imagine. Columns, beams, arches - they’ve all been in style at some point. It still intrigues me to wonder which one will prove to be the most timeless.

Sometimes I think that all you have to do is look at some of the estates in Europe that still serve as design inspirations, and say that those are the definitions of classic. But I’m still not sure. That’s still new design, relatively speaking. Maybe the Romans had classic down. Our nations founders seem to have thought so. Did they believe that the design would be timeless, and that’s why they chose it for our nation’s most important structures?

I don’t know about all this, but it’s fun for me to think about it and form my conclusions. I have my opinions about what some home builders are doing right now, style-wise, and I’m not too happy about most of it. They will do what brings in the cash, but I think some builders are now building the eyesores of my children’s generation.

If only we could all hire our own personal architect. Now there’s a question - if we all had an architect, and they would do whatever we told them, would home designs turn out the same or different than what the builders are doing now? Do builders shape our opinions about what is classy or stylish?

I could go on…

*My service doesn’t stop here! In addition to maintaining The Salt Lake City Utah Real Estate Blog, I also help people buy and sell homes in Utah. When you need help with either of these, contact me!

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