19 "Hate To See It" Home Design Trends Making A Comeback With Gen Z

Can we please agree to leave inflatable sofas in the past?

1. Inflatable furniture

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The furniture that every '90s girl wanted to get their hands on; inflatable furniture was for cool kids only. It probably caused a lot of back pain and sweaty skin, but oh damn it looked cool. And since everything '90s is coming back in, there's a good chance Gen Z will soon discover inflatable chairs. 

2. Open kitchen shelving

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In theory, kitchens with open shelves are pretty cool. But if you're the kind of person who loves shoving mess into a cabinet, closing the door, and forgetting about it, these will never work. 

3. Hanging ball chairs

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To really relax into a hanging chair, you have to put a lot of faith into the strength of your ceiling. Surely they can't be as comfortable as a regular ol' chair?

4. Carpeted bathrooms

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OK, carpeted bathrooms may look cool in photos — but in a very impractical and unliveable sort of way. Surely after a few baths that room would smell like a wet dog, right? 

5. All-white interiors

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Definitely not a trend for red wine drinkers, an all-white decor scheme is certainly a striking choice. It does look amazing, but personally I'm too much of a grub for it to work.

6. Bean bag chairs

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Bean bag chairs are comfortable for a good five minutes until you start getting lower back pain. And there's nothing worse than trying to gracefully get out of a bean bag. 

7. Chalkboard walls

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A Pinterest fave from last decade, chalkboards were painted in kitchens across the globe. I guess it's more handy than trying to remember where you left a pen and pad? 

8. Beaded curtains

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While these have been around for decades, we really loved bright pink and blue plastic beaded curtains in the '90s. Usually with butterfly beads, of course. 

9. Color-coded bookshelves

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This trend never really left, but there was a time when you couldn't go on Tumblr or Pinterest without being bombarded with photos of color-coordinated bookshelves. It certainly seems like a lot of work...

10. Wooden kitchen signs

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Whether it was DIY-ed or bought at the dollar store, wooden kitchen signs had a real stronghold over decorators in the late '00s and '10s. They're not quite "live, laugh, love" level, but they have a certain dark element we shouldn't ignore. 

11. Wooden pallets

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Remember when DIYers went a bit reclaimed materials crazy and started making furniture out of wooden pallets? Sure, it's good for the planet, and maybe good for an outdoor table...but it's a bit out of place in the living room. 

12. Edison bulbs

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Naked hanging lightbulbs were super trendy for a good five years, especially in rooms with exposed brick. It was a real ~intellectual~ aesthetic. 

13. Circle bed

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These look super cool in an Architecture Digest spread. But practically speaking, how does a circular bed work? And where would you buy your sheets?

15. Mirrored ceiling

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Sorry but the only two reasons I can think of for mirrored ceilings are a) elevators and b) sex things. 

16. Conversation pits

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Conversation pits, or sunken living rooms, just scream '60s house party. While they're not a feature of modern homes these days, I can definitely see them making a comeback, especially as living rooms move away from being centered around the TV. 

17. Water beds

Who remembers filling up the waterbed in the 70s and 80s? from nostalgia

I've never laid on a water bed so I can't really vouch or discredit them, but there's something about these that just creep me out. They were super popular in the '80s — there are some modern versions — but they're few and far between.

18. Gallery walls

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Forget one statement art piece hanging in your living room. Gallery walls were all about shoving as many frames and decor pieces as possible onto one wall, the more mismatched the better. 

19. Fairy lights galore

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Fairy lights really had their moment in the '00s. They were wound around bed frames, draped across ceilings, arranged on sideboards, and stuffed into mason jars. Nowadays, Gen Z has colored light strips, but surely fairy lights will have a renaissance.