Trending now in a home near you

It can be hard to keep up with the latest trends. Colours change and our love for fabrics can be fickle while architectural concepts differ from year to year.

Kieran McCarthy, owner of KMC Homes, which project manages builds from start to finish, tells us about the current trends in building new homes and designing them.

Window colour

Though people have for many years favoured the dark grey as seen numerous times on RTÉ programme ‘Room To Improve’, customers are now beginning to look at alternatives. Light grey and even pale grey and green tones are fast becoming popular.

Heating

With the renewed focus on sustainable energy of late, people are opting away from fossil fuels. It has to be said that the wood pellet boilers haven’t really taken off but air to water heating systems are a real winner in terms of efficiency and energy rating, and are becoming very popular with new builds.

Triple glazing

As the cost of triple glazing window systems is coming down, many people are opting for this option in new builds or indeed retrofits. The benefits are reduced noise levels externally as well as increased thermal efficiency internally.

Laminate flooring

There was a time when the default timber flooring for a house was engineered. Now however, most people in fact opt for high quality laminate flooring where the quality in many cases exceeds engineered flooring with greater durability and more competitive pricing.

Timber flooring in a kitchen

With the advent of the improved durability of laminate flooring, customers are now opting in many cases to place laminate flooring in their entire living space including their kitchen. Many laminates are now splash proof so they can deal with the rough and tumble of life as a kitchen floor.

Simple colours

The aubergines shades have faded into the past. We find most people are again opting for off whites, generally creating a bright, airy pallette that can be further enhanced by carpets, furniture and artwork.

quality laminate kitchen worktops

Again, the developments in laminate technology has brought with it an amazing array of high quality kitchen laminate worktops. There is a myriad of styles, colours and textures available offering tremendous value and durability.

Paving

There has traditionally existed a two tier market when it comes to patio paving - concrete or natural stone, with a huge difference in price from one to the other. However, neatly in the middle, there is a growing array of reconstituted stone paving products which are simpler to lay and offer a fine aesthetic at a reasonable cost.

Stonework

Further improvements in stonework cladding has meant that we have moved beyond the ‘stick on stone’ products of recent times into a more authentic array of quarried stone cladding which is in effect the same end product as a natural stone wall, but which can be adhered to a block wall directly which saves on stone, labour and foundations.

Joinery

There have been various trends in terms of what hardwood is flavour of the month or indeed year, but is has to be said the only hardwood that seems to standing the test of time is the humble oak. The trick in using hardwood or indeed any such feature is consistency but balance. Too little and it has no real meaning, too much and it becomes imposing.