6 Outdated Seating Trends, According to Designers

What's a fashionable-yet-functional way to upgrade a stale space? Make an effort to review the seating in your rooms — the color palettes you're using in your bedroom, the upholstery in the living room, the style of your dining room chairs. Catching up on the latest seating trends could easily transform your rooms without you having to worry about flipping the entire space.

To help you get started, we asked designers about outdated seating trends that you should know about.

A single color threaded throughout a space may be a convenient way to decorate or unify room, but it is a trend you should retire.

"While it's true that matching chairs with a sofa can make a space look pulled together, it's also true that this trend is starting to go out of style," Karen Gutierrez, interior designer at Mackenzie Collier Interiors, tells Hunker. "These days, people opt for mix-and-match seating arrangements instead, which creates a sense of effort to add a more authentic touch and personality to the whole design."

The current trend is to inch toward a modern look. In the past, nailhead trim was popular, but now it looks dated. According to Gutierrez, "It is a super strong representation of traditional furniture that tends to be old-fashioned these days. People are now focusing on a more clean and sleek design."

When people get together, they want to talk to each other and have conversations. That's why the television shouldn't be at the center of your seating.

"An outdated trend is positioning the seating so the TV is the focal point of the room. I'm seeing more and more clients moving away from this setup in favor of creating a space for more connection," Angela Higgins, a home designer and owner of Nourished Home, tells Hunker. "Arranging the sofas and chairs to face each other allows for easier eye contact and more connected conversations. This arrangement makes the television or other entertainment areas the secondary focus rather than the star."

Floral prints were a staple twenty or thirty years ago, but now that trend is filed under "been there, done that." "Perhaps it's the fact that this style has been popular for centuries, and we've all seen too many floral-print sofas and chairs to count," says Gutierrez. "It can also drive too much attention, preventing other pieces from standing out."

"Gone are the days when the dining room seating was just for formal dining," Maida Cameron, the director of design for Milliken Textiles, tells Hunker. "Now, that seating needs to be comfortable and functional enough for a full day of video calls and online learning." Since many are currently using their spaces for multiple purposes, seating should reflect that by being multifunctional and less formal.

Once upon time, people did utilize chair and sofa covers, but this is an outdated practice. "Times have changed, and now those days are behind us," Gutierrez explains. "Same as nail heads — these are orientated with a traditional style, no [longer] appreciated for making the seating feel sturdy and dense."