Early 2000s Home Décor Trends That Haven’t Aged Well

Y2K—two letters and a number that, in many respects, feel just like yesterday. We may still be watching as much Friends and listening to as much Dave Matthews Band as we did back then, but consider this: 2000 is as far away from us today as 1978 was from 2000, and no one would mistake those years for each other. The place where we really see this passage of time is in our homes. Styles move fast, and our once-au courant surroundings have started to show their age. We’ve selected a few early 2000s home décor trends that haven’t aged well—certainly not as well as those timeless reruns of Friends.

The Open Kitchen: A Little Too Open

Home and Garden Television, or HGTV, rose to prominence at the turn of the millennium, inspiring homeowners across America to invest in their houses and increase their resale value. One of the most common ways for HGTV’s design mavens to do this was with an open-concept kitchen. Simply separate the walls that partitioned the kitchen away from the rest of the ground floor and watch that appraisal skyrocket!

We’ve since seen the error of our ways. Open-concept kitchens eliminate the distinction between a workspace and an entertaining space. Add too much reverberation and a lack of privacy while cooking, and we can see why the open kitchen has fallen out of favor.

Tuscan Villa Décor: Go Ahead and Stop Believing

The Sopranos was the defining television program of the aughts, one whose popularity has only increased since its first run. More and more observers have deemed it the greatest TV show of all time. But The Sopranos wasn’t just a masterpiece—it was a period piece, perfectly capturing the suburban opulence of the decade. North Jersey McMansion style was something many families everywhere aspired to achieve. This meant a rise in Tuscan-inspired interior design, which designers usually achieved with faux-stucco wall treatments. This dappled beige and Italian tile seemed to represent countryside chic at the time, but the overload of brownish tones and the good intentions of faux texturing are something most of us have since moved on from.

Massive Consoles: Are You Not Entertained?

If there’s one early 2000s home décor trend that hasn’t aged well, it’s the massive, imposing entertainment center. As DVDs rose to prominence and television entered its second golden age, we did our best to create home theaters and get serious about watching TV. This meant we needed a place to put a bigger and better TV, as well as additional shelf space to accommodate all that physical media. Now that TVs have outgrown their furniture and streaming reigns supreme, these massive inlaid units look seriously outmoded. Minimalist consoles are the way to go for now—the only thing you need shelf space for is your router.