Timeless vs. Trendy Design | Inside Kingdom & Co. Podcast

Hosted by Lincoln Rogers and Zion Lovingier from Inside Kingdom & Co., this episode explores timeless vs trendy design—a fundamental question when planning your home renovation or custom build. Whether you’re choosing durable interior design elements or investing in custom millwork, understanding the balance between lasting style and current trends is essential to creating a home you’ll love for decades.

Zion: All right, Lincoln, let’s talk about design when it comes to timeless design versus trendy design.

It’s kind of a subjective topic, depends on who you are.

But I would also say the quicker a trend pops up, I would say generally the quicker it dies.

Lincoln: That’s actually a really good observation.

You’re probably right on that.

Zion: It’s a good tell that, wow, I’m seeing this everywhere now.

That’s generally, you know, be prepared for that to fall out quick,

Lincoln: Quick.

That’s so funny.

Zion: Something that just has more sticking power.

Like I would say something that’s timeless is thoughtful and well-executed millwork.

Lincoln: Yes.

Zion: It’s always been, it’s always a tell and it’s always a demonstration of quality.

And particularly when it comes to attractive and quality hardwoods, you know, like walnuts and white oaks and oak in general, maples, you know, what, you know, those types of things, if they’re well-executed.

Yeah, the tones are gonna change, but that’s always something that you can come back years later and refinish.

That’s an example of a timeless design.

Lincoln: I mean, like, for example, like the wood floors, you know, it’s funny.

I was watching masterclass with my daughters on Joanne Gaines.

She was a really good storyteller.

And what’s interesting about her is things that are timeless would be example of, she would buy these houses that were built in like the 1800s and they would uncover the flooring.

And at first it would be like carpet and then it’d be this nasty vinyl stuff.

And then underneath that was this beautiful, rich wood floor.

She wanted to tear all that out and bring it back.

That to me is timeless.

Wood floors, timeless.

Like, and you can put wood floors in modern homes.

You can put wood floors in traditional homes.

It doesn’t matter.

Wood floors are timeless.

They’re beautiful.

You can sand them down.

You can stain them.

It’s also boring sometimes just to be timeless.

I’ve noticed that a lot of designers will do, they’ll do a touch of timeless, a touch of boldness.

Like a lot of times they’ll take the powder room and go crazy with it and do something very, very bold because it’s not super expensive.

Zion: And it’s a small space.

Lincoln: It’s a small space.

Zion: It’s easy to update later down the road.

But yeah, you can, there’s a nice start and stop point and it’s contained within that area.

Lincoln: And some people, again, it goes back to your story.

If you want something bold, crazy, trendy, good for you.

You know, you live this life once, do it.

Zion: Yeah, life is not that long.

Lincoln: If you want green cabinets, go ahead.

If you want Louis Vuitton wallpaper, go for it.

If you can afford it, great, and go for it.

You really like it and love it.

But I like the idea that, you know, I was thinking investment, you know, we’re guys.

I like the idea of, you know, sometimes a lot of our designers will focus on, hey, let’s do a mix of both.

We can intertwine, you know, timeless with a lot of excitement and boldness.

And so at the end of the day, it’s funny because I used to be so opinionated on this and I don’t think it matters anymore.

Like it honestly do what you want to do.

Enjoy your home.

Zion: I think it’s interesting how you tied timelessness also to stories.

And I think the products that generally require more effort, more resources, more time, generally those absorb, something that’s handmade, for example, or something that’s custom made.

If there’s a story behind that, or something that ends up living and breathing within the space and what’s actually occurring, the life that’s lived in that space, those stories that it takes on, that is gonna facilitate more of a timelessness to it.

Lincoln: One of our clients, we had him over for dinner the other night and they’re talking about Jeff, my brother-in-law, who’s one of our carpenters.

He’s one of our top carpenters.

And they’re like, what Jeff did to our door.

I think it was a hidden door.

I can’t remember what it was exactly.

But they’re like, just to see how he made that in his craftsmanship.

And they were like, they were just blown away.

And they’re like, your brother-in-law is incredible.

I could tell that connected with them.

It was so powerful.

And so that is going to be something that is timeless because it wasn’t something trendy.

They saw the effort that went into it and it wasn’t just something bright and colorful, exciting.

It was-

Zion: It doesn’t come off a conveyor belt.

Think about something that’s unique.

It usually becomes timeless because it’s a one-off.

There’s nothing else like it.

Lincoln: It’s custom.

Zion: It’s custom.

Lincoln: At the end of the day, my advice to anybody listening to this or just who we are as a company is we can do either or.

It doesn’t matter to us.

We like doing, I mean, I just walked in with Erin the other day, I saw her on her computer and she’s doing bright colors on this client.

This client wants excitement, right?

And I love it.

And I’m like, dang, Erin, what are you, what are you guys designing over there?

And she’s like, my client just wants to go for it on this one.

And we’re talking like bright colors here, this type of wallpaper.

I mean, it’s gonna be something that’s really extraordinary.

It’s gonna be fun to see.

And that won’t be considered timeless, but it’s awesome and it’s fun and it’s great.

And so I love that we have a diverse of all clients that can do either or and we have a design team that can do either or.

So it doesn’t matter to us.