While cutting-edge, luxury home design may seem quite irrelevant to the average homeowner, keeping up with the latest trends is actually a valuable tool in maintaining or increasing the value of one’s current home regardless of the price range.

Just as those crazy, exaggerated fashion runway trends trickle down to the everyday consumer in a more subdued manner, so too do home trends set the standard for what will eventually become mainstream. Understanding these trends can help guide homeowners when it comes to basic repairs and renovations – keeping their home up-to-date, relevant and ultimately salable. And, if keeping your home for a lifetime is the plan, knowing the most up-to-date design and building trends can help increase the quality of everyday living by providing smart and often simple solutions to practical problems.

Boston real estate power duo Tom Matthews and Joanne Taranto share some of what they see happening in the world of home design and building on TomandJoanneteam.com and the range of ideas is rather impressive. From simple color schemes to high-tech advances, the following trends are sure to spark the imagination and offer-up some practical home design solutions.

Color Palettes:
We still have a few months to wait for Colors of the Year from the folks at Pantone and Sherwin Williams, but 2015 showed the continuation of a long trend of vibrant color. Sherwin Williams unveiled a stunning coral and Pantone named Marsala – a deep, rich coral brown as their choice of the year. If you’re willing to lay out $750 for Pantone’s color planner for 2016, you can get a preview of what’s to come, but for the rest of us we will have to sit and wait.

Practical Solutions:
“Specialized storage” is an interior design trend to look for in the coming years. Losing ground are stuffed attics, basements and closets in favor of storage space that is built-in and in closer proximity to the actual living space where items can be more easily accessed. Mudroom bins for pet food and supplies are particularly hot and underseat storage may soon be standard fare.

High-tech Trends:
Smarthomes are dramatically increasing in popularity as the technology becomes more accessible. Features such as keyless entry, remote security, lighting on demand and temperature control are all finding their way into the average home by way of smartphone apps. Even technophobes are coming to understand the ways in which many of these trends can save time and money and increase quality of life. And, since wireless technology makes for easy retrofitting, many of these features are more affordable than ever before.

3D printing is perhaps the most new and enigmatic building trend out there, but it actually has very practical applications. It is best explained by imagining your home computer printer on a massive scale. And, instead of releasing ink onto paper, 3D printers release materials such as plastic or molten metals into whatever shape they were programmed to create. This process will enable builders to fabricate durable building materials on site with more precision, less waste and eventually at a lower cost.

The one trend for all homeowners to look out for, is solar conversion. On the fast track in development are solar shingles and solar glass windows – features that experts say will eventually become standard offerings. By converting solar energy into usable power in the home, these innovations have wide appeal not only to environmentally conscious homeowners, but to folks looking to save money in energy costs and see a higher return on their investments.

So, the next time you come across an article illustrating cutting-edge, luxury trends that appear to have no bearing on decisions you make for your home – take the time to check them out. As far-fetched or complicated as some may seem, most are grounded in practical solutions for better, more simple living.

Credit: Diana Cammarota