How to: Ditch 90s decor

We buy new clothes to keep up with the trends and a new car at least once a decade. Why should decor be stuck on repeat circa-1995? While some maxims are always good (like: buy what you love), some of them need to be traded in for a new model. Here's how to lose the 90s once and for all and embrace the new decade.

90s: All-white square dishes, super modern flatware
Now: Mix it up with colour and pattern. Use those white dishes as chargers for colourful, inexpensive Chinese bowls. Silver is meant to be loved, so stop closeting the fancy heirloom silver and set it on the dinner table alongside your favourite pieces of modern flatware.

90s: Paint the house with off-white trim and contrasting walls
Now: Benjamin Moore's Cloud White CC-40 has long been a ubiquitous colour choice for trim (just check out Style at Home magazine's Where to Find It guide). Why not paint the walls and trim the same colour? Samantha Pynn, host of Pure Design and Style at Home contributing design editor, employed this look with Benjamin Moore's Celadon Green 2028-60, flat paint for the walls and semigloss for the trim at my home to fabulously modern effect.

90s: White MDF kitchen island cabinetry
Now: Exotic wood grains like zebrano or black walnut for a kitchen island, says Crispin Butterfield, interior designer, Urban Theory Interior Design in Brandon, Manitoba. "Bonus points for mixing white or cream perimeter cabinets with rich and deep woods for your island," she says.