Velvet Couches, Disco Balls, & 12 Other Home Decor Trends That Defined The Year

If nothing else, the past few years should have taught you the importance of making your house or apartment feel like a home. It should be a place you wouldn’t mind, say, spending all of your time if certain circumstances required. In a world where many individuals continue to work from home, creating a space that speaks to their preferences and matches their lifestyle is an absolute must.

Despite all of the things that make individuals' tastes different from one another, there are always several home decor items that take on a life of their own. Certain aesthetics like coastal grandmother can trend because of TikTok and specific pieces like velvet couches can become hot-ticket items thanks to celebrities showing off their own. Chances are, you’ve seen plenty of the following home trends on your FYPs, Pinterest mood boards, and Instagram Discover pages throughout the year.

If you’re looking for decor inspiration to help you refresh your home ahead of the new year or simply want to take a trip down memory lane to see which couches, rugs, and accent pieces took over this year, read on. These are the most popular home trends of 2022, in no particular order.

1. Velvet Couches

Velvet couches had a moment this year, and it could be in part because of how much the internet loves maximalist decor. The unapologetically bold aesthetic combines textures and shapes to create a chaotically cohesive look in a room. A couch, which is often the centerpiece in a living room, doesn't have to be bland and boring. Instead, a textured velvet couch in an unexpected color can be the main character. On TikTok, pink and green velvet couches especially made their rounds, as celebrities like Emily Ratajkowski, Shay Mitchell, and Solange Knowles showed off theirs.

2. Personalized Blankets

You’ve likely seen at least one of your favorite influencers with a Bauble Bar personalized blanket laying around their space. The brand offers several blanket designs like smiley faces, monograms, and rainbow colorways that can be ordered with the letters you choose. Decide on a color that matches your other decor, and you have a throw blanket that adds a touch of personality and hygge.

3. Tufted Rugs

Tufted rugs were another home decor darling in 2022. On TikTok, videos of artists creating intricate rugs took off — like the one above with over 3 million likes. User @french.rugs, who has 533,600 followers and counting, specializes in cartoon character rugs, but other pop culture-themed and colorful rugs became a creative way to add personality to any room. The coolest part? These intricate rugs can be hung on the wall as art pieces to really show off their detail — and you can support small businesses and independent artists when purchasing your own.

4. Disco Balls

Disco balls made a noticeable comeback this year, according to decor experts at Architectural Digest and, well, every Instagram story you scroll through on a given Saturday night. Although a mirror ball in the middle of a dance floor is pretty typical, people have started to put the shiny spheres to unexpected uses — as hanging planters in the corner of their rooms or tiny, twinkling trinkets on their bookshelves. It’s no surprise artists and big-name brands have taken note and disco balls are now available as home items like frames, candles, and more.

5. Baroque-Inspired Mirrors

Where were you when you first heard of The Anthropologie Mirror™? The brand’s Gleaming Primrose Mirror, available in multiple sizes from 3 feet to 7 feet tall, might just be one of the most coveted home items in recent years (#anthropologiemirror has 17.3 million views on TikTok). Its gilded edge is reminiscent of Regencycore, a fashion and home aesthetic that has resurged thanks to Bridgerton. Of course, as internet users often do, dupes of the Anthro mirror are always shared online, including ones from Target and Wayfair that accomplish the same look.

6. Dried Flower Bouquets

Fresh flowers are always a nice little pick-me-up to add color and life to your home, but after a week they start to lose their luster. The solution? Dried flowers, either store-bought arrangements or DIY bouquets. While dried flower companies like Afloral and Urban Stems carefully curate long-lasting bouquets, you can try your hand at drying fresh flowers yourself — just stick to flowers that are naturally pretty dry and have thick stems so you can dry them upside down, as a rule of thumb.

7. Coastal Grandma Wicker Baskets

This year, people did just about anything to live out their Nancy Meyer fantasies. The coastal grandmother aesthetic was all about being cozy, minimal, and beachy — like a gracefully aged version of 2021’s “That Girl.” One of the home decor mainstays of the desired look was wicker baskets for uses like housing throw blankets, organizing pantries, and even as a unique addition to gallery walls.

8. Kitschy Novelty Candles

Candles are a home staple since they add scent and overall ambiance to a space, but 2022 proved they don’t have to be boring to look at. Novelty candles, especially ones that looked like food, took over the year in an unpredictable way. Cereal candles that melted and looked good enough to eat and more outrageous versions — like this one that accurately resembles a seafood boil — racked up likes on TikTok, whether because of their decor potential or sheer hilarity.

9. Unexpected Coffee Tables

For several weeks in the summer of 2022, it seemed like everyone was making a coffee table out of Lego drawers and glass. In fact, #legotable has 31.9 million views on TikTok. With a few giant Lego bricks and a piece of glass on top, this abstract coffee table idea is a nod to nostalgia and a functional piece (the Lego bricks open up as drawers). Other eccentric coffee tables followed suit with the Lego trend, and tired coffee tables were traded for sculptural art pieces.

10. Vintage-Inspired Glassware

Intimate dinner parties at home were the antidote to social gathering burnout in 2022, and welcoming hosts pulled out all the stops when setting up their tablescapes. A simple way to curate a seemingly sophisticated night in at home is by being thoughtful with your glassware. After all, everyone knows cocktails taste even better when they come in pretty glasses. You don’t have to break the bank to accomplish this, either; vintage glassware in different sizes, shapes, and colors adds a cool look to any table and can be found at your local thrift store.

11. Checkerboard Everything

Black and white is as basic as color combos can get, but checkerboard adds a funky feel. Checkerboard is a retro design so it still feels classic, but with the popularity of the look in home decor comes the switch-up of colors, too. You can now find everything from catch-all trays to comforters in checkerboard patterns in the typical black-and-white colorway or more eccentric hues.

12. Light Globes

Lighting is a necessity, especially if you happen to live in a space that doesn’t get much natural sunlight. With the early sunsets of the winter, finding ways to brighten up the place can be tough, but this trend is an easy and stylish solution. Instead of lamps that only offer light in one direction, these spherical fixtures reflect their light from every angle, making them a great addition to a nightstand, coffee table, or otherwise dark corner of your home.

13. Living Art

Art pieces can add oomph to even the dreariest of walls, and the living art trend of 2022 took that to the next level. Pieces made with plants, particularly moss, have been the subject of home decor envy and DIY projects this year. If you’re a plant parent and want more greenery around your home, moss art is the way to go. You can purchase from artists on sites like Etsy or can make art pieces yourself with little to no maintenance needed.

14. Bouclé Furniture

Fashion and home decor trends often mirror one another, and the shearling bag trend of this year makes sense given the recent trend of bouclé furniture. The textured woven fabric became popular decades ago, thanks in part to Coco Chanel, according to RealSimple. The iconic suit skirts from the designer use the same material that can be seen in chairs, ottomans, and floor poufs today. It’s perfect for the minimalist who wants a bit of dimension added to their neutral-colored furniture — plus, the fact that cheaper dupes are available at places like Target doesn't hurt either.