Refresh, Not Replace: The Summer Home Trend Built Around What You Already Own
By Lisbeth Parada, Color Marketing Manager, Dutch Boy® Paints, Krylon®, Minwax® and Sue Kim, Director of Color Marketing, Cabot®
This summer, homeowners are not starting from scratch, they are updating what they already have. Instead of chasing newness, they are refinishing furniture, refreshing spaces, and investing in projects that feel lasting, personal and practical. It’s a “Refresh, Not Replace” kind of Summer.
Why It Matters
The trend reflects a larger shift in how homeowners are approaching their spaces. With many homeowners staying in place longer, home improvement is less about starting over and more about making existing spaces work harder, feel better and last longer. According to Harvard’s 2025 Improving America’s Housing report, the U.S. remodeling market remains elevated after surpassing $600 billion in 2022 and staying well above pre-pandemic levels through 2024. Houzz’s 2025 U.S. Houzz & Home Study also found that 54% of homeowners undertook renovation projects in 2024, while the same share undertook decorating projects.
Decor Trend Watch: Modern Heirlooms
As homeowners move away from fast-moving trends and disposable decor, they are gravitating toward spaces, objects and finishes that feel personal, collected and worth keeping. The Modern Heirlooms aesthetic captures that shift, bringing renewed attention to warm wood, refreshed pieces, handcrafted details, storied surfaces and outdoor spaces designed for gathering.
Rather than recreating the past, Modern Heirlooms gives familiar pieces and classic materials a fresh place in today’s home. The look is nostalgic without feeling dated, crafted without feeling precious and timeless without feeling formal.
Applications: Interiors layered with meaningful pieces, thrifted or vintage objects refreshed for today, wood furniture and accents preserved through stain, and porches, decks and outdoor spaces ready for summer gathering.
The Aesthetic of Meaningful Design
Modern Heirlooms reflect a more personal approach to home design. After years of highly curated interiors and fast decor cycles, homeowners are looking for projects that feel useful, lasting and emotionally grounded.
That does not mean every piece needs to be inherited or antique. A newly painted wall, refinished table, refreshed planter or protected deck can help create the feeling of a home built over time. The trend is less about nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake and more about choosing materials, finishes and projects that bring a sense of permanence.
That mindset is showing up in practical, approachable ways: painted accents, refreshed objects, refinished wood, protected outdoor spaces and rooms that feel more personal than newly purchased. Rather than one large renovation, the Modern Heirlooms look can come together through smaller projects that build over time.
This Summer’s Signature Design Moments:
Reimagined Objects: Found, refreshed, worth keeping
Krylon®
Krylon brings Modern Heirlooms to smaller DIY projects by helping transform thrifted, vintage or everyday items into pieces with character. A frame, planter, tray, mirror, lamp base or outdoor accent can take on a more crafted, storied quality with the right finish.
This is where the aesthetic becomes approachable: one object, one finish and one afternoon can turn something ordinary into something that feels collected.
Revitalized objects using Krylon® products bring the trend to life through easy, high-impact projects that extend the life of what homeowners already own.
Krylon® Fusion All In One™ in Gloss Sunbeam.
Warm Interiors: Personal, layered, lived-in
Dutch Boy® Paints
Modern Heirlooms begins with rooms that feel warm, layered and connected to daily life. Dutch Boy Paints helps create the backdrop for meaningful design, whether through a refreshed wall, painted built-in, softened neutral or accent detail that gives collected pieces new relevance.
The focus is not on a single color, but on the feeling color creates: a home that feels grounded, welcoming and personal without being overly decorated.
A refreshed interior backdrop from Dutch Boy® Paints can make older pieces feel intentional, current and ready for summer living.
Dutch Boy® Pristine™ Paint + Primer in Melodious Ivory (313-2DB), Old Chaparral (402-7DB) and Blue Laguna (432-5DB).
Wood With Memory: Natural grain, renewed purpose
Minwax®
Wood is one of the clearest expressions of the Modern Heirlooms aesthetic. Minwax supports the warmth, grain and history that make furniture, shelving, cabinetry and accents feel rooted in a home’s story.
Stained and refinished wood pieces help preserve what is meaningful while giving older surfaces a renewed place in today’s interiors. The result feels less like a makeover and more like a continuation.
Minwax® wood stain and finishing help highlight natural character while making meaningful pieces feel refreshed and ready to use.
Minwax® Wood Finish® in 2026 Color of the Year Special Walnut
Outdoor Gathering: Protected, welcoming, enduring
Cabot®
Outside, Modern Heirlooms comes to life through porches, decks, fences and outdoor furniture made for summer gatherings. Outdoor projects also carry strong emotional value for homeowners. According to the National Association of Realtors’ outdoor remodeling research, 84% of consumers said completing an exterior project made them want to remodel other areas of their home or yard. Cabot helps protect and enhance exterior wood surfaces so outdoor spaces feel cared for, enduring and ready for gathering.
The look is grounded in natural materials and familiar forms: a deck ready for outdoor meals, a porch that feels lived in, or a garden structure that adds quiet character to the home’s exterior.
With Cabot®, exterior wood surfaces help extend the feeling of home outdoors, creating summer spaces that feel useful, protected and welcoming.
Exterior Wood Stain + Sealier in Acorn (available in Solid, Semi-Solid and Semi-Transparent finishes)
Summer Color Lens
While Modern Heirlooms is rooted in craftsmanship, memory and enduring design, its summer expression does not have to be quiet. Warmer, more saturated colors are gaining momentum, with yellows, oranges, reds and yellow-based greens bringing energy and optimism into home projects. Summer is a natural time to experiment with color. We’re seeing interest in warmer, brighter shades that feel expressive and a little more adventurous, especially for smaller DIY projects and accents.
For this trend, color works best as a supporting detail rather than the full story: a warmer wall, a refinished object, a stained surface, a painted accent, or an outdoor update that adds life to spaces designed to be used and enjoyed.
Supporting Sources:
Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, Improving America’s Housing 2025; Houzz, 2025
U.S. Houzz & Home Study; National Association of Realtors, Remodeling Impact Report: Outdoor Features.
