time to redecorate

Golf simulators and rooftop lounges emerge as top home design trends for 2023, says Houzz

Design enthusiasts, homeowners, and renters alike are all looking for the next big thing when it comes to home design. And today's hottest trends are all centered around improving a home for the current and future lifestyle of its inhabitants.

A 2023 report by Houzz identified the top home design trends that have been emerging throughout the year, from indoor style revivals to rooftop living spaces. Data was aggregated using the top search results from Houzz's website and comparing it to the previous year's results.

These are the big trends that have been emerging in homes, near and far, this year.

Basement golf simulators
Houzz's data said searches for "basement golf simulators" spiked a whopping 1,905 percent this year from 2022. Homeowners, in general, are looking for ways to finish basements, the report said. Texans would be hard-pressed to find a home with a basement, but golf simulators are certainly taking up space in other areas of the house. Even a regal estate in Houston went on the market boasting a private man cave big enough to host the popular sport simulator.

Photo by Eric Lucero / Thomas Sattler Homes

Practice your swing on the golf simulator.

Rooftop living spaces
Homes with outdoor rooftop terraces are also top-of-mind for many people, with searches spiking 1,555 percent year-over-year. Relaxing outdoors seems like a nice idea when it's not brutally hot in the summer.

"People are increasingly utilizing their rooftops to expand livable space as well, particularly in metropolitan areas where outdoor space is a hot commodity," the Houzz report said.

rooftop living space Relaxing outdoors seems like a nice idea when it's not brutally hot in the summer. Photo by MVCC Inc. and Jacob Lilley Architects / Greg Premru

Accessible bathrooms
In a similar study surveying owners about home renovations, Houzz experts learned that more people are choosing to renovate their spaces in preparation for their retirement years. One of the most important factors in achieving a retirement-ready home is improving the functionality of bathrooms.

Dallas and its suburbs are well known for having some of the most attractive housing markets in the nation, so it's no wonder local homeowners want to hang on to their houses for as long as possible.

'Industrial-style' and entertainment-centered kitchens
With new construction homes focusing more on open-concept living spaces, kitchens are also getting chic facelifts to avoid looking like forgotten areas. Two important styles and characteristics have emerged from these improvements: an "industrial-style" kitchen that doubles as the perfect entertaining area.

"Industrial-style kitchens appeal to many cooks, with their commercial vibe, easy-to-clean surfaces and high-traffic durability," the report said.

Features that make these commercial kitchens stand out include pull-down kitchen faucets, stainless steel or concrete countertops, and brick walls. On the entertainment side, large islands and island ranges are the centerpieces for any social gathering by allowing hosts to face their guests while they cook.

Room separation
Even with the popularity of open-concept living spaces and kitchens, the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted some household needs to include temporary separation for remote work. Houzz says that searches for living room dividers, shoji screens, and partition walls have all grown in 2023 while workers are prioritizing flexible working environments.

Ceiling design elements
Houzz says a room's ceiling has "historically been an overlooked surface," but perhaps not for much longer. People are searching frequently for overhead design elements like "high-gloss" or "painted ceilings." Another rising popular search is for "tongue-and-groove" ceilings, which are made up of long wood planks installed side-to-side across the ceiling.

Interior design, home and design trends, tongue and groove ceilings The tongue and groove paneling expands from the walls up into the ceilings.Photo courtesy of ATX Interior Design

Spanish Colonial style revival
Decorating a house can be daunting if you're unsure of what style to choose, but you can never go wrong with a classic revival of the Colonial style. Specifically, Colonial and Spanish Colonial style revivals are the most popular interior design themes in 2023, says Houzz.

Adaptable amenities for the weather
Dallas homes have the fifth-best "curb appeal" in the country according to one home services site, with homeowners willing to spend thousands to improve their yards. The most popular outdoor improvements being searched so far this year are all "small" summertime-focused features like plunge pools, pool houses, and outdoor kitchens, according to Houzz.

Owners in mosquito-plagued Dallas might also be more interested in screened porches, which are on trend. Searches for "small screened-in porch ideas" grew 522 percent this year in comparison to last year, Houzz says.

The full report can be found on houzz.com.

trends home-design

Floral studio in booming Celina blossoms with plans for full flower shop

Photo by Karen Chaney

Greenologie Flower Shop floral designers Julie Holland (left) and Rebecca Calvert have big plans for the future.

Tucked behind the sprawling grounds of Shades of Green, a 10-acre garden center in Celina, sits a house where Rebecca Calvert and Julie Holland often work into the wee hours creating floral arrangements for their Greenologie Flower Shop.

Open since June 2025, Greenologie is a boutique floral design studio that offers handcrafted floral arrangements, flower delivery or pick-up, floral design workshops, and wedding and event floral design services. For the last year, Calvert and Holland have been operating from Shades of Green, by appointment only.

But the floral business is booming in Celina - one of the fastest-growing cities in the country - and the duo has ambitious plans to transform the floral business into a traditional flower shop. They're used to putting in the long hours it will take to make it grow.

“We flower-design a lot at nighttime,” Calvert says. “We always joke — because the lighting isn't great — that we're kind of designing in the dark. The next day we get over there, and we're like, oh, it's really, really beautiful.”

In addition to making custom floral arrangements, Greenologie also offers flower arranging classes for the public, including the upcoming Sips & Stems: Wine Glass Flower Arranging Night, on July 15 at Valley Vines in Celina.

Last fall, the company launched a porch decorating service called Pumpkin Porch Party, which featured multi-colored pumpkins, gourds and seasonal flowers. It was a hit, and they plan to offer the service again this year.

“People pay you to zhuzh up their porch,” Calvert says. “We launched it last minute, and it went really well. We did about 30 porches over North Texas and it was super fun.”

Greenologie will offer Pumpkin Porch Party in the fall.Photo courtesy of Greenologie

Calvert co-owns Greenologie and Shades of Green Nursery + Landscape with her husband, Jarratt Calvert. Flowers are a family business.

Rebecca Calvert’s father, Jeff McCauley, opened Shades of Green in 1977 with a childhood friend while they were students at Texas A&M University. The first Shades of Green garden center opened in McKinney in 1988 before relocating to Frisco in 1994. In 2022, a second location opened in Celina, which is now the company’s sole Shades of Green garden center.

Calvert and Holland have to be nocturnal florists because of their day jobs at Shades of Green.

After graduating from Texas A&M University with a degree in communications, Calvert, a longtime Celina resident, spent nearly a decade working in corporate human resources. Following the birth of her first child, she decided to leave the corporate world and found a new way to use her HR experience through her work at Shades of Green.

“I would say [Shades of Green] is the job I have to do, and Greenologie is the job I get to do,” Calvert says.

Holland, the garden center manager and a Celina resident, earned a degree in agricultural services and development with a focus on horticulture at Tarleton State University. Prior to beginning her career at Shades of Green four years ago, she taught floral and horticulture classes and ran a flower shop from her classroom. Holland traces her botany bond back to her grandmother, whose flower shop she loved visiting as a young girl.

Flowers used in Greenologie arrangements are sourced from Trader Joe’s and from Rebecca Calvert’s Celina home garden.Photo by Karen Chaney

Calvert says she and Holland share responsibilities as well as a similar design aesthetic.

“We are more on the contemporary side — whimsical is a good word,” Calvert says. “We've done a few events and weddings where it was kind of copy and paste, and that's great too. But we both have the most fun whenever we can design without any constraints.”

The owners' goal is to open their own brick-and-mortar shop in the next five years. For now, orders placed online for Greenologie can be delivered or picked up at Shades of Green, 1213 E. Sunset Blvd., Celina.

“Greenologie will have its actual own little flower shop next to the Shades of Green storefront,” Calvert says. “It will be a traditional flower shop with gifts and a flower bar to pick your flowers from.”

celina celina growth flower shop floral design