Elle Decor's editor names the home design looks that never fail

As Elle Decor magazine's 25th anniversary approached last year, Michael Boodro started paging through back issues.

The design mag's editor in chief since 2010, Boodro was assembling a book, "The Height of Style: Inspiring Ideas From the World's Chicest Rooms," and he thought he'd see how home design had changed in the past quarter-century.

"I literally went through every issue since the first in 1989," said Boodro, who was in Houston last week for a private book signing. He found some of the photo spreads amusing.

"Home is a little like fashion in that our eye gets tired of certain things," he said. "What we love at one time doesn't look so good after a few years."

French provincial style and Mission furniture, for instance, had their white-hot moment, then disappeared. So did expansive, bare white walls and "huge, wrinkly white slipcovers." And in home accessories, Boodro said, time and a changing culture have swept away some of the staples: ashtrays, desk phones, crystal cigarette boxes and topiaries.

But some design elements have hung on. They showed up consistently in Elle Decor's best photo spreads, and they look as fresh today as they did in 1992 or 2005. They've evolved from trends into classics.

Boodro shared five of those looks. Try them for a home that won't be dated in just a few months or years:

Bold color. From 1988 to the present day, bold, bright colors kept appearing in photo spreads, Boodro said; he realized "how many of these rooms could have been published today." Time after time, dramatic pops of color looked fresh: a living room with deep red walls, a dining room with sea-green surroundings, an apartment saturated with cobalt blue. It was featured in 1992, but "if somebody invited you to that apartment today, you'd think it was a chic room," Boodro said.

The color doesn't have to be on walls. Sometimes a large piece of furniture or a single bright rug gives a room its color. But some of the best looks incorporated a bit of shine, Boodro noticed. "One thing we know is: You can put a bold color on, but if you put a gloss or lacquer on it, you double the impact."

Daring pattern. From the beginning, Boodro said, Elle Decor has been "celebrating pattern and encouraging readers to try more pattern in their homes." Suzanis - central Asian embroideries - appear in photos year after year. So do striped rugs and bold patterns on upholstered chairs - often in the same room. In 2012, Carolina Herrera Baez's Madrid apartment had different patterns on sofas, chairs and decorative pillows, all mingling in a single space. In 1999, a room designed by Steven Gambrel had striped chairs and draperies with a bold patterned rug on the floor. "You'd think it would be too much, but, if you're really talented, you make it work," Boodro said. Pattern doesn't have to overwhelm, though; just one piece will liven up a space full of solids and neutrals.

Embellished walls. Wallpapers and wall treatments may be having a moment now, but "we have always celebrated embellished walls," Boodro said. "It's been around more than I realized." Wallpapers, murals and stenciled patterns can instantly make a room look soft and layered, bright or luxurious. In 2004, Elle Decor showed striped fabric on the walls and ceiling of a bedroom. And in an 18th-century-style living room, designer Robert Couturier made a room full of "fuddy-duddy paneling" feel fresh and contemporary with walls paneled in orange and white.

Salon hangings. Small pieces of artwork or photos can get lost on a wall - but if they're grouped together and arranged gallery style, they can make a room look positively chic. "If you want to avoid wallpaper and you don't want to have stenciling, this is a way to bring a lot of life to your room," Boodro said.

Instead of scattering framed photos here and there, devote one wall of, say, the breakfast nook or a study, to a gallery of similar-size photographs with identical mats. This can be "an elegant solution" for displaying family photographs, he said.

Salon hangings can be done with plates, prints and collections of any kind. Space the objects evenly and the sheer number will make them grander and more interesting. "It doesn't matter what you hang as long as you have the verve to do it and do it in a group," Boodro said. "If you love something, don't just buy one of them - buy 10 or 20."

Decorating with books. A room never looks wrong or dated if it's filled with books. In 25 years of magazine spreads, Boodro found offices, living rooms, even hallways lined with row after row of books. Most were in built-in bookshelves, sometimes up to the ceiling. Some are packed tightly; others are more artfully arranged with objects and collections.

Lining shelves with lots of books is a look that never gets old, Boodro said, even though many people do their reading on digital devices. "If books have no other purpose," he said, "they're certainly decorative."