Helping You Find Harmony Between Comfort & Beauty
There are several design trends for the coming year that really stand out and some can be attributed to living in a pandemic for almost two years!
Color is always an important trend in design. This year shades of green have emerged again. Vivid emerald, oceanic blue-greens, and gentle gray-greens are some of the colors you’ll see in home design. Scientists have found that green hues alleviate stress, decrease heart rate, and refresh our senses. Any wonder that this color has become more popular this past year? You’ll see these fresh greens in paints, fabrics, and kitchen cabinets. Benjamin Moore’s 2022 Color of the Year, October Mist #1495, is a gorgeous muted sage that creates a serene, spa-like vibe used alone, but can also be a beautiful neutral backdrop for an array of other colors.
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Indoor foliage is another way to bring green into your home this coming year. According to the National Gardening Association, houseplant sales in the U.S. have increased more than 50% in the past three years. Living plants connect us to the outside, bring nature in and, most importantly, convert carbon dioxide into new oxygen and help purify the air. Plants also increase the humidity in the air through a process called transpiration, which may help alleviate winter’s dryness. Well-chosen plants complement any décor. From a small potted plant on your work surface to a collection of large floor plants in a family gathering space, nothing adds more energy and life to a room than living plants.
Natural materials such as stone, wood, and found archaeological pieces are always organic and classic in interiors. 2022 will bring us some beautiful new woven options in bamboo, wicker, and rattan. The edgy, hard-lined industrial look in furniture is being replaced with more rounded forms and curves. Chairs, sofas, tables, and lighting fixtures in woven natural materials add casual, lived-in elegance to any room. Even the addition of a few important accessories can update and refresh a room.
You’ll likely see fluting and reeding as well as flat fronts and smooth doors on cabinets. Possibly springing from the recent interest in traditional ship-lap, flat fronts on furniture and kitchen cabinets may move to the background, while milled groove details will be seen in storage options all over the home. A wonderful way to add interest to a large wall is to add texture through flat slats or three-dimensional lines.
Repurposing our homes to support multiple functions is a dilemma many of us have faced in working from home. You may not have heard of Crittall-style partitions but you’ve most likely seen them. Originally introduced by Frances Henry Crittall in England in 1860, these slim profile steel frames with glass panels divide space but keep interior spaces open to the light. Both modern and industrial they provide separate areas in which to work and live. Still charming after so many years, versatile and high in style, the partitions can be used in family living spaces, kitchens, and even as shower enclosures, Crittall-style partitions are highly functional and the look is on point for traditional, transitional or contemporary homes.
Whether your home needs better use of space, a few new pieces of furniture, or some fresh color, 2022 will be the year to turn the house you love into the home you love to live in.
Gail Bicknell, Owner & Interior Designer, Fair Street Interiors fairstreetinteriors.squarespace.com