New Home Trend Watch
Category: Newsroom » Parade of HomesSM - August 19, 2011
Eclectic, energetic, unique. The emerging trend in home design is universal because it celebrates individuality. Unlike most trends, this design impulse is not about any prescribed style, status or rules.
It’s about personal expression and home design that functions best for you. Explore fresh design inspirations, sometimes in unexpected places.
Dip into color palettes that are rejuvenating to happy. Create your own retreat within a larger space. Indulge in luxurious details where they matter most. Here are some trends to tune into now, from refreshing colors and new interpretations of the classic to the nostalgic.
The global village: Worldwide cultures and global awareness influence design and color to energy saving and eco-friendly living. Find intriguing and tribal fabric patterns from Morocco to China to Africa. Recycled “distressed” furniture makes a statement in sustainability and historical interest.
A space of your own: “Reduced square footage does not equal the boxed-in look,” says Jim Kuiken, Jim Kuiken Design and Accent Homes. Kuiken favors design that is simultaneously welcoming and stylish, with simplicity and clean lines. Windows capture natural light and bring the outside in. In fact, don’t forget the outside as a living space extension. The dining room, says Jim, has evolved from a separate formal room into an extension of the kitchen/living areas that is essentially accessible.
Storage space is not only essential but also even decorative, with artful baskets, creative bins, vertical cabinetry, and built-in cabinets under seating.
Be nostalgic: Showcase your treasures from favorite travel destinations, or frame cherished photos or posters that reflect a decade. Nostalgia is a personal tonic in design that is showing up in mod patterns to soft powder colors that bring to mind vintage Bonneville or Thunderbird cars.
More than a kitchen: Experts agree. The kitchen is a magnet for activity, so let it sing as a top design priority. Even when other spaces shrink in size, kitchens don’t, and cooks favor multiple sinks. Because the kitchen ideally opens to other living spaces, furniture-like built-ins and appliances present seamless design. Wood flooring no longer has to match cabinetry, as finishes and materials are artfully paired.
Marcia Wenzel, Design Center Manager for Mattamy Homes, is also seeing some interesting contrast in kitchen finishes. “Look for Shaker style cabinetry with rich, dark finishes. Clean lines are really more versatile,” she said. “Lighter kitchen colors tend toward a gray-taupe with dark cabinets. You may see an espresso, dark hardwood kitchen floor with a butterscotch island. Also look for the hand scraped natural wood floors paired with gleaming white trim, crown molding and casings.”
Wenzel and JoLynn Johnson, President of Crystal Kitchen Center, point out a practical twist on the pantry. “Pantries become a vertical cabinet instead of another room, like that forgotten pantry at the bottom of the basement stairs,” said Johnson. Wenzel describes a floor to ceiling pantry with non-transparent glass fronts. Johnson is seeing a preference for solid quartz countertops because of their uniformity of color and no-maintenance surface. She also reports more intricate and larger expanses of tile back splashes.
Lisa Keller, Interior Designer at Ispiri, LLC, says the old kitchen table is now a ”power island.” “It’s really a multi-functional space with lots of storage and a main work station for cooking or homework, she said. “The more drawers the better.” Both Keller and Ispiri designer, Becca Hall, say that larger light fixtures over islands are preferred rather than pendant lighting. They report cozy, informal banquet kitchen seating, and a trend towards large plank wood flooring in dark stains.
Punctuate with wallpaper: Look for texture and a renewed popularity of wallpaper. The trend is especially popular in smaller accent rooms such as half baths that show off large patterns that look like faux painting, says Marcia Wenzel.
Spa luxuries: Functional vessel sinks in bathrooms are great accent pieces, says JoLynn Johnson. “The spa-like bath often includes a larger shower area, with fixed showerheads combined with a hand held shower head.” For bath luxury add deeper cabinets for storage and expand his/her vanity areas. Framed mirrors are artful elements.
Color revolution: Now is the time to have fun with color.
“Color infuses living spaces with fresh energy,” said Jackie Jordan, Director of Color Marketing for Sherwin Williams. “Reds and blues are the top new complementary color families,” she said. Enjoy vibrant hues from Exuberant Pink and Gypsy Red, and accents like Chivalry Copper. Fabulous blues range from soft powder to power blues like Tempo Teal. Natural neutrals offer a backdrop to punchy accent colors.
Pantone’s 2011 Color of the Year is Honeysuckle, a festive reddish pink to lift the spirit, described by the Pantone Color Institute as “confident and courageous with a bold spirit.”
Jolynn Johnson confirms that powder blue hues reflect the bathroom/spa spirit, and Lisa Keller reports top 2011 hues are grays and whites with pops of blue/gray, orange and peacock blue.
Try sultry, primal and exotic color combinations, suggested Jackie Jordan. The Sherwin Williams “Restless Nomad” palette, is as whimsical and eclectic as 60’s Carnaby Street, while “Purely Refined” hues celebrate unique art, hombre-dyed fabrics, textured linen and smooth pebble floors. “Gentle Medley” creates a modern, airy nature retreat. Find prints recalling vintage florals and maps, flea market finds, and birds, dragonfly and butterfly motifs.
For vitality and splash, Sherwin Williams’ “Bold Invention” hues vibrate with high energy. Express your artful side with eclectic global influences and 3-D luminosity. Find pixilated images on art and textiles, modular furniture and sculptural ceramic.
Artful simplicity: Jim Kuiken describes a new interpretation of traditional home design, offering a clean, classic backdrop for interior accents and expressions. The new living spaces are underscored by architectural details in casings, soffits and crown moldings. Lisa Keller and Becca Hall see an eclectic play on modern and traditional elements.
Make a statement in color. Be adventurous in mixing surfaces and hues. Personalize flexible spaces. Design counts: the most used and favorite rooms are designed from floor plans that optimize space and really function for you and your family.