The New Year is a great time to think about freshening up our homes with new indoor furniture, updated colour schemes and a few of the hottest accessories in line with the latest trends. It’s also the time of year that trend forecasters pull out their crystal balls and announce the home décor trends coming up in the year ahead. I’ve had a look at all the predictions and here are my picks of the top eight interior themes we can expect to see in 2017.
Super Natural
As technology becomes more and more integral to our daily lives and developments such as artificial intelligence and 3D printing look set to cause greater disruption, people are looking to nature and natural materials to provide balance. A strong desire to bring nature into our homes and workplaces will see interiors filled with greenery, from hanging pots, to hydroponic indoor gardens planted with vegetables and herbs. Sustainable and recycled materials will also feature strongly, with worn or aged furnishings and accessories. Sofas and designer furniture will be made from sustainable materials; designers are even beginning to experiment with algae and fungi to develop new products. Key colour for this trend is Pantone’s Colour of the Year for 2017 ‘Greenery’, a bright and powerful green hue.
Nordic Influence
Scandinavian style continues to exert a strong influence on interiors with abundant natural light, a sense of space and simple well-designed furniture using natural materials. Natural textures and materials – such as wooden furniture, fur and shearling throws, hides and cork – ensure this look never appears cold or sterile. Bold fabrics and handcrafted accessories are also key elements. Key colours to recreate this look in your own home include white and soft gray with primary coloured accents.
Raw and Industrial
The raw, industrial aesthetic is also still a strong influence, with concrete, clay, steel and glass forming the main materials. Again, this suits the trend for upcycled homewares as older items with rust spots, faded colours and patina fit in perfectly. If you’re lucky, you could give your home an industrial look for only a few pounds if you’re able to find disused shop/factory fittings, wooden pallets and rusted metalwork. The key colours for this look are gray, beige, off-white, yellow, white, walnut brown and glints of gold and copper.
Reflective
For enthusiasts of contemporary furniture and décor, this design theme could be for you. The atmosphere here is soft and friendly, without being overly romantic and sweet. Modern materials and indoor furniture will feature cool mirrored, transparent effects. Look out for iridescent lamps, overlapping coloured glass shapes, shiny glazes, copper finishes, faceted shapes and reflective surfaces. These modern effects are contrasted with the tactility of handmade knitting and crochet to create a very livable theme. Choose muted key colours such as nude, blue, lavender, yellow, rose, turquoise, yellow-green, pastel yellow, peach, mint, lilac and pink.
Pops of Strategic Colour
Small pops of bright colour will feature in accessories, such as coloured chairs or sofas against a softer colour backdrop. Dynamic artworks, textiles and wallpaper also feature in this theme with artful geometry and painterly effects such as watercolour and colour gradients. Light and airy accessories such as metal wire objects, ceramics and glass allow the colours to pop against a neutral background. Key colours are black and white, neutrals, pastels, and vivid bright tones including cobalt blue, peacock, yellow, orange, green, red, pink and purple.
Bohemian Rhapsody
This theme suits the free-spirited person who loves to fill their home with memories of journeys to exotic corners of the world from Africa to Turkey, the Middle East, India, South America and China to Japan and South-East Asia. Even items with a strong regional link, such as Scottish plaids, tweeds and mohairs, will also be popular. Craftsmanship and handmade objects are a key feature, along with vegetable dyed textiles and authentic, artisanal products such as furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl, hand-knotted carpets, handwoven baskets and indigo dyed fabrics. The key colours for this theme are warm and welcoming, including brick, amber, mustard, orange, aubergine, indigo, rich red and browns.
Aquatic and Botanical
Another ‘back to nature’ theme, this look features colours and furniture designs inspired by lakes, lagoons and the ocean. Sea creatures, from shells to coral and fish designs, will be a huge source of inspiration. Also textiles and wallcoverings featuring abstract landscapes, the sea, clouds and weather patterns will be key. Large scale digital wallpapers featuring landscapes, seascapes (such as the seascape photowall in my bathroom) and clouds will cover entire walls. Key colours are blue-green, lime, lagoon blue, jade, khaki, citrus hues, olive, cobalt and shades of pink, yellow, orange, red and green.
New Luxury
If you are craving opulent and luxurious interiors then 2017 is your year to go ahead and indulge in rich materials such as velvets, satins and silks, contrasted with concrete, flannel and wool felt. This style direction is based on cultural heritage and historic influences play a big role, particularly the Dutch, Flemish and Italian old master paintings of the 17th century. With this look, portraits and still-life images will be featured as large digital wallcoverings and will also appear on smaller objects such as trays, plates or paperweights. Metallic glints of gold and copper will feature alongside rich accent colours of magenta, purple and emerald green. Another key theme will be black and white interior schemes and optical illusions will also enter the mix in artworks, fabrics and wallcoverings. Key colours: copper, red, peacock, purple, magenta, navy, black, anthracite gray.
Whichever theme appeals most to you, updating your interiors doesn’t mean having to replace all your indoor furniture and repaint the whole house. Simply incorporate key elements and accessories to update your look – for example, you could declutter your home with a new teak furniture to create a fresh minimalist Scandinavian aesthetic, or you could add rich textured bed coverings and hanging lamps to your exisiting bedroom for a bohemian style interior. Let me know if you’re going to be incorporating any of these styles into your home in 2017 by leaving me a comment below, tweeting me @cassiefairy or tagging me in a photo of your new theme on instagram Cassiefairy.
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