Interior Design Trends

When you want to add a personal touch to your own living space, it is always a good idea to investigate the latest interior design trends to find something that works for you. The focus on contemporary interior design has been recycling and environmentally friendly projects, but there has also been a push towards utilizing color and other elements to make smaller spaces seem larger. With more and more people moving back into city apartments, there is a growing need to create the illusion of space and to do more with the space that we have.

Bringing the Outdoors Indoors

If you have a fireplace and want to try a different kind of mantle and fireplace face, then look no further than the large stones in your own backyard. Instead of bringing in professionally cut wood to create your stairway banister, you should use the large logs and branches you find outside.

Bringing the outside inside is popular for two reasons. First of all, the materials are essentially free and you are not using wood from trees that have been cut down or materials that were made out of non-recyclable materials. This trend is also popular because, when done properly, it looks extremely unique and can be a lot of fun, as well as placing the stamp of your local environment on your living space.

Beige Is Fading Away

Whether you call it beige or off-white, that extremely popular color used on walls and ceilings around the country is losing its hold on design experts. Earth tones such as gray and blue are becoming popular and replacing beige in bedrooms and living rooms around the world.

Brighter colors are being used in bathrooms to create the illusion of more space, and to better utilize the natural light that gets into the bathroom during the day. Darker colors are starting to show up in living rooms because darker colors actually create a warm and inviting atmosphere in a home's common rooms.

Brass Fixtures

Brass fixtures used to be reserved for the bathroom, but they are finding their way to other parts of the home as well. The kitchen and even bedrooms are starting to use brass fixtures to add color and elegance to a home's decor.

In the bathroom, people are starting to use more brass fixtures in ways that brass had not been used before. Brass vanity sinks and brass bathtubs are beginning to appear in new builds and bathroom remodeling projects.

Floral Patterns

Floral patterns used to be the norm for wallpaper in the days when shag rugs and space age furniture ruled the interior decor world. But these days, floral patterns have jumped of the walls and have found their way onto furniture and accessories.

One of the contemporary design trends is to have floral patterns on furniture fabric, accessories such as pillows, and even on lampshades. New printing techniques have given these floral patterns a clarity and vibrancy that were never possible when they were used previously. This seems to be an extension of the idea of bringing the outside inside, but it could also just be a stylish way for people to work floral patterns into their home decor without cluttering their walls.

Accent Colors

How do you think your blue bathroom would look with red and yellow chairs at a green table? Contrast used to be something that was considered too risky to make a permanent part of interior design, but all of that has changed.

Contemporary interior designers are all looking for ways to contrast colors in a room that are actually pleasing to the eye. Until you have actually tried red, blue, yellow, and green together, you really have no idea just how great it really looks.

A Little Luxury

It used to be taboo to put luxury items in a room that would otherwise not benefit from it, but not anymore. A chandelier in the dining room that has a rustic design has started to become the norm. A luxurious throw rug made of fake animal fur in a bedroom with faux marble floors, and the bed market is filled with upholstered designs utilising crushed velvet head boards and sculptured frames for that added opulence, something that interior decorators are using more and more often.

The latest in interior decor technology has allowed people to have options that they never had before. For example, laminate can give the look of real hardwood flooring for a fraction of the price. The trends in interior decor these days are leaning towards getting more for less. There is also a movement to utilize more environmentally friendly interior design materials as well. A home with a contemporary design is one that looks inviting and feels like it has a touch of class.

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