Invited to Domayne Furniture Caringbah Store’s Exclusive Storewide Discount Christmas night last week, I listened to Wendy Moore, Editor of Home Beautiful Magazine Australia, predict the 4 trends of 2016 and share her thoughts with the audience. Yes! She is as lovely as she looks, so when I asked her, she gave me permission to share her words of wisdom on oohm.
Here is what she said:
“’Bare Simplicity’ will dominate 2016. It’s the trend that will feature heavily throughout and we are seeing some of this already. So, what do I mean by ‘Bare Simplicity’?
It is a sense of the story behind everything. It includes hand made things in the home, your favourite chair from your grandmother etc. Being surrounded by things with a sense of history gives the space more warmth and meaning. That’s why the minimalist look didn’t last, because it is too clinical. People should walk into your room and want to touch things and feel welcome. So, this bare simplicity trend is the new type of minimalism. A trend with warmth.
As described by Stylist John Mangila “A calm considered vibe permeates this new take on minimalism, with texture taking centre stage against a restrained backdrop”
The ‘Coming Home’ Trend. Lots of tan leather and wood with knots in it, simple decorations, simple colour pallets, aged crushed linen, understated colour and neutrals with a bit of strength to them. Natural colours. Greys with brown or aged undertones to them. I think that there will be a rise in chocolate browns again and we should allow for that in our décor, expecially when choosing greys. You need to make sure that they will go with brown, because the browns are definitely coming.
There is a definite trend towards more vibrant colour from the orient, but with an aged feel, which makes it feel right, not a galaxy of loud and bright. Gloss and matt surfaces displayed together, a splash of colour, strong neutrals which are welcoming, not scary and add personality to a space.
Incidentally, did you know that colour reflects what is happening in Society at the time? Different societies choose different colours and a confident growing economy will display confident colours. Another example of this, is the return to neutrals and softer colour pallets seen in the US, directly after September 11.
One of my favourites is the ‘New Coastal’ which is a look created by adding extras to traditional coastal, to give things a new river feel, coinciding with the popular tree change trend. Colours dictated by the Australian bush, mixed coloured rocks, textures and colours from the paperbark tree, woods, the grain of wood, an aged wood look., raw leather which was very seventies, but is so in now, granny blankets and knitted throws, the caramel swirls in sandstone, washed out finishes in the colour green and dirty blues. Think of bush river surroundings, not the seaside.
Lastly, the ‘Romantic Industrialist’ look. Taking the industrial look and making it softer, for example, adding pinks. Blush pink, a popular pink which makes the pink colours less candy and feminine, industrial look pipes on show softened by colour in a room, geometric patterns that have been around for a while and marble patterns. Layering this industrial look with different textures, makes it softer and more feminine, adding aged yellow colours and blues, perhaps exposed brick as a feature here and there”.
At the end of her “4 trends for 2016” presentation, Wendy invited the audience to ask her questions and welcomed people to show her photos of their decorating dilemmas for free advice. She patiently attended to everyone, as if she had all the time in the world and happily allowed her photo to be taken.
The editor of Home Beautiful Magazine, Champagne, nibbles, great homewares and furniture at Domayne, Christmas specials, great advice. Priceless!!
I hope they invite me next year – Belinda Smith
and just to clarify, this is not a sponsored post…
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