Your customers want decorating advice; here’s how you can help. Share interior designer, TV personality, author, and product designer Libby Langdon’s tips for incorporating the latest trends into their homes.
[dropcap style=”letter” size=”52″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#770be2″]J[/dropcap]ust like the apparel fashion world, every year brings new design trends for the home. “As a designer, my goal is to create spaces for my clients that are chic and current yet still comfortable and timeless,” explains Libby Langdon. “The concern I hear from folks is how to add fun trends into their homes without it looking too trendy or without committing to a design that might go out of style. While interior design crazes come and go, the principles of good design remain the same. By keeping those in mind, there are lots of ways to bring in trends that allow you to love the look for years.”
Here are some of the décor trends that Langdon says we’ll be seeing in 2016, along with her advice for your customers who want to incorporate them into their homes.
1. BE A DRAMA QUEEN
Benjamin Moore announced Simply White as its 2016 Color of the Year, but we will continue to see rooms painted in deep, saturated colors like charcoal, navy blue, and even black. One of the fastest and least expensive ways to completely transform the look of a room – and all of the existing furniture within it – is to paint one wall a rich, dramatic color.
“Some people are afraid a dark wall will make a space seem smaller, but it’s actually the exact opposite,” Langdon says, adding, “One dark wall surrounded by three lighter walls visually recedes and makes a space feel larger.
“An accent wall is the perfect way to introduce a strong color trend without it being overwhelming,” Langdon states. It’s also very low commitment for the consumer since one gallon of paint is around $35 and only takes a couple of hours to apply. “You won’t believe the WOW! factor you will get, and how fresh it will make the furniture you already have look!”
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2. GO FOR GOLD
“A mix of metal finishes has been on trend for a while now and I don’t see it going away anytime soon, especially because it can be easily incorporated with other trends and designs as well as existing décor,” Langdon reports. If your customers are afraid gold finishes will clash with the silver tones in their room, tell them Langdon says, “I am giving you permission to mix metals! Go for it!”
Mixing and matching metals adds depth and dimension to the design of a space. Cautious consumers can introduce the gilded trend through accessories such as wall décor, vases, metallic threaded pillows, lamps, trays, and small decorative boxes.
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Wallpaper made a big comeback several years ago, and Langdon predicts the trend will still be going strong this year. She points to the availability of peel-and-stick options and the increasing popularity of paper-backing textiles for creating endless possibilities.
“A terrific way to incorporate this trend in a high impact, low-commitment way is to use it in one smaller area,” Langdon advises. “For a recent client’s home, I covered just the foyer in a fresh and fabulous geometric seagrass to add visual and textural interest and offer guests a cheerful, inviting welcome.” Hallways or foyers with windows and doors are ideal places for bold wallpaper. “You get a hint of pattern, but it’s not overwhelming,” she explains.
If your customer shies away from patterns and multiple colors, “tone-on-tone is an elegant option to create textural contrast as we did with a neutral seagrass in a client’s dining room,” she says.
Another minimal, but impactful, option is to cover the backs of shelves in a playful, removable wall-
paper that can easily be removed or changed.
