The biggest loser… our homes?
The trend to lighten our load began some years ago as a movement to clean up the clutter in our homes. It segued to the still-popular idea of adding simpler hotel or spa-like design qualities to our living spaces.
And if new products just revealed at the largest home show in the world are any indication, we can expect this trend to continue, with our rooms visually… and literally, shedding some pounds.
Milan’s annual Salon Internazionale del Mobile once again focused the eyes of the world on home and furniture design trends for the year ahead.
Frosted glass-top coffee table, silver-based chair @ Milan Show
As the setting above illustrates, a ‘lightening up’ of our surroundings will continue to be a key theme.
But combating clutter and adding more daylight in our homes is moving well beyond organizing our stuff, painting our walls a lighter color or lightening our window treatments. Well-selected home furnishings make all the difference, and new solutions in Milan drew on every tool at hand, from lighter-colored materials to chic atmospheres to lighter-looking designs.
Chic environments and thinly scaled furnishings in Milan
More mid- and light-toned wood finishes, as well as quieter wood grains, promise alternatives to the sea of heavier-looking dark wood finishes of the past decade. Glossy or polished white surfaces (frosted glass, acrylic, marble or laminate) often topped wood cabinets, tables and cupboards, while a broad range of light-colored fabrics covered sofas and chairs.
Light-looking contemporary styles, already popular in Europe, were warmed up with complex or multiple textures on a single piece of furniture. But the big news here was the scaling and proportion of products.
Many cases and cabinets featured floating or cantilevered tops or sections, as well as lighter-looking legs, gables and other structural elements.
Cases in Milan had floating or cantilevered tops
Most exciting was a new ‘thinness’ of table tops, shelves and legs, including the use of metal rather than wood as a way to offer structural strength at a lighter scale. Expanses of opaque cabinets were often balanced with ‘open’ sections of shelving (including plenty of dividing panels); the benefit being a larger-looking space that carefully organizes the things we want to see in the open.
Even accent color trends felt light and weightless, including plenty of canary, tangerine, aqua and turquoise.
If Milan is any indication, maybe it’s time we put our home décor on a diet? At any rate, the newest furniture trends are sure to lighten your load at home.
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