This story was originally published on Westpac REDNews and is republished with permission.
Creating the perfect aesthetic for your house requires a certain taste and sense of style.
With such of variety of furnishing options, colours, and textures, we asked interior designers Turton/Oliver about some of the 2018 trends they are seeing here and overseas.
Bronwyn Turton and Mel Oliver are two designers working from a boutique studio, Turton/Oliver, in Hamilton who are passionate about creating beautiful spaces for their clients.
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The pair work on a range of projects in residential and commercial and assist with clients, architects, and builders to create spaces that exceed expectations and add value to projects.
Here are a few trends the pair are currently seeing in New Zealand.
1. Colours
Colour trends are moving away from soft, clean, pastel colours and more into rich earthy tones.
Terracotta, rusty red and deep greens are making a comeback.
Embrace colour in your home, it adds depth, personality and life into a space. If you fear that you’ll grow tired of it in a year’s time, then use something that is easy to change like paint or décor to achieve this.
Break the rules. A contrast and juxtaposition of materials is trending.
Timber has moved from light tones, like oak to richer browns, like walnut but don’t be afraid to pair a light timber with a dark timber in your space, it’s easier to contrast than it is to match.
2. Kitchens
Kitchens have moved away from stark white and into the use of multiple materials to create a contrast.
The use of different benchtop materials allows people to be able to afford that beautiful natural stone benchtop for their island and then they’ll use a more durable and cost effective material for their other benchtops.
Bench tops have moved from thick and chunky, to thin with a negative detail.
Marble is still on trend but it has moved from light Carrara to coloured marble like deep greens, pinks and browns.
Terrazzo (chips of speckled stone) is making a comeback in both kitchen benchtops and bathroom tiles, this can be used as a statement colour in the space or a tonal texture.
3. Furnishings
Furnishings are soft and rounded with a retro feel to them, this is a departure from sharp and angular shapes.
Texture and colours are being used for upholstery like velvets and rich colours.
Brass and black metals are being used instead of rose gold or chrome, think muted glam.
There is beginning to be a shift in the consumer mindset on products.
They are starting to ask the question, where is my product made, by who and what is it made of?
The end life of a product is being considered, when consumers are purchasing furniture they want to know what it’s made out of and how it can be recycled at the end of its life span.
Upcycling and recovering old furniture to give it a new life span is also happening with furniture being passed down through generations.
If you spend good money, you’ll only have to buy once.