So what else is going on in home interior design in 2010?...
The state of the economy has fed the trend to blend traditional and modern interior design. Money is tighter so we are trying to conserve dollars and use more sense by simply working with or even repurposing the items already in our homes. We are also focusing more on our homes since we’re spending more time in them; establishing more sound and reasonable budgets for redecorating or updating projects; and deliberating longer over these projects so the end result delivers the best possible outcome.
“Spend Wisely” is the 2010 mantra!
It’s no doubt that we’re all affected by the economy, and it’s stressful. “Staying with what is recognizable and comfortable is what people tend to do in stressful times”, according to color and trend analyst Stephen Bernasconi. In the High Point Fall Fashion Report he said, "When the economy is tough people tend to long for the good ‘ol days . . . and we’re certainly in a period now where people want their ‘comfort’ food.” (High Point Market is one of the world’s most influential home furnishings events that shape future design trends.)
So the comfy ‘mac ‘n cheese’ of design is being updated and elevated by mixing traditional and contemporary furnishings, as well as fusing the styles to create a fresh soup du jour. The recently coined “trad-mo” (TRADitional-MODern) describes this mixing of apparent contradictions.
In Arthur Douglas Thayer’s High Point column he confirms, “The blending of traditional and contemporary styling has accelerated. This blurring of classic and modern design means that a Louis XIV chair may be covered in a bright silk print.” Or, a cushy, cozy bean bag chair can be covered in a high-end, luxury velvet!
Thayer added, “As a counterpoint, a recent survey revealed that a new, more up-to-date permutation of country outstripped both modern and classic as a style of choice for most Americans.” (also called modern-rustic or modern farmhouse.) Could this be something like our Autumn Leaves bean bag chairs, with its updated floral design (not your Grandma’s roses) in a contemporary chenille and rustic colors?
Below you see the Autumn Leaves bean bag chair beside a traditional sofa and contemporary cigar chair. The coffee table is a modern leather version. To complete the trad-mo, eclectic feel, a Japanese antique is repurposed into a bookshelf and an antique trunk is used for storage. Modern touches include the asian-inspired, contemporary floral print and modern landscape painting in bright colors. Accessories include an antique African crocodile sculpture and glass vases in modern shapes.
If you’re worried about blending, Thayer says, “Tonal colorations in fabrics and flooring help bridge whatever styling gap may result from the merging of disparate trends and styles.” So whatever your tastes, trad-mo or rustic-mo, you can make it all cohesive. Choose colors in the same family, like the autumn colors above, for example. Warm, golden wood floors tie all the earthy furniture pieces together.
Speaking of color…“Cooking with neutrals and seasoning with color,” according to designer Barry Dixon of Barry Dixon, Inc. Sprinkle colorful accent pieces among your neutrals, or fun designs among your solids (throw pillows, lamp shades, lap blankets, and a bean bag chair would be easy accents!). Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color said, “People are thinking twice about how they are spending their money, and when they are spending money on big ticket items they are more apt to be thoughtful and opt for a neutral color. In fact Pantone added a palette of neutrals to their eight-palette forecast. We didn’t actually call it a ninth palette, but we felt it was important to reflect the fact that there is that elephant in the room.”. (Pantone is the furniture industry benchmark for color.)
Speaking of elephants…Gray is all the rage in 2010. Softer than black, gray is a cool neutral that works well against the wood and metallic elements that are emerging. According to Eiseman, grays are replacing the warm beiges that have dominated the color scene. They can be warm but are largely cooler which makes them a fresh alternative. The Zen, unobtrusiveness of gray can have a calming effect for people.” One of our elevated versions of gray is the Earth Stripe Chenille bean bag chair. You can place these bean bags in almost any room.
One night in Bangkok I met with a tarot reader. He sat quietly in a booth nestled between vendors trumpeting trinkets and t-shirts in the hot, crowded Suan Lam Night Bazaar. According to the fortune teller, my future involved money and also travels to a place represented by a card labeled “ordinariness”.
His cards spoke the truth—I’m home now and broke. But I had an amazing adventure nonetheless in Bangkok.
Bangkok is antiquated in places, and totally modern in others.It is beaten down and also built up.I felt comfortable in this city because, well, it was like my house.
I live in a new home with some of those sought after upgrades like granite, fancy moldings, and huge windows. This shiny, new backdrop has been lovingly decorated with battered flea market finds, my mother’s discards, and one new couch.
The first year in our new home, I would wander its rooms and weep little tears of longing for fresh, off-the-truck furnishings. But my budget forced me to embrace my mixed up, mish-mashed, eclectic design aesthetic and so I ran with it. My trip to Bangkok deepened my appreciation of the beauty in disparities and mismatched things.
Now as I walk through my home, the Chinese Buddha who rests atop an antique phone table with a bright Kandinsky print hanging over his head seemingly smiles at me as if to say, “We like it this way, and it’s OK.”
Lucky for me because thiseclectic design aesthetic I’ve applied to my home out of pure necessity is one of the biggest design trends for 2010.
Libby Langdon, an interior designer and expert commentator on HGTV’s show “Small Space, Big Style”, commented on the trend in her Industry Insights column for the High Point Market Web site. She said, “Consumers are getting more confident about surrounding themselves with the things they love and by gosh, if they bought that enormous Southwestern dining table while they were on their honeymoon, but now like a 1960s mod chair, they are going to mix them together and love it! Designers have been doing it for years. Now thanks to all those design shows, everybody else is figuring it out.” Langdon also said that consumers today trust their own taste more.
It’s true. Driven by my love of interior design, I comb through magazines and watch HGTV to pick up some of the ways interior designers blend seemingly off-beat colors, patterns, and furniture styles to create a beautiful, pulled together room. Now that interior design has been demystified, I feel confident enough to create an interior that speaks to my individuality.
Unsure you can mix it up? It’s like this: consider the comfy, floppy fleece bean bag chairs you got for your kids because they take them to a happy place. It’s OK to bring them up from the basement and use them alongside your sleek, modern leather couch and contemporary glass and steel coffee table. If that’s too much of a stretch for you, give the bean bags a touch of modern with cool new covers like the Kinetic Energy style.You’ll be mixing retro, home-y furniture with modern pieces in a pleasing way.
Explore the fun of design and step away from the perfectly matched sets of yesteryear and into a mix of styles, fabrics, furniture, and accessories! Below you find traditional form and texture on the upholstered sofa paired with the simple, clean lines of contemporary leather cigar chairs and coffee tables. Note the crystal and steel lamps that combine retro inspiration with a clean, simple, modern feel.These fixtures are paired with a traditionally shaped wall sconce; the dark scrolled iron and beige lamp shades are quite old-world. It’s hard not to notice the very modern abstract painting and fireplace hanging that pop with color.The updated trophy deer head is a playful twist on traditional rustic! (photo courtesy of HGTV.) Plop in a Kinetic Energy bean bag on that retro shag rug and you’re ready for 2010!
Mother's Day is Sunday, May 9 this year. I'm a Mommy, so I can tell you it's a VERY special day for us. For all the things we do for our families, it's nice to know we are appreciated at least once every year (so you better make Mom feel extra loved on Sunday!).
Here are 10 unique gift and activity ideas to do for Mother's Day that are easy and fun:
1. Of course, bean bag chairs are a part of my everyday life as a bean bag chair store owner. How about making one a part of Mom's life? A bean bag chair nestled beside a good lamp or next to a bright window can be Mom's favorite reading nook. Get 2 bean bags, one for her tush and one to kick up her tired feet! Here's me in mine:
2. Go to the library or bookstore and get a book about something Mom is interested in: gardening, antiques, quilting, fashion, animals, etc. She will appreciate that her family pays attention to what she likes. She may even be quite surprised you noticed! Make a bookmark covered in thank you notes to her.
4. On a big sheet of poster paper, everyone contribute to a list of all the things she does for you. From basic stuff like what your favorite meal is to little things you notice like waking up before you every morning to make sure you're not late for school. Mothers sacrifice because we love, but we don't necessarily like doing the laundry, so it's nice our work is noticed! Everybody sign and date it.
5. Draw a portrait of the family with Mom in the middle. Be creative with crayons, markers, glitter, etc. Draw everyone sitting on bean bag chairs! If you want to reach out to extended family, draw a family tree and get everyone on the tree to write a note to Mom next to their name. How to: http://www.ehow.com/video_4774628_draw-family-tree-diagram.html
6. Make a storybook depicting a day in the life of what Mom does for the family. Put your book on top of her bean bag chair so she can read it as soon as she sees her new reading nook. Don't forget to dedicate it to her and include every author's name.
8. Plan a picnic at a local park or in the backyard. Bring a jar filled with thank you notes. Take your personalized kite.
9. At breakfast, lunch, and dinner, go around the table and tell Mom why you love her and what she does for you. Give her a hug after each speech.
10. Moms can never get enough coupon books! I mean the ones that offer her a foot massage from Dad, breakfast in bed from the kids, one week of making her bed for her, 1 hour a day free of distractions to sit and read on her bean bag chair, etc. Make sure you are willing to do what your coupon offers!
So, for all the Dads out there: print this out and get going with your kids on some (or all) or these ideas. For all the Moms out there: maybe you need to print this out and hand it to Dad...*wink*
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"We love our bean bags! We've had them forever, like 1999 or something. Our kids grew up in them, now they want their own. They have totally held up over the years." -J.G. (she reordered more bean bags)
"They're great! We love 'em. We got our bean bags for Christmas (2005). The kids beat the snot out of them!" -S.F.
