GET GLAMOROUS THIS AUTUMN
Transition from summer trends to fall decor likely to be easier this year with pastels, beautiful greens and soft pinks in vogue
Each season brings a new wave of home-decor items and approaches that promise to transport us seamlessly from one set of weather conditions to the next, but fall can be a tricky one. We’re not always ready to shelve the hot pinks, reds and yellows of summer and suddenly shift into darker, heavier decor.
This fall, however, the transition might seem a little easier, says Kathy Davy, head of communication and interior design for Ikea Canada, describing some of the colours and materials we’ll be seeing.
“Blonde wood, pastels, but very dusty pastels,” she says.
“They have a deeper, almost grey undertone, beautiful greens and soft pinks that really transform the space into a more light and airy feeling. It’s very Nordic, very Scandinavian. It’s a play on lightness I would say.”
The darker colours are on their way, Davy says, with Ikea ushering in “smoked glass,” lush velvets, olive greens and cranberry reds for the winter months, but for now, the mood is still fairly light.
What we are seeing for fall, Davy says, is furniture that performs double duty in response to the increased movement toward urbanization and people living in smaller spaces.
“The sofa is also a place to sleep,” she says. “Your dining table is also a place you can work at or do crafts or hobbies or those kinds of things. The furniture isn’t used in a single way anymore; furniture is used in a multi-functional way.”
Two pieces included in Ikea’s new 2019 catalogue that reflect this trend, Davy says, are the Ekedalen extendable dining table and Brathult corner sofa bed, which provides storage underneath.
“We’re finding more and more people buying pieces that are really scalable to their space,” Davy says. “Scale-able meaning small, suiting their everyday needs, and going bigger when they have need for guests or company coming over.”
This fall we’ll be seeing more of the popular metallic accents and jewel tones in furniture, says HomeSense design expert Tamara Robbins Griffins.
“Dining chairs, coffee tables and desks featuring brushed or satin brass add a hint of luxury and warmth to a decor scheme,” Griffins says. “The look is modern, polished and complements moody jewel tones like emerald, sapphire and ruby.”
We’ll also be seeing a lot more natural materials, like “wood, stone and shell” used in everything from furniture to lighting, she says.
“These organic elements add a cosy warmth to the room and layer on texture,” she says. “In preparation for the changing seasons, add cosy throws and cushions in mohair and wool to create a truly inviting living space.”
Dark green, which proved so popular in home decor last fall and winter, is once again trending strongly this fall, says Susan Forint, colour and decor expert for Delux Paints.
“As we move into fall and on into 2019, we’re seeing richer, quite lush paint colours emerge,” Forint says.
“Like deep black-green and night sky blue, derived from nature and used either on their own or as a complement to neutral colours in a room’s scheme.”
Both Dulux Paints’ colours of the year for 2019 — Night Watch and Mojito Shimmer — are shades of dark green.
“Both of these colours represent the ultimate in luxe, delivering a rich, striking look that brings sophistication and depth to living spaces,” says Dulux brand manager Martin Tustin-Fuchs.
“An evolution from last year’s popular tinted black, these glamorous dark greens are symbolic of consumers’ desire for positive change — to move from darkness to twilight and to search for an element of rebirth in today ’s complex, technologically driven world.”