The traditional style of 2000
It’s been 20 years since Stuff launched. Kylie Klein-Nixon finds out how have our homes changed since then.
Sleigh beds, dark wooden furniture, plaid . . . If there’s a word to sum up the style of the 00s, it could be ‘‘traditional’’.
But it was also a period of personal and fiercely individual style, where bright, almost loud colour gave way to a return to nature and natural materials.
We’re celebrating Stuff’s 20th birthday today, so I wanted to invite you into my decor time machine for a trip down brocade and velvet lined memory lane . . . except it turns out the Aughts (Naughts? Naughtys?) isn’t an easy period to pin down style-wise.
Sure there was a return to trad design, but as the world opened up though social media, the 00s and teens were also the years when we became decor magpies, swooping in and making off with inspiration from every time, place, and style guru that took our fancy.
The 00s saw the rise of eclectic interiors inspired by Victorian collectors, the return of Japanese minimalism (which would eventually fuse with Scandi-style to give us something awkwardly called Japandi) and its loud, rambunctious answer, Maximalism.
The black skinny jeans of interior design, Scandi-style and an obsession with Scandinavian design, is still going strong today, 20 years later.
‘‘Its pared-back, clean and functional aesthetic has resonated with many people who also see that it offers a backdrop for individuality, through adding texture, pattern and pops of colour,’’ says NZ House and Garden editor Naomi Larkin.
‘‘Clean whites and greys in every tone have been a consistent thread [since 2000], coupled with pops of colour.
‘‘So for example, yellow cushions or a yellow chair within a predominantly grey room. Likewise, strong neutrals have remained popular.’’
In 2000, we embraced warm whites and neutrals like tea and magnolia (well, some of us did), and embraced the snowy galleryesque walls, or cool neutral greys of Scandinavian design.
It became a simple backdrop for our constantly evolving personal style, changing cushions as often as we changed our minds.
In 2010, we also discovered a crisp white wall looked crazy-good on Instagram, the craze of sharing our decor with the world was born, and it’s stuck.
There wasn’t one dominant style rocking our interiors, however. While some of us were slathering on the Half Black White like there was no tomorrow, others were looking to bring the outdoors in.
Biophilia – creating living environments packed with plants, green walls and a sense of the outdoors indoors – inspired by our ever-increasing eco-awareness, has been ‘‘a significant focus during this period’’.
‘‘The idea of designing a home and using materials that enable it to blend in with its surrounding landscape rather than stand out was also the biggest trend of the period.’’
That was never more pronounced than in kitchen design, says award-winning designer Davinia Sutton.
‘‘We moved on from avocado and blue kitchens – everyone can remember that, back in the late 80s and 90s,’’ says Sutton.
‘‘Kiwi design and interiors in the last 20 years has been more and more reflective of our environment and our culture of going back to nature a little bit. Rather than bright, poppy and bold colours, it’s been quite neutral.’’
From being a place where food is prepared, the kitchen took up almost permanent residence in our living rooms after 2000, becoming the heart of the home again.
That settling reflects our history, Sutton says, telling the story of how we, as New Zealanders, have evolved.
‘‘Even though our homes aren’t always large, we tend to play tricks with the eye and by having those open spaces the house starts to read as one, rather than separate, individual elements.
‘‘Also, it’s no longer [a space for] the mother at home with apron strings on. I guess in the last 20 years that has been a real change, most women work now. So the kitchen space isn’t defined for just mum. It’s for the whole family.’’
In the 2000s, there was a move towards a more calm, serene interior as lifestyles got busier and the pressure to hustle, greater.
‘‘Our homes have become a space to recoup and restore, and that’s probably been the main factor driving interiors,’’ says Sutton.
That’s particularly the case with bathrooms, which Larkin says moved from being neutral – think subway tiles and turn-of-thelast-century style white pedestal sinks and slipper baths – to natural and luxurious – think warm wood veneers, copper and darker colours.
‘‘Bathrooms have got bigger and where possible, aim to be a sanctuary as opposed to simply being utilitarian – a place to get clean.’’
Technology has been able to create a different mood and ambience in bathrooms with lighting and heating, says Sutton.
‘‘It’s more of a spa treatment rather than a cold, clinical space.’’
Technology has changed everything, says Larkin, from digitally printed wall coverings through to fingerprint door locks.
‘‘The kitchen has made some of the most significant gains with things like induction hobs, steam ovens and smart appliances that can be controlled from almost anywhere.
‘‘It’s a case of ‘watch this space’ when it comes to our homes and the advances technology will bring.’’
But by far the biggest advent of the 2000s was us.
No longer content for home to just be nice and neat, our interiors became as personal to us as our wardrobes.
‘‘Interiors and fashion are so often interlinked and both have reached the point where anything goes’’ says Larkin.
‘‘With the proliferation of social media and global platforms like Pinterest and Instagram, our access to ideas and inspiration has become so easy and so broad that people can get ideas from all sorts of movements, places and cultures with a single click that previously they had to visit or research.’’
One thing, however, has not changed, and probably never will.
‘‘The extent of how this manifests still rests on the confidence of the individual.’’