(BPT) – Craving a change in your home décor but don’t have the budget to hire an interior designer or do a major remodel? No problem! This year the trends involve natural materials, handmade accents, and rich colors. It’s about bringing the outside in, making your home a haven of peace and calm, and creating a sense of comfortable, lived-in style that’s inviting to your family and friends alike. Best of all? You can do it all with change to spare.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Incorporate lavender accents
Last year’s pink craze is getting softer and richer as lavender is making its way to the forefront of home décor trends. Try a set of lavender sheets, throw pillows, or rugs. It pairs wonderfully with natural wood for a rustic look, and sets off neutral wall colors like dark beiges and smoky greens and slates. You can kick this trend up a notch with Pantone’s color of the year, Ultra Violet. But use it sparingly. You don’t want your house looking like the interior of Paisley Park.
Embrace wabi-sabi
Think of it as Japanese shabby chic. It’s the art of finding beauty in imperfection, but it can also mean “lived in.” This isn’t about stark white walls, perfect china and rooms you never want to sit down in. Try some handmade items like pottery from a local artisan, wood-grained accent pieces with flaws and all, and stones, seaglass or shells you gathered on a beach walk adorning your window sills. Wabi-sabi is meant to add a sense of calm to your rooms, signaling it’s okay for visitors to be themselves.
Make a mosaic out of memories
Get your photos off your smartphone and onto your walls, using a new app called StickUpPix. Download the app to your iPhone, select photos from your camera roll, crop to your liking, and confirm your order. You’ll get 8″ x 8″ sticky-backed photo squares in the mail a few days later. Stick them on any smooth, painted surface. They’re re-adjustable, too, and won’t harm your walls. You can make a mosaic out of your newborn’s photos in the baby’s room, do a montage of your wedding photos on your hallway wall, or do a collage of awesome vacation photos of the kids in the den. Learn more at stickuppix.com.
Add some warmth to the heart of your home
If you embraced the all-white kitchen trend of the past few years, it’s time to add some color back in. You don’t need to do a major, expensive overhaul with new tile and countertops. Keep those as they are. Warm things up with paint. Sage green, light pink, marine blue and even black are on trend this year for cabinets. Set it all off with new drawer and cabinet pulls in natural steel or brushed nickel. Even a colorful throw rug will warm up the space.
Say it with velvet
Everything old is new again, and so it goes with velvet. Once seen as dated and old fashioned, it’s now viewed as chic and trendy. You can invest in a velvet couch or armchair, but you don’t have to go that far. Ease into it with a set of velvet throw pillows or an ottoman. Make sure you’re choosing deep, rich colors (no pastels, please) and you’ll be surprised how much warmth it will add to your room.
You can easily breathe some new life into your four walls, and it doesn’t have to break the bank. Get a little creative, find your inner DIYer, and above all, have fun.
