Welcome back to our series on home decorating trends for 2011; today we present our second home trend which is titled ‘Girly Glamour’. This is the age of elegance where ladies can fall in love with sensuous fabrics and shimmering metallics. The look is however, understated rather than brash and overly proud – go easy on decorative accessories and focus more on making essential items glamorous and of good quality.
Colours – The colour palette is mostly soft metallics and glimmering neutrals – think about brushed golds, silvery greys, oyster, champagne, caramel and blushing pinks; completed with a classic and crisp white. It wouldn’t be at all off the beaten track to have a tonal colour scheme where white plays into oyster and then to various tones of soft and shimmering greys.
Flooring, Walls & Ceiling – With a somewhat lighter colour palette, flooring might be a mid to dark tone of wood or carpet to help ground the space. This being said, in areas of the home where more relaxation is called upon – the dreaminess of a lighter flooring could be more appropriate. Woodwork will take on eggshell or satin finishes in white or a tint and the walls will long for a sheen too; most likely the wallpaper trend of 2010 will follow through well into the new year and for Girly Glamour you can imagine period prints in any of the aforementioned colours, reflecting off a white or light grey background.
Furniture – Furniture for this trend will be a mixture of both modern and romantic styles of design – some decorative touches from period pieces such as diamond button headboards, glass hardware and S shaped legs will be admirable but also pieces with a more modern approach will be used to balance out what should be an ‘understated’ elegance. As you might expect from the proposed colour palette, furniture will be white or an almost white and any upholstery will compliment the rest of the room’s colour scheme.
Textiles – Girly Glamour really comes into its element with textiles and this is the area of design where you should really let your hair down! It has to be gorgeous, there should definitely be some of those shimmering pieces coming out of the closet and plenty of adorable fabrics – velvet will see a huge rise in popularity, satin duvet cover sets, deep wool pile rugs, silk and more velvet. The detailing of these fabrics will add more pleasure to your interiors – have a think about pearls or beaded edges, pretty ruffles and bows to give rooms the wow factor. For window treatments, tab top voile curtains are affordable yet very effective in accomplishing that look of luxury – choose one white pair and hang a second (subtle) colour in front or behind for a unique window dressing.
Lighting & Accessories – Take it easy now, this is where the romantic style of décor is updated by having a minimalist approach with accessories – simplicity is the key. White pendant lights rather than statement chandeliers and collections of clear glass vases with single white blooms in them. Really, you can accessorise with beautiful fabrics so do add an extra throw over the bed or sofa and use pretty fabrics and detailing to lampshades.
