Katy Lifestyles and Homes magazine Feb 2010: Bold Design Ideas Feature Colorful, Versatile Fabrics

By Sandra Meineke

Light gives us the ability to see our world. Color gives us the ability to differentiate it, decorate it, make it our own. Who hasn ’t spent hours pouring over color chips, paint splashes, fabric and wallpaper books trying to decide on just the right shade or design?

But, the perfect color or design for you may not light up somebody else’s life. And that’s okay. Home decorating no longer has to follow the rules. What may have been a faux pas in the past could be today ’s creative masterpiece. Homeowners are free to express their own style in their own way without worrying about the decorating police showing up at the door. Anything goes.

If you’re still not convinced, just try pinning down the textile experts on fabric trends for 2010. Depending on whom you talk to, trends run from bold and bright to mid-century modern to eco-friendly to nostalgic.

According to Stacy Senior Allan, marketing director of Thibaut Inc., spring trends are going toward fresh, bright, bold and uplifting. “Bringing this trend indoors is truly what is needed to move forward from 2009. By updating and brightening your home interior, you are improving your environment and expressing your personal style, ” Allan says. “In bad economic times, people tend to return to styles that are comforting. Stark, modern interiors often aren ’t comforting, so by adding touches of tradition and nostalgia, you bring life and energy back into your home. ”

Meanwhile, Mayouri Sengchanh of Paris style agency Carlin International, presented the latest textile trends for 2010/2011 at the Heimtextil International Trade Fair in Frankfurt, Germany. Trend contributors categorized this year ’s trends into four style directions: Futurustic, Temptation, Hypernature and Intuition. The styles focus on sustainable eco-luxury, tradition and modern, nature, and innovation and spontaneous creativity.

The Futurustic trend statement shows the need to nurture and protect earth’s resources and cleverly highlights aspects of authenticity and ecological considerations. Futurustic features high quality simplicity. Aesthetically, Futurustic concentrates on subtleties, fine weaves and the frothy and voluminous as well as on natural, earthy colors.

Temptation is designed to appeal to the senses in an age of technology, the Internet and public life. While people are becoming more and more networked, the desire for a private sphere is increasing and the quest for inner values growing. The private sphere we seek is clearly apparent in interior design in the form of a cocoon-like mini-living room bathed in colors such as absinthe and red wine. next page>>