good trends in home decor right now…that we want to do in our own way

Trends in general, if we may say so, are ridiculous because they take individuality out of the equation. Imagine if everyone followed the same trends, there’d be no unique home decor left. Soooo, the right way, in our opinion, to do trends (because hey, it is also always fun to do them), is to put your own little twist on it. And not invest too deeply in them. And do it in a way that feels less trendy, and more..here to stay.

Still with us?..good

Here are some trends that we’re seeing a lot on our Pinterest and in magazines (or maybe we're looking for them 👀 ) and liking over the past few months, and here’s how we would do them:

1. Stainless steel

Yes, we’re seeing stainless steel everywhere. Sure, stainless steel counters and a backsplash in the kitchen look super cool.

But it’s a big investment. And if you don’t want to do that, we recommend investing in little pieces to add a bit of cool tones to your already very warm and cosy place. You can buy a small stainless steel work bench/table for a corner in your kitchen. 

A quick AI generated image by us because we couldn’t find anything on Pinterest - can you believe it? [We would recommend a smaller size though].

If not that, we’re really into stainless steel lights, brushed aluminum semi pendants or chrome sconces.

Little silver pendant light at Casa Josephine’s La Rioja B&B in Spain <3.

And if this also still feels like a high involvement purchase (because lights can be expensive), we would recommend just adding small unexpected touches of stainless steel to your decor or table, like these Nespresso saucers as dessert plates, or these candleholders, or thrift a chrome frame for your art.

A small corner of my 550 sqft condo in Toronto.

Hot tip: mix your silvers and chromes with medium to darker tones of wood or just generally warmer tones to have it really..shine. Otherwise, it can begin to feel a little cold.

Pictured here is: cool + warm mixed perfectly:

2. Oddly sized framed art

So. We’re into either massively large framed art…or a super small one.

Gallery walls are always great when done right, but try this: frame a large piece of unique textile you might have, a tapestry or just large canvas art and use it on a big wall to fill it up.

Nobody does textile like Catherine Marie Longtin, a UK-based quilter from Montreal.

Okay well, this isn’t framed. But it’s an interesting way to put it and that’s a gorgeous suzani.

A cool piece of very large canvas art. Also, very DIY-able - just sayin.

It’s either that. Or…put a very small frame on a large, empty wall.

This is from Benji Le’s supercool place.

You’re still with us?...good. :))

3. Unique matting

While we’re still talking about art. Here’s another thing that we have noticed some, but are really into: framing and matting your art in an unexpected way. 

A protruded painting in a dark oak coloured wooden frame with hessian matting.

A fun size is always..well, fun:

Pakistani artist, Marium Kamal’s little ladies.

And so is a unique orientation/position:

And finally, you can use a different color than the regular white or off-white:

4. Chocolate Brown and Hummus Yellow

Let’s talk colors. One color that we’re seeing everywhere right now (just like in the 90s and early noughties) is a Chocolate brown - especially in furniture upholstery, textile, and well, there’s always brown wood furniture.

We could actually go big with this and invest in a chocolate brown sofa (because brown’s always still been pretty neutral when it comes to couches, right?)

If you want to go brown but in a slightly smaller way, how about curtains?

And if you want to just dab your feet in the color, a small way to incorporate it is by adding in a couple of pillows or throw blankets.

May we suggest some from our shop:

Handloomed midcentury pillow.

Handmade rilli throw blanket, slow-crafted in rural Sindh.

Another color everyone seems to be painting their walls with is a very pale buttery yellow, which we are going to call a Hummus yellow (because we need any reason to show solidarity, right? ;)). It’s a nice, happy balance - not a crazy yellow but also not a boring neutral.

It’s a really comforting color to paint your kitchen.

Or even just a piece of furniture, if you’re into that.

Hot tip: Even though we might be seeing red go a bit out of trend, but we do still like to add pops of red, orange and royal blue with our browns and yellows.

5. Officey fixtures

If you see a wall unit that you think belongs in an office, it’s probably trending right now. Filing cabinets are cool. Modular entertainment centers are cool - think chrome frames with powder coated steel panels. Desk lamps or clamp-on lamps are cool:

We also like how this little filing cabinet or set of drawers is resting on an actual piece of furniture:

5. Lived-in homes

Sue us, but karate chops are out. In our opinion, they always were. In our opinion, this should be the general theme of all interiors, as it has always been for ours. We’re noticing more and more of how people like their homes to ‘look’ more lived in or undone - the interior version of ‘woke up like this’ or ‘no-makeup makeup’. This is a great trend, and hopefully one that’s here to stay. Because the pressure and the sustainability of keeping a home immaculate is unreasonable. Especially if you live with people and fur-people.

What this means is, you’ll see more imperfect gallery walls, melted candles, no more karate chopping your cushions (ew), maybe some wires showing, maybe some chipped pottery, watermarks on coffee tables and some reparability - patched up quilts, ceramics etc. Because ya’ll know we’re such believers of that here.

So to summarize, just homes that feel real are in:

6. Whimsy decor?

Next on our list is: bows and ties and ruches and ruffles - think Parisian chic. Although this trend has always taken some form or the other (and have been mostly divisive); we’re seeing more and more of it in mainstream home decor.

Ruched bedding - which we’ve been seeing on and off for a couple of years - is more popular now. The most popular iteration of it is probably by Gata, a Korean brand:

We don’t think this would be the most comfortable bedding, even though it could look nice in some situations. If we were to do ties in our bedding though, we would probably do it in the shape of a bed skirt (to hide all those boxes under the bed, iykyk) - and although it feels a little 2019 but in our opinion, it could be a classic:

Or we would bow out of big investments and bow in to small ones:

Gohar World’s tapers from one of their newer collections are love.

7. Patchwork curtains

Lastly, but not not leastly - Korean patchwork curtains hung as gorgeous patchworked sheer-ish sheets that let light in (scroll up to see Benji Le’s place again). This is a nice little trend that we have not seen a lot of, but just here and there. Apparently it’s a Korean craft called Pojagi (or Bojagi):

If you have stayed with us long enough, you know we have been doing the South Asian version of these curtains in our home (and now on our shop too) called rilli (or ralli curtains) which is a Pakistani patchwork or appliqué-work craft.

This is them:

Still..with us? Thank you!