Last year left many of us eyeing our homes in a new light, whether we were forced to confront long-overdue renovations or simply felt like sprucing up. And the unique challenges of 2020 have led to many of the design trends of 2021.
With peak home project season upon us, here are some of this year's design trends:
Functionality. With everyone home at once, open layouts became a liability last year, and people started finding ways to divide space among family members and room function (office vs. personal, for example). Experts expect this trend to continue: Dividers (and sometimes walls) are going up, and rooms are being converted — formal dining rooms into lounge or kid spaces, guest rooms into craft rooms, etc.
Edible plants and indoor plants. Whether it's the calming effect of tending plants or the functionality of home-grown herbs and veggies, greenery is big.
Yellow and gray. For the first time, Pantone named two colors of the year for 2021. And they were philosophical about it. The company paired Ultimate Gray with Illuminating, a bright yellow. The combination, said the company, is "a message of happiness supported by fortitude, We need to feel that everything is going to get brighter — this is essential to the human spirit."
A few other trends include: the return of wallpaper, especially the peel and stick variety; diamond patterned flooring, which is popular painted on wood flooring, and smart lighting.