Who are we to predict the future? Just some saps with laptops and what we think (see: know) is an impeccable sense of style. But while we wait for the good stuff to hurry up and get here already (What will be this year’s gray? Will minimalism make a comeback? Can home design get any greener?), we’ve decided to make our most likely (and possibly totally off the mark) guesses on this year’s design trends after the jump.
Bright bold colors: The world’s depressing enough as it is, what with the impending Depression Era tumbleweeds rolling down our fair streets. So why not live lively where you can, and amp up the bright bold colors at home? Screw accent walls — we’re going whole hog with rooms in bright colors closer to primary (like Zooey Deschanel’s enchanting royal rec room in this month’s Domino) or heavy dark hues (like bathrooms swathed in rich black). A rich hue costs the same as a cheap, muted hue, so it’s that save-spending logic people love so much. It’s what Obama would want.
Craft-a-palozza: Oh you twee folks, with your crafts and your knitting and your whittling or whatever it is your do. Well the handmade nation is only going to get bigger. That old hunk of junk coffee table you’ve got, your stuck with it. And by stuck with it, we mean stuck-at-home-because-you’re-unemployed-stuck-with-it. Even Jesus was a carpenter, so why not sand it and paint it, edge it in upholstery tacks, or tile it with pennies. Just keep Googling DIY ideas until your fingers get sore or you figure something out that you can do while sitting around in your underwear.
Mod Men: Everyone’s favorite hard-drinking television show has been heralded as a design (and cocktail making) messiah throughout its first two seasons. It’s time the folks at home hop on that bandwagon and ride. Expect a deluge of Eames-ian (as if we hadn’t seen enough already) exploits as the mid-century modern continues its design assault. If you’re smart, you’ll resist the urge to O.D. on Draper (Don not Dorothy) style. Temper those muted walls and clean lines with a bit of current time-period warmth, and remember no rocks cocktails before 12 —unless you’re at home DIY-ing in your underwear.
The Birds: Look around your apartment right now. Are there beady eyes staring at you? Some funky woodland creatures you picked at a craft fair? A pair of precious owl teacups you just had to have? A little chirpy print you bought on Etsy? Well Tippi Hedren, if they’re not already there, they’re coming for you. And they’ll peck your hipster eyes out. And if it’s not them, just wait a second, and it’ll be a new woodland creature (it was deer, last year ). You might feel like Snow White surrounded by well meaning forest folk now, but by December of 2009, when your studio looks like it’s a petting zoo, it might be time to decorate with items that don’t have a pulse. Or size up. 2010 is the year of the elephant. You heard it here first.
We’re hoping there will be some surprises, too; a must-have item or must-do design trick that will come out of no where — the Talkboy of interiors if you will. But we’ll just have to wait and see. We can’t predict everything.