Design 101: Interior Design Trends for 2021

Step aside grey’s, warm tones are coming back! As we spend more and more time indoors—working from home and hunkering down through the winter—we are longing to be closer to nature. Moving into 2021, we are seeing a greater push towards warm organic tones to invite the outdoors in and create a cheerful, inviting environment that you won’t want to leave.

Here’s a few of our picks and why we love them: 

• Fresh Day—Cheerful, bright, fresh take & richer, sophisticated tone of pink (shift from the softer and more pastel ‘millennial pink)
• Peace of Mind—New ‘it’ colour, ochre, cozy, sense of comfort, gender neutral
• Big Spender—Alternative to mid tone grey, pairs with warm and cool accents alike – adds depth and warmth while keeping an airy feel/vibe
• Urbane Bronze—A more livable version of ‘off black’ great for drama and moodiness without the severity of a true black

Fluted glass and reeded textures are popping up everywhere!

It’s the perfect way to add subtle texture and create soft visual interest without sacrificing light or overly obscuring views. Fluted glass lighting, shower partitions, den doors, and cabinetry accents all create a dimensional soft distortion through the reeded texture. The options are limitless.

The repetitive pattern is not only calming, but adds a unique touch of contemporary glamour while nodding in the direction of classical architectural elements.

This makes it effortless to mix into with a myriad of design styles without leaning towards one specifically. This effect can also translate easily into wall finishes, furniture pieces, lighting and hardware.

Take it from full service interior design and e-commerce company, Scout and Nimble, when they say “tight leading between flutes/reeds builds texture and contrast while more spaced out fluting creates a softer, less intense effect.” 

60’s and 70’s inspired curves are making their way back in 2021 with the idea of embracing softness and form in contrast to the rectilinear norm we have been accustomed to in the last decade.

Pierre Carapetian describes how they pair well with geometric designs, so mixing and matching will result in a truly captivating environment. This trend is also not limited to furniture but can also include light fixtures, mirrors, archways and anything else emulating waves, circles and curves.

Design studio and Netflix star, Studio McGee, reminds us that incorporating more curves in your spaces doesn’t have to mean adding an arched doorway. Adding subtle details to round out your look can be as simple as switching out hardware or layering in a curved accent chair.

As we are spending more time at home, there is a call and need for more flexible layouts. This isn’t to say that open floorplans are on their way out, but the need for privacy and separation within a home is becoming the new normal.

Amanda Lauren, Contributor at Forbes, remind us that sometimes it’s good to have a door that you can close. Whether it’s for containing a mess or just giving yourself that physical and audio separation from other things that are going on in your home.

Your kitchen island, dining table and living room couch are no longer acceptable as home offices. Dedicated workspaces allow for productivity, creativity and a change of scenery within your own living space. While not everyone has the luxury to spare an entire room, producers like IKEA have made it possible to create these functional spaces in nooks, under stairs and even in closets. Yes, closets. Do me a favour and do a quick google search for ‘cloffice’!

More is more. Say goodbye to minimalism and hello to maximalism, or our new favourite term, ‘Grandmillenial Grandeur’.

This is unapologetically a fight against sameness fatigue. It’s an avant garde mentality toward mixing color, style, and patterns. Cheerful, energetic, and uplifting hues with very few rules. This style seems to work best when imperfect and personal incorporates your favourite objects on display.

Deirdre Sulivan at The Spruce describes that while it embraces the idea of excess, it’s not in the way you might think. It promotes repetition, patterns, bold palettes, intricate graphic details, and one-of-a-kind possessions. It’s excessive but most importantly still curated.

Jenelle Porter, an independent Art Curator, describes it as “… the attitude of pouring on, not editing out, but adding in,” Porter says. “It’s an attitude and an approach that welcomes things in.” Are you into it?

That’s a wrap for our shortlist for 2021.

What are popular design trends you’re seeing so far in 2021? We’d love to hear from you. Share them with us in the comments below.

Do you have a question about interior design or want to contact our Design Team? Contact us here.

You can also learn more about our Cantiro Design Centre here.