Five home interiors trends set to be huge this year
From Kale to Hygge, we spoke to seven experts who gave us their tips on how to incorporate the top new home interiors trends for 2017, including a recipe for a delicious traditional sour cherry bundt cake.
1. Kale
Pantone Color Institute’s executive director Leatrice Eiseman tell us all about Kale, not the vegetable. “We refer to Kale as ‘oxygenating,’ taking a breath of fresh air. The world of architecture is also in on the trend given the breadth of vertical gardens, rooftop greenery and leafy plazas cropping up in new commercial buildings from New York to Dubai.
2. Scandinese
Trend number two is Scandinese, a fusion of Scandinavian and Japanese elements with stunning and elegant results. "The Purity range references both Japanese and Scandinavian design principles - keeping it simple, subtle, calm and natural. Marble continues as a key material for this collection and works especially well when combined with pale blonde tones and simple forms," says Alexei Cowan, Head of Trends at Argos.
"The furniture pieces are well considered with a nod to natural materials and the subtle influence of simple modern Japanese design. Tones of soothing blue and a highlight of coral-tinted red tones can be used in gentle, harmonious colour combinations with a base of soft greys, or dialled up for a more vibrant energy to respond to different areas of the home. Origami folds provide intricate yet clean detail and become the icon for this Japanese inspired collection,” she says.
3. Tropical Botanicals
Stylist and author of Botanical Style, Selina Lake, showed us how to create our own Tropical Botanical style at home. “Create exotic patterns on your walls with a selection of fresh tropical leaves bought from your local florist. I used the frondy leaves of a pygmy date palm (Phoenix roebelenii) and heart-shaped Swiss cheese plant leaves. Arrange them across your wall and tape them up with neon washi tape for a fun look."
"The leaves will stay green for about a week. For a more prominent display, you could opt for faux leaves – Abigail Ahern sells a beautiful range of jungly faux leaves and stems, from California buds to banana leaves, which will last and last. This is a great idea for a tropical-themed party too.”
4. Denim Blue
Denim Drift, a colour palette which incorporates ten blues for 2017 is very versatile and can be used in any room as expert and Creative Director of Dulux, Marianne Shillingford explained: “This palette perfectly captures the mood of the moment and is a true embodiment of the way we’ll live our lives in 2017."
"There are ten blues within the palette, five of them, including Denim Drift, are muted and atmospheric and the remaining five are cleaner, brighter hues that pack more of a punch."
"The whole collection has been designed for use across different elements of an interior from the walls to the furniture, furnishings and accessories. You can turn the visual impact up with the brighter blues and down with the muted blues to suit the style and use of a room and can be sure that none of them will ever look out of place."
5. Everyday 'Hygge'
We’ve been hearing the world ‘hygge’ a lot over these past few months. Pronounced ‘hoo-gah’, it’s an export from Danish culture and can be loosely translated to mean ‘cosy’, but it’s actually much more than that – it’s not just a trend, it’s a way of life. And if you haven’t heard of the term, then expect to see the word being bandied about a lot more, from now on.
Yet, even before we all started talking about hygge, it turns out Irish people have been doing it already. We’re unconsciously very good at embracing the cosy mindset, but now it’s about appreciating it all a bit more. We asked three Danes to tell us about their take on hygge, and show us how to achieve it – through interiors, food and general atmosphere.
Helle Moyna, owner of Scandinavian interiors store, Nordic Elements told us what Hygge means to her “Hygge is many things, but the essence is taking time out from our hectic lives, add a friend, or more, together with something nice to eat and drink, light a candle and sit back and chat.
To ‘hygge’ always involves food, either cake, or a homemade dinner, together with a cup of coffee or glass of wine – these are essential for hygge. Hygge can take place anytime of the year or day.In summer, we like to sit outside as much as possible. If it gets cold, then we bring out some blankets and light a fire and some candles. During the winter months, a lot of hygge takes place as we spend much more time inside and make any excuse to light the fire, bake a cake, make some coffee, light a few candles and enjoy it with friends or family.”
CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen and best-selling auther of The Little Book of Hygge Meik Wiking highlights how to get the right atmosphere for hygge. "Lighting is really important for the atmosphere in the room, and candles are a quick way. If you’re fortunate enough to have a fireplace, you can light it. The reason candles and fireplaces are nice is because they have a light that is at the low end of the temperature scale which gives a warmer, more diffused light, than a fluorescent light in the ceiling. In terms of electric lights, Danes prefer having small lamps in the corner instead of the ceiling light.
For us, it’s not a trend, it is our culture. Some people have been asking me what the 2016 hygge trend is, and I say, probably the same thing it’s been for the last 20 years: candles. Maybe the next thing is for you to introduce maybe a label that gives it a positive spin. I spoke to a mother of two in France the other week and she said she might have spent the afternoon with her kids just cuddling up in blankets having tea, and she would call it a lazy afternoon. Now she calls it a hygge afternoon, so it’s something positive."
Sour Cherry Bundt Cake
Invite some friends around, light some candles and eat some of this sour cherry bundt cake by Signe Johansen, author of How To Hygge, The Secrets of Nordic Living. "These swirly new tins make a traditional bundt cake so much fun to bake. This is my versions, reminiscent of summers spent picking juicy Kirsebr (sour cherries) on my grandparents’ farm. Sour cherries have a more intense flavour than black cherries, but they can be hard to source and black cherries can also be soaked and used in this cake if need be.”
You will need
100g dried sour cherries
100g maraschino cherries (or fresh cherries, pitted)
Cherry Heering
225g refined spelt flour (or plain flour) plus extra for dusting
50g ground almonds
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp fine sea salt
225g golden caster sugar
3 medium eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
150ml buttermilk
150g icing sugar, for the glaze (optional)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 170C/ gas mark 3 and thoroughly grease and lightly flour a 2.4 litre, 26 x 9.5cm bundt cake tin.
- Place the dried sour cherries and maraschino cherries in a bowl and cover them with Cherry Heering.
- Sieve the dry ingredients from the flour to the sea salt into a separate bowl and stir through so that the baking powder is evenly distributed.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter together with the caster sugar until pale and fluffy, about 5-8 minutes, then add one of the eggs along with a spoonful of the flour mixture and beat again until the egg is fully incorporated.
- Repeat with the remaining two eggs. The add the remaining flour mixture and gently fold in along with the vanilla extract and buttermilk. Stir until the mixture is nice and even.
- Drain the cherries (keep the Cherry Heering to use for the glaze, or even for future cocktails!) and carefully fold them into the cake mixture.
- Once the cherries are folded in, scoop the batter into the prepared bundt tin and bake in the preheated over for 35-40 minutes, or until a metal skewer, inserted into the centre, comes out clean, the top of the cake looks golden, feels springy and a little firm to the touch, and the cake coming away slightly from the sides of the tin.
