The start of a new year is an opportunity to take a fresh look at your home and at your life. It’s the perfect time to let go of the past and embrace something new. In life, that might mean starting a sustainable routine or setting some new goals. And in your home, that means finding ways to update your interiors to those that better match your style. If you’re looking for some inspiration, keep reading for 2022 interior design trends, or check out our remodeling portfolio for visual references!
What’s In:
Natural Colors
Natural colors are everything for 2022. Home decor color trends are moving away from cool-toned simple color palettes towards something with more warmth, variety, and inspiration from nature. Greens, blues, browns, oranges, yellows — basically any color you can find in nature is in (some more than others).
Incorporate these natural colors in your new color palette by drawing inspiration for you from any natural location. Pick any place— the mountains, a forest of birch trees, the Italian countryside — whether or not you’ve actually been there. Take note of the colors that resonate with you most and incorporate those in your home. Use subdued hues like stormy blues or pale greens to remind yourself of a relaxing rainy day; or choose sunny yellows or rusty oranges that are reminiscent of a desert hike.
Get the Look:
- Accent with Earthy Darks.
Rich browns and terracotta are both comforting and moody. Painting your walls brown will automatically make a room feel more relaxing, so it’s a great option for your bedroom. In a brown aesthetic bedroom, your dark walls will provide a soft, soothing contrast against the rest of your palette. If you don’t want to go quite that big, earthy brown hues also make excellent accents. Brown picture frames, shelves, and dark aesthetic room decor add a richness that complements neutral walls well.
- Let Blue & Green Dominate.
After several years of the pandemic, 2022 interior design is about creating a personal oasis, a place of comfort away from the insanity of the world. So, calming nature-inspired colors, primarily blues and greens, have risen to the forefront of color trends. In fact, blue walls are one of the top bedroom trends and shades of green are featured prominently among the 2022 Colors of the Year. Valspar, which released a 12-color 2022 palette instead of one color of the year, combines blues and greens with earthy warm tones expertly. Check out Valspar’s Colors of the Year for examples of how you can mix and match 2022’s hottest colors.
Biophilic Design
Biophilia is humanity’s innate instinct to connect to the natural world and other living things. Since designers are seeking tranquility and escapism in 2022 interiors, biophilic design is having a major moment. The goal of biophilic design is to bring the outdoors in by using natural colors, materials, and decor in your home. This creates a calming atmosphere, and some studies suggest that biophilic design goes so far as to support cognitive functioning, psychological well-being, and physical health.
Get the Look:
- Accent with Natural Materials and Decor. Emulate nature in your home by incorporating materials you can find in your natural environment. You can use stone or wood flooring, for example, or accent with a glass table. Then try decorating with aesthetic earthy room decors like plants, rocks, flowers, pinecones, seashells, or anything else you could find on a nature walk.
- Connect Your Senses to Nature. You can take biophilic design a step further by being intentional about the ways you can connect to nature while inside your home. One way is to design your room around maximizing your natural light; then open the windows wide on a daily basis to let the sights, smells, and sounds of nature in. If you don’t want to open the window, turn on a fireplace or indoor water fountain to create some natural ambiance. And if you don’t have either of those things, search “fireplace videos” or “nature sounds” on YouTube and put a video on whenever you want to zen out!
Maximalism
While minimalism has its merits, it’s fading to the background in 2022 as maximalism takes center stage. Maximalism is pretty much the exact opposite of minimalism. Where minimalism is about clean lines and calming colors, maximalism is about mixing pattern, color, and different design aesthetics to create something electrifying and captivating.
Bring maximalism into your home by layering various textures, colors, decor, and so on to appeal to your sense of style and personality. If you’re interested in trying maximalism but worried you’ll be overwhelmed, go for a mix of maximalism and minimalism. Try limiting the amount of decor you have, like a minimalist, but go maximalist by using a wide variety of decor.
Get the Look:
- Go Retro. Between rising popularity in sustainability and natural materials, vintage furniture, decor, and design elements are big for 2022. The curves of mid-century modern design and fluted finishes of art deco, in particular, are finding their way into modern interiors. Since mixing and matching is key to getting a maximalist look, use decor, furniture, and influences from both vintage and modern design aesthetics in your home. For example, complement your modern kitchen with a vintage copper coffee roundtable, or your minimalist bedroom with a curving scalloped wood headboard.
- Give Wallpaper Another Shot. You might be thinking, “Is wallpaper really making a comeback in 2022?” Well, the answer is yes. — wallpaper is very much in. If you have a modern aesthetic try a dark, geometric, or patterned wallpaper. Or bring in some biophilia with a nature-inspired like a floral or mural wallpaper. You can even add texture to your walls with wood, stone, whitewash brick wallpaper.
What’s Out:
All-Gray & All-White Minimalist Interiors
All-gray and all-white interiors have been one of the most popular color palettes of the past decades, but that’s changing. In 2022, designers are taking a break from cool-toned neutrals like gray or white and opting for warmer, natural neutrals like cream, tan, and brown.
Similarly, although minimalism has been popular for much of the past decade, the aesthetic is taking a backseat to maximalism and modern design styles in 2022. Minimalism is an interior design aesthetic characterized by simplicity, functionality, and an all-neutral color palette. But now, designers are encouraging homes that tell the stories of people who live there through objects, decor, artwork, and more.
Open-Concept Layouts
Open-concept floor plans were once all the rage in the interior design world. They were thought to make a home more integrative and connected. But, after a few years in a pandemic, people are realizing that open-concept homes aren’t as functional as they were once thought to be. Now, designers are recognizing the importance of building separation and privacy into floorplans. Known as closed-concept, these floor plans focus on creating a private, designated zone for all of your day-to-day activities: eating, sleeping, relaxing, exercising, etc.
Are you looking to update your home with more than just a coat of paint and a new decor style? COOPER Design Build offers custom home building, home addition, whole home remodeling services, and more in the Portland, Oregon area. We’re a tight-knit group of designers and builders that collaborate to build you a home of quality construction and intelligent design. Learn more about what makes COOPER Design Build different.
