Trends by their very nature come and go – look at the use of leather and denim in the fashion world to give you an instant example. What’s popular right now might not be in a few months time, and we may well look back at it in a few years and think “what were we doing?”
We like to have the latest things, whether they’re gadgets, clothes or pieces of furniture; yet many of these items end up carrying dust in a matter of months or thrown to the back of the cupboard because we bought them while they were “hot”, only for them to end up as a fad when something cooler comes along.
It’s definitely a talking point though as we all like to look (and cringe) at old photographs that show our fashion sense and the kind of things we were into. With interior design it’s a bit different because the trends change so quickly that by the time we’ve seen interior designers work their magic on the home renovation shows on television, they’ve already gone out of style.
The great thing about trends is that it’s always subjective. What one person might believe to be cool and stylish, another might find horrific. You can go round to a friend’s house for dinner or a few drinks and a catch up and sit on their sofa thinking “I would not have matched this furniture with those curtains” for instance; yet another friend will be sat there green with envy.
Sticking with the interior design and home furnishings theme, I’ve noticed that one thing in particular has come into style and stuck around for a fair while now. We were becoming aware of the whole “less is more” approach to design a few years ago, getting rid of the clutter and filled walls and replacing them with a more minimalist, clean-cut approach that we now call a contemporary look.
Modern contemporary furniture fits seamlessly into just about any room in the house, especially the living room. It’s always a little bit different to your traditional furniture styling, yet it often looks much better and just… works! Sure, you might have to have a few looks at the item in a furniture store or online before you’re really convinced, but in the majority of cases where people have made the purchases they’ve not regretted it.
In recent years we’ve seen things like corner sofas come out of nowhere with their L-shaped designs appealing to so many people because they can final utilise all of the space in their living rooms. The corners that were just dead space until Christmas when they could put the tree there, were now being used to ensure that guests were comfortable, able to see each other and looking at the featured parts of the room like the television, mirror or artwork on the wall.
There’s a good chance that, if you work in an office, you’ve probably sat on or around a piece of contemporary furniture. Lots of businesses who are looking to be a bit more ‘cool’ and ‘modern’ than their competitors use modern furnishings to make their premises less bland. Tables with rounded edges made out of one piece of wood, plastic or metal are particularly popular; as are ‘pod-like’ chairs in the break-out zones (or whatever they choose to call them!)
It looks as though the contemporary era is here to stay anyway, and to be honest I’m quite glad. It’s certainly better than some of the fashion trends that stayed around wayyyyyyy too long!
Blurred living room image and wooden table and chair image by Shutterstock.
