TOP 10 TRENDS IN

 HOME DECOR

Today’s Home is in a Global Village

 We live in a world of instant communication and shop in a global marketplace where consumers want to express their own personal style rather than blindly follow fashion, so it is not surprising that no single style or trend dominates today’s home decor. “Oddly enough the most important trend is that there isn’t any trend anymore,” said Christopher Pillet, art director of the La Metropole design pavilion at the recent Salon Du Meuble furniture show in Paris. “This means that design is no more tied to one or two prime examples but to a multitude of eclectic prime examples,” he said. So what do rooms look like in the global village in which we all live and what are the windows in those rooms wearing? The best dressed windows are wearing products by Hunter Douglas, the nation’s leading manufacturer of custom window coverings.

International Marketplace

Many of the most interesting rooms feature a mix of furnishings and accessories from round the world that owners’ have collected in their travels. Today people can build these collections and express their unique styles with just a trip to their local stores, which often feature global merchandise. While it is wonderful to have light-filled rooms to highlight your treasures, homeowners must also be conscious of protecting their furnishings and artwork from harmful UV rays. The right window covering can block up to 99 percent of UV rays. Look for a “% UV blockage” rating. Silhouette window shadings from Hunter Douglas feature soft fabric vanes suspended between sheer fabric panels. When the vanes are closed, this product offers 99 percent UV-ray protection and Luminette Privacy Sheers, a similar concept to Silhouette shadings that is oriented vertically, provides almost the same level of protection. Even more interesting, Luminette sheers and Silhouette window shadings block 66 percent of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays even with the vanes are open, thanks to the sheer fabric panels, thus providing you with the gratification of protecting your possessions plus enjoying the light and your view — something more traditional products can’t do.

Lure of the Exotic

In the global village the exotic is always with us. Animal prints abound in fashion and home furnishings. Stylish rooms sport the bright colors of Latino culture, floral prints from the Caribbean islands and brilliant fabrics from India. For the look of the tropics at your windows, there are woven wood shades, such as Provenance woven wood shades, recently updated to include a total of 65 styles in grasses, reeds, wood and bamboo as well as new 1 1/2" banding in a choice of twill, boucle and jacquard. What’s more, motorization is offered.

Funky Retro

As the boomers are aging, the nostalgia for the fashions of the 50s and 60s when they were young and carefree is reflected in the popularity of retro home furnishings. The home furnishings trade journal HFN reported that at the last furniture show in North Carolina, “Retro elements and contemporary designs drawn in clean, clear colors created a buzz at all price points.” Vertical blinds are an important part of the retro look. But today’s version of modernism is softer and warmer. Luminette Privacy Sheers fit the bill with sheer face fabrics bonded to vertical neutral white fabric vanes. Other popular retro looks at the window include aluminum horizontal blinds (Hunter Douglas invented them) with bright cloth tapes to coordinate with your shag rug.

Classic Revisions

Toronto-based designer Karl Lohnes, who appears on HGTV’s popular show, “This Small Space” in the U.S. and Canada, notices a new popularity for antique furnishings, but with a contemporary twist. “On-trend designers are making antiques up-to-date with such twists as upholstering an antique camelback sofa in a punchy bright velvet,” he said. For an updated classic at the window, Hunter Douglas has combined the timeless look of a shutter with the light control of a blind and the softness of a shade in a new window covering called Alouette LightLouvers. Moreover, all Hunter Douglas products give you the satisfaction and security of high quality materials backed by lifetime warranties.

Curves and Curls

Hard edges and straight lines are not the looks being bought at this moment. Savvy manufacturers are introducing free-form sofas, curvaceous armchairs, swirling patterns and, for the window, looks that hint of softness and seduction without a lot of fuss are popular. Featuring layers of gently contoured fabric folds, Vignette window shadings offers the softness of draperies with the convenience of a window shade.

Glimmer and Glitz

Sparkle, glitz and shine are once again glamorous. Tailored jackets on the best-dressed backs sport big, sparkling broaches and designers report that clients want rooms that make visitors say wow. To create luxurious looks at the window Hunter Douglas recently introduced The Alustra Collection, especially for the premier market. The company has taken its classic window coverings and raised them to a new level of luxury with exclusive fabrics, unique finishes and distinctive accents. In The Alustra Collection, popular Silhouette window shadings and Luminette Privacy Sheers are available in a Silver Reflections sheer that adds seductive sparkle to light entering a room or a Gold Radiance sheer to give daylight the warm glow of a sunset. The opportunities presented for personal expression at the window have never been greater than those offered by The Alustra Collection.

Soft and Snuggly

With war and natural disasters taking up the daily news, people want their homes to be comforting. Soft fabrics, curved lines and pleasing textures help to make our environments feel protective and nurturing. Even designers who favor modernism are seeking a softer, warmer version than the classic modern rooms of earlier decades. Jamie Drake, a trend-setting New York City-based designer who recently updated Gracie Mansion for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, said in a recent interview, “Modernism today needs emotional texture. And it’s the layering of real textures that keeps it from being brittle and cold.” Today’s layering at the window does not mean yards and yards of heavy draperies topped with tassels, more often in sophisticated rooms it means luxurious fabric framing a window with fitted window coverings like Silhouette shadings or new Trio Convertible Shades. Trio shades showcase individual hexagon-shaped fabric, vanes that can be adjusted to offer a full view, complete privacy or anything in between.

The Glass Tower

When both Nicole Kidman and Calvin Klein bought apartments in the glass towers designed by Richard Meier on the western edge of Manhattan Island, it became crystal clear that the life transparent had become the lifestyle of choice and it did not take long before residential glass skyscrapers sprang up from shore to shining shore. But then comes the question of what to put on those big glass walls and how to protect your furnishings and art from the flood of UV rays coming in with all that light? Alouette LightLouvers with its elliptically shaped headrail and bottom rail that pivot with the fabric louvers to integrate form and function is an ideal choice for clean, contemporary spaces. The louvers literally appear to float at the window thanks to the pivoting hardware and also because there are only two front support cords. It’s a fact that most people no longer want to be bothered with opening and closing heavy draperies, nor do they want to block the views for which they have paid so dearly. Luminette with PowerGlide remote control motorization that traverses the sheers and rotates the fabric vanes provides an ideal solution as well.

Garden Rooms

Gardening is the nation’s number one pastime and even city dwellers want the restorative pleasure and emotional benefits of being surrounded by plants and flowers whether in potted plans or perhaps on a trompe l’oeil wallpaper. Even an indoor imaginary garden needs light, so window coverings in garden rooms are best kept sheer.

Organic Style

Frank Lloyd Wright, who is credited with inventing the picture window, is also responsible for introducing the organic style of architecture which integrates buildings with their landscapes and furnishings favors natural materials. Now organic style is once again on the cusp. As the world grows more complicated, people are more drawn to natural foods and fibers. At the window this may mean woven wood shades made from bamboo, such as the ones in the Provenance Collection, or super-energy efficient Duette honeycomb shades in the new Batiste fabrics that offer a natural linen-like look with the strength and durability of a non-woven fabric.

At the window, Hunter Douglas is always on-trend and offering enough variety to enable everyone to express their own style.

Hunter Douglas Inc. is a national sponsor of Habitat for Humanity, covering windows in every Habitat home built in the U.S. and Canada. Headquartered in Upper Saddle River N.J., the company is the leading manufacturer of custom window coverings in North America.