Privacy Key Components of this Trend

This week’s Blog is a continuation in the series on the five key Interior Design Trend themes for 2016. The Privacy theme is based around the premise that the greatest luxury in the past decade has been time and that the greatest luxury in the next decade will be privacy.

Source – NM photo at Scarlet Opus Seminar

With increasing social media, technology and the changing culture of sharing more aspects of our lives electronically, people are beginning to value their privacy more and to actually crave more privacy.

Large pink arm chair with curved edges and gold circle cushion from Milan trade show

Source – NM photo from Decor and Design Melbourne 2015

Contributing to this is a reaction to the increasingly open plan nature of many work spaces and homes. People are wanting to create more physical privacy with their spaces and their furniture. They want to feel cocooned and enveloped, safe and secure, in control and choosing what they share and when.

Source – NM photo from Scarlet Opus Seminar

How does this show through in interior design trends? Firstly the colour palette; the soft, comforting discrete pastels with a hint of grey are predominant colours. They are not too girly or feminine. These colours are coming through very strongly in homewares in particular.

Source – NM photo from Decor and Design Melbourne 2015

Patterns and textures are also very discrete and subtle in this trend.

Large cushion selection ranging in dark and light to pastel colours, shown at Milan trade show

Source – NM photo from Decor and Design Melbourne 2015

When people are designing spaces to live in, they are increasingly wanting the flexibility of modern open spaces with the option of being able to change and adapt these spaces into private retreats. The technology and functionality of different types of doors and window treatments are increasingly used to provide this.

Source – NM photo from Decor and Design Melbourne 2015

Furniture shapes are slowly starting to reveal this emerging trend. Some of the furniture on display at the Milan Furniture Fair this year showed sofas and combinations of chairs that allow families/people to sit together but being able to watch or enjoy their own private media.

Deep buttoned sofa couch, rug, furniture and art with large Buddha head

Source – admagazine.ru via Pinterest

I have taken the colour palette for this trend provided by Scarlet Opus and translated it for the New Zealand market using Resene colours.

Key colour palette:

Resene Soft Amber

Resene Whiskey

Resene Blossom

Resene London Hue

Resene Turkish Rose

Resene Paris White

Resene Greywacke

Resene Hot Wired

Resene Black