Trends to Watch in 2016

Hard to believe it, but 2016 will be here in a pop of champagne and the blink of an eye. In the final week of the year, enjoy your home even more by dreaming of its future: grab some hot chocolate, curl up in your favorite overstuffed chair, and mull the best trends of the new year!

 

They’ve already made a statement as your kitchen appliances, but in 2016, metallics will move from the cornerstone of practicality to the center of alluring aesthetics. That doesn’t mean metallics need to abandon the cooks in the kitchen — in fact, they can accentuate it even more by becoming part of the details. Whether by the touches in the kitchen’s lighting fixtures and seating or by a steel tub in the bathroom, metals are no longer purely industrial. By mixing and matching your metals, your space will look like it belongs in the pages of a magazine without looking like it belongs in a spaceship.

Sustainable building will be bigger than ever this year — not just to save the planet or your air quality, but to save your budget. Your house is an investment in many ways: for real estate, but also every month in your bills and every year in restorations. Thinking of hardwood? Cedar is damp-resistant, needs little maintenance year-round, and is environmentally fast-growing. Eyeing a single-pour backsplash? Work with local contractors instead of ordering from abroad to limit your carbon footprint. Love lighting? Instead of adding additional electrical fixtures, open up windows and ceilings, but with double panes and insulation to decrease energy spending.

Commercial architecture won’t be left out of the 2016 changes either, and their design isn’t merely business anymore. In 2016, it’s about beauty and creating spaces that transition from day to night; the present to the future. Whether it’s a McDonald’s in Amsterdam or a lawyer’s firm in Greenwich, lighting and materials are a new game in the new year. By using malleable, flexible paneling on exteriors, glowing light can be controlled and basic structures become sculptural.

For centuries and across cultures, kitchens weren’t just where food was made, but where lives and memories were made. They were the heart of the home and the family, the center for comfort and warmth on the coldest of nights and the longest of days. In 2016, the kitchen will reign as the main living space in the modern home. Whether you love to cook or prefer being the taste-tester, more time than ever is being spent in the kitchen. And that’s not limited to just cooking — kids doing homework, friends gathering for a drink, parents planning the future… socialization is the focus. Instead of a formal dining room, open seating allows for every meal to be relaxed and welcoming. Big, gracious layouts keep the kitchen from being separated from the rest of the home. Surround sound systems, fireplaces, and TVs become as important a fixture as any other appliance, just like in a family room.

This year already seems as if it went by too fast, but that means we’re simply so much closer to a thrilling, wonderful future. Whatever 2016 may hold, we wish you the best, the brightest, and that your hopes for your family’s home make it better than ever before.