Styling your home with fresh touches, pops of colour or greenery is a great way to welcome the warmer weather. Here, Cindy Kennedy speaks to local designers to unpick the latest trends.
m2 Styling + Interiors
What are the design colour trends for spring?
This spring, as we emerge from the exhaustion of the pandemic, there’s a need to create peaceful, healing environments so earthy tones and pastels are popular. For those who are well and truly over the rules and are desperate to explore, nothing screams fun quite like neon! Neon shades can breathe life into stale interiors, making them feel innovative and original. Small splashes of colour can make a big impact and give more classic-designed rooms a playful twist.
What are your tips for sprucing up your home?
This is a great time of year to stand back and look at various rooms in the house to re-evaluate how they can be used better. Some simple tips are:
1. Find a good handyman or woman to attack odd jobs. A fresh coat of paint can transform the interior or exterior of your home.
2. De-clutter and re-organise bedrooms and living spaces. It’s amazing how much easier it is to keep rooms tidy when there’s a place for everything.
3. Remove curtains and cushion covers and give them a wash. Consider splurging on a few new cushions. You’ll find a fabulous range at local stores Pepperwhites by Tara Dennis and Stem, both on Darling Street.
4. Give windows and light fittings a good clean, as well as remove cobwebs.
5. Spend a day in the garden pruning and adding pots of colour to brighten outdoor spaces.
6. Paint the front door to give the facade some personality.
What’s a piece of design advice you can share?
Latest trends are great but do what pleases you the most. Fashion is fast and fun but you want your home environment to reflect the colours and pieces you love. There’s a fabulous authenticity that comes from marrying old and new, mixing fun new pieces with older treasures.
Tracey Huntley,
Bumph & Scumble
What is the number one home trend this spring?
There is a movement toward designs that connect to nature. Designers are combining concrete, curved timbers and stone to give a sense of natural earthiness to any home. Style with artisan- made crafts and furniture sourced from Australian manufacturers.
What can we expect in 2023?
We are seeing a new wave of vibrant colours like luscious reds and vibrant blues splashed together with pastel colours. The trend of doing something different and putting your own spin on things is popular. In one house you might see the style reflect cyberpunk and digital realism, and in another home, an owner may want to create a calm, natural look emanating from the surrounding environment. All of this brings exciting change for the coming year.
What are your tips or hacks for sprucing up your home?
Looking for what your space needs should be a high priority so every room is maximising its function. Especially in the Inner West where space is tight, the best place to start is to look at what furniture you have so that you can build from that or remove furniture that isn’t being used. Have a look at your walls and see if they need refreshing or a complete colour change. If in doubt, hire an interior designer to help you make the best decisions.
Mat Wilk, Ballast Point
What is the number one home trend this spring?
Plants, plants, and more plants. Buying some greenery will bring life into any area of your home. It can be a simple plant on your desk or an oversized plant to bring a dull corner to life.
What can we expect in 2023?
Recycling and repurposing material will be the new black. Repurposed materials will be prominent in new projects as they provide life and texture including timber, bricks, cement sheets and more – plus it’s good for the environment.
What’s a must-have item in the home at the moment?
I promise there’s nothing dodgy here – but with the price of lettuce, it’s a designer home hydroponic kit so you can grow your own vegetables. Aussie start-up Urban Plant Growers have some great ones. Pop into new That Plant Shop in Rozelle for plants that keep on giving with fruit or vegetables.
What are your tips or hacks for sprucing up your home?
A gallery wall can be a very effective way to spruce up a room without breaking the bank. There are many cost effective online custom framing shops, so pull out all those old photos, prints you bought on etsy last year and your kid’s best artworks and get started. There are so many products to help you hang. Don’t hesitate to start hanging, changing your mind and re-hanging. Patching and painting walls is inexpensive – so get stuck in and have fun with it!
Cindy Kennedy | McGrath Balmain
222 Darling Street, Balmain
www.mcgrath.com.au/agent/245-cindy-kennedy
