by Sherri Blum
Here’s the latest decor forecast for the little ones’ rooms, from our Nursery and Kids Room Design Expert and Contributor, Sherri Blum. A pioneer specialist for children’s-room interior design, Sherri designs for celebrities, and for the baby next door.
—
Happy New Year! Besides recovering from the holiday madness festivities, the beginning of each year usually means I’ll be interviewed by several Web sites, blogs and magazines about my predictions for nursery trends of the New Year.
I wanted to share some of those predictions with you, so you’re among those in the know.
We’ve already seen plaid regain popularity in fashion during the fall of 2010, and this year I believe we’re going to see it more frequently in home decor.
Interior design always follows the trends of the apparel runways. The mood of consumers is reflected in what they are purchasing. With a weak economy in 2010, consumers are longing for a simpler life and we are looking to craftsmanship and style trends from the past for a homey, comforting, vintage appeal.
As for fabric, we’re mixing it up with lots of patterns! Plaid is strongest in 2011, and stripes and polka dots will be seen more frequently. Floral is always on the scene for the girls but is mixed in with plaids or stripes to keep it from being too stuffy.
We will continue to see lots of texture in kids’ rooms with pleats, puckers and frayed edges on the fabrics. Denim is also strong in 2011, consistent with the vintage trend.
As for the hot nursery and kids rooms colors for 2011, coral will be strongest. It took a backseat to turquoise for 2010 but will be seen everywhere in 2011! In fact, Pantone named “Honeysuckle” —a sweet pink/coral color—its color of the year.
Other strong colors: lemon yellow, mossy green and purple. We will continue to see lavender challenge the ever-popular pink in girls’ rooms. Gray will remain a popular neutral as it was in 2010, however it is going to warm up and will lean towards brown a bit. White and tan will be popular neutrals of 2011 as well.
.
What will parents seek in terms of furniture? Raw, aged or hand-hewn wood will be a popular look in furnishings, especially for boys. And eco-consciousness is more important than ever. Therefore we are mixing old in with the new for a heavily traditional look, but pared down by blending in some contemporary accents.
Parents are choosing transitional furniture (crib that converts to a full size bed), and multi-functional furniture such as the dresser that has a removable tray on top so it is also a changing table for the first two years. Iron cribs do remain strong, and are eco-friendly as they last many generations. As for furniture aesthetics, traditional but not too fussy, and dark wood are the most popular looks for 2011.
When it comes to storage, we’re reusing furniture such as the now obsolete television armoire once used in the family room – and are now putting them in our kids’ rooms to be used as computer stations, gaming areas or a space for arts and crafts. Rather than buying a new glider, we’re using in the nursery repurposed chairs from the living room, or Grandma’s attic. Reusing and recycling is definitely a trend that is here to stay.
Overall, MIXING is the key word. Mixing of patterns, mixing of traditional with contemporary, mixing of old and new!
Sherri Blum loves putting her talents to use designing beautiful rooms for her tiny clients. Sherri’s designs are popular among celebrities and have been featured in numerous TV shows and publications.
Sherri shares with us trends, designer projects and advice for creating beautiful, yet functional kids rooms and baby nurseries.
Sherri operates her design firm Jack and Jill Interiors and she creates her signature line of children’s wall art, clocks and hand-hooked, wool rugs — Sherri Blum Designs. Sherri writes the Jack and Jill blog, and resides with her family in rural Pennsylvania.
Design Junkies, what are your plans for the kids’ room this year?
