Northern AZ Luxury LIVING - VOL. 2, NO. 2

Soothing Elements

RULE HOME DESIGN

Calm is the ultimate luxury in 2022. Homeowners are looking for tranquility and comfort at home. They’re looking for rooms that open their arms to all who enter. Softer angles, restorative colors and natural themes are in demand as we turn to our homes for healing and rejuvenation.

Interior design is all about what makes a home’s dwellers feel alive as they look to draw energy from a life-giving universe that nurtures what is good.

EARTH AND SKY COLORS Green is worth its weight in gold this year as a hue that has lurked just beneath the top of the trend lists

finally shoots through the top. Deep olive shades ground the mind while lighter sages evoke new growth and bright days under the sun, whether on walls, furniture or flooring.

Sky-tied blues that come from those same days also are surging to the top of the palette as we seek out the other half of the equation. Lighter blues will be favored as a contrast to neutrals as well as a primary color as we seek to bring the outdoors in.

Earthy creams, grays and browns will be joined by the subtle glow of terra cotta, seen everywhere from the planters, counters and other hard surfaces where we’re used to seeing it to linens and throws.

CURVES AHEAD Curved and wavy lines are showing up in places where we’ve learned to expect right angles. Tables for dining or coffee are having their sharp corners rounded off, and counters that always traveled in a straight line are now starting to meander. Even walls are beginning to yield and turn at corners instead of screeching into a sharp corner, giving rooms a more cocoonlike feel.

Designers and consumers are embracing these more feminine silhouettes in desks and dressers too, for a softer look and feel to the world we inhabit. These contours mimic the way water wears rivers, creeks, caves and more geological features where people have found sustenance and shelter for millennia.

PUTTING THE GREEN INTO THE HOUSE Green is the color people are putting on their walls and into their furniture, and it’s being magnified by plants — the home accessory du jour. Sunny living and dining rooms are being transformed into conservatories for species both exotic and familiar, and you’re increasingly likely to find trees under the roofs of luxury homes.

You don’t need an actual greenhouse on your property to become an amateur botanist and grower in rooms that have lots of windows or additional grow lights to draw your plants to their full potential. Newer varieties that can thrive in the great indoors are also being developed to satisfy consumers’ thirst for them.

SCENT-SATIONAL STORIES Interior design has long appealed to our senses of sight and touch to the exclusion of the other three, but more and more consumers are sniffing around for anything that can add aromatic appeal to their spaces. Plants, florals or that “new furniture smell” can be a great start, but placement of attractive diffusers can add attractive smells to a space without detracting from its aesthetic.

Essential oil diffusers and aroma lamps emit delicate, nostalgic, exotic or spicy aromas from candles, burners and specialized diffusers, many designed with the same curves and circles that our trendiest rooms also have. They come in most any color that can be found in a home design scheme and add surprising depth to the atmosphere of your home.