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Curious about modern furniture trends and and style tips for your home going into 2022? Don't worry - we've got you covered!
For many of us, keeping our homes up-to-date and feeling fresh has demonstrable affects on our health and well-being. Sometimes just small updates, like replacing a pendant lamp or changing up accent pillows, makes an enormous difference.
Others, we might crave more dramatic upgrades, like a kitchen remodel or selecting a trendy statement piece for your living room or bedroom.
Here at Modern Digs, we've been keeping an eye on upcoming products and new styles at the furniture markets and interior design trends we're seeing in new homes. Here's what we're predicting for the next year to keep your modern style on pace in 2022!
1. Metallics & Spices Are Still Going Strong
We all recall the aughts' dark wood craze. The roaring 20's (as we're optimistically calling this decade!) are still trending comfortably towards metallic and spicy accents.
Gold, brass and copper were everywhere at Market for 2022.
From tulip dining table bases to lighting fixtures, interior designers continue to shun silver and stainless in favor of the richer hues and natural materials.
At Modern Digs, we like to stick to larger pieces in subdued colors and natural materials, and build around them with brighter accents. But if you love modern design and want your furniture to feel rich and inspired, you could add a striking gold dining table like the Praetorian:
Or consider adding a spice-inspired pop of color to your living room like our Unfurl in Curry, which is pictured above.
2. Creating Versatile Spaces
While the "tiny home" movement seems to gobble up less oxygen and popularity than it did a few years ago, interior designers are still creating spaces and furniture ideas for the movement.
Furthermore, real estate looks like it will continue to exert pressure on modern furniture trends. This isn't really the place to get into the nitty gritty of the real estate market, but unless you've been under a rock, you're no doubt aware of the record 13.2% increase in home prices the past year.
And that doesn't even get into local markets, which can be absolutely bonkers. All of that is, of course, coupled with the new COVID work-from-home norm.
These two factors are pushing home owners to make the most out of their square footage.
Now more than ever, spare bedrooms are doubling as home offices. Decks and patios are converting into yoga studios. Basements and garages are Crossfit gyms.
That means you can expect to see more and more furniture that's versatile. Your mind hears, "versatile" and pictures a sleeper sofa like this one or this. But, we're actually talking about newer modern furniture trends...
A great example are poufs! These little pops of color work as ottomans, end tables, or even extra seating. They're compact and they add a ton of flexibility to bedrooms and living rooms alike.
3. Dark Kitchens Are Gonna Be Big
We're calling it - 2022 is the year that dark kitchens go mainstream!
Interior design has been flirting with dark kitchen colors for a while. Even IKEA includes a few colors in their popular modular kitchen platform.
We're reading the interior design trends tea leaves, and predicting 2022 is the year dark kitchens come out in force. Picture dark gray walls, hunter green drawers and door. Cabinets with natural materials, contrasted by deep dark backsplashes and floors.
Dark brown woods had a little run in the 2000's, and we're not missing them. White kitchens have undeniably been holding down the fort the past decade or so.
But 2022 is the year that kitchens start to trend dark.
Look at these kitchens and tell us we're wrong!
4. Home is Where the Game Is
Speaking of COVID trends, real estate, and our new (hopefully, soon-to-be) post pandemic world... game rooms!
One change up a lot of people made or recognized during lock downs and shut downs was just how much fun games are. Especially when you're trapped. With your family. Nobody else. Forever...
Wait. Where were we? Oh yeah, games!
When everything from bowling alleys to the neighborhood bar shutdown, we were all fine. For a bit. But, ultimately, COVID really confirmed that most humans are social animals. And while we wait for COVID to move from (news hyped terrifying) variants to a more endemic phase, we expect socialization to trend smaller scale.
While COVID numbers fluctuate, there will be times that movie theaters, parties and clubs are safe (enough) and fun. And other times when smaller gatherings make more sense.
Adding or updating home gaming spaces started picking up steam mid to late 2020, and continued through this year.
We expect the furniture trend to continue through at least 2022. You might start small... maybe a card table and Catan. But you could go big, too!
Maybe add a fun foosball table to your basement (our fave), or even get your game on with an outdoor ping pong table like the Amsterdam pictured above.
Either way, we expect homes and modern furniture trends to continue to adapt to periods of homebound fun.
5. Eco-Friendly Furniture is Building Steam
And while we're on interior design trends and style that should continue for at least a while, let's talk about "green." Specifically, (not the color) green furniture.
While modern furniture is what we do at Modern Digs, some of us will admit to a certain level of... discomfort with retail. Or, perhaps a better way to describe it is a discomfort with consumption.
We love high quality furniture that will last.
If you're like us, you probably very
much hate furniture that... well, sucks.
It just seems so wasteful to manufacture something, ship it likely thousands of miles, unload it, ship it again, assemble it, have it last a year or two, have it fall apart, and then start the whole process all over again.
That's bananas!
Which is why also we love that interior design is finally incorporating bamboo and other renewable natural materials into their furniture design process. In truth, bamboo furniture has been around for decades. However, limited by manufacturing processes of the times, it retained a niche styling. It definitely was NOT modern.
Not any more!
Modern manufacturing and furniture trends are moving closer and closer to each other, meaning some of the best designs and decor in 2022 will be made from natural materials, especially renewable sources like bamboo.
One of our manufacturers is using heat and steam to create bold new colors, diversifying the types of furniture you can imagine with bamboo. Like the Park Avenue pictured above, a popular bed frame, Azara, is a new take on what bamboo can look like.
6. To Tuft or Not to Tuft?
As fans of mid-Century modern styling, we've been thrilled with the last decade's embrace of tufting.
Yeah, yeah. We get it. Smooth, clean sofas and expansive headboards have their place in the pantheon of modern furniture. Some of our favorite products are clean, simple styles.
Nevertheless, one of the 50's greatest interior design trends was adding texture... along with the curves and metal and brilliant manufacturing ideas!
In 2022... we expect tufting to continue as one of the boldest furniture trends in contemporary interior design.
If you're looking for something that's just a bit more than "simple," we expect that modern furniture tufting will trend away from the button-tufts, and more towards horizontal seam lines.
Furniture trends, like fashion, tend to be cyclical. Based on what we're seeing at Market, we expect tufting to continue to be an important player in sofas, sectionals, and beds.
7. Make the Most of Small Spaces
As we mentioned above, real estate square footage is becoming more and more of a hot commodity.
Couple the price increases in rentals and homes with American's shift toward urbanization, and we expect interior design and furniture trends to continue to prize versatility in furniture.
Which leads us to versatile furniture pieces!
Wonder why the Murphy Bed so popular in the early 2000s? Because it could turn a small room into an office, bedroom, or living space - depending on your needs!
We're seeing similar versatility in furniture trends today.
Sofas that convert to beds, coffee tables with hidden storage, and chairs that can be reconfigured are all becoming more common.
Why waste space in your closet for linens, when you could instead store them in your room beneath your storage bed?
Why limit a bedroom or basement to just an office space, when a cool sleeper sofa would add an extra bed for guests?
We also anticipate to see continued progress in smaller household furniture. You don't need to invest in a large dining table to have a beautiful dining table.
Furniture with a large footprint has its own style and set of advantages. However, we're also seeing a furniture trend that suggests small, sleek pieces will be a more significant market segment in the future.
8. Statement Pieces are (Still) In
Speaking of furniture with large footprints...
Let's face it - We don't think the trend of having statement modern furniture designs is going anywhere. Ever.
Interior designers have always been attracted to the idea of one or two pieces in a room that make a big impact.
It's just human nature. Think about it - when you walk into a room, what is the first thing your eyes go to? What stands out and makes an impression?
Designers know this. That's why they often use statement pieces to craft an initial impression and then build on top of it with the rest of their furniture selections.
Now, we're not saying that you need a crazy expensive item in your home for it to be considered a statement piece. Sometimes, something like the Worth Bed does all the heavy lifting!
Big statement pieces are common at furniture markets, so we're never surprised to see them. And finding a unique item for your house has its own allure.
Whether it's a large modern sectional for the living room or a sleek extension table for the dining area, big pieces provide an easy focal point. Around which you may lay out the rest of your space, large components offer a simple focal point.
However, that doesn't imply you must invest in a huge item.
The spectacular designs found in accent furniture,
such as sitting and side tables, are incredible.
Along with the metallics we mentioned above, we've seen bold prints on accent chairs, chic, curvaceous benches. Brightly colored beds. The list goes on.
Today's furniture designers aren't allowing the classics to overshadow their visions for what today's interiors should look like!
9. Modular Designs Going Mainstream
One of our favorite interior design trends for 2021 that looks to become more mainstream next year is modular furniture.
The history of modular furniture is a little mixed, typically dominated by very inexpensive and ridiculously expensive lines covering just the ends of the spectrum. Buyers in the middle of the market were left out entirely.
But several of our manufacturers are bringing in upscale, affordable modular sofa collections that offer style we love.
Sometimes it takes a little extra planning to design with modular furniture, but the benefits are many. Not only can you change the look of your room by changing out a few pieces, but you can also reconfigure the space to fit your needs as they change over time.
We expect modular furniture designs to become more
and more popular in 2022 as people see their upsides.
It doesn't matter your space is large or small, or you want rounded or modern. Several of the collections coming in 2022 mix organic elements and chic lines. Others focus on allowing you to create an ideal sofa or sectional for your living space with simple modern lines.
10. Platform Beds Still Hot
We know - We mentioned platform beds a few times already. But trust us when we say that there's enough new trends and styles with these designs to warrant their own category.
A huge part of the popularity is obviously still about affordability and style for small spaces. Platform bed frames are simple and affordable, making them very popular. But that's not all they offer!
There are so many different styles, colors, materials, and heights to choose from when it comes to platform beds that you'll be able to discover the ideal design for your space.
Conclusion
The interior design world, like fashion, is always changing and has a cyclical nature. Furniture trends from the 80's may even come back into style. (We're kidding. Obviously, that will never happen!)
People are seeking more modern and innovative designs that talk to their personality and routine. They want furniture pieces with deeper meaning than just looking cool or being affordable.
The "retro" corduroys of the 70's are back! Brass is in! Rattan dining chairs aren't just for your grandma's kitchen anymore... (again?)
But that's the fun of it! Trends always bring with them a sense of excitement, whether you're in on the trend from the beginning or just jumping on board.
We hope this article gave you some ideas and inspirations for your home in 2022! Stay tuned for more decorating ideas and trends as we get deeper into the year.
posted on 2/28/2022
