It has been estimated that you spend one third of your life in the bedroom, so it is important that it is decorated with care by considering practicality, personal style, comfort and of course, visual appeal.

Get up to speed with the latest bedroom trends to hit our shores.

The bedroom should be a pleasant, restful retreat where you can escape from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. It is an intimate space and the one room in the home where you can clearly express your own personality. Since a bedroom receives less wear than a living room for example, it is possible to choose décor and furniture just because you like it, without paying much attention to its practicality.

Both these elements make bedrooms a lot of fun to decorate. There are many new trends in decorating this most private room in the home – these new trends vary in style, depending on whether your taste is traditional, romantic or contemporary.

Headboards

Headboards are currently making a big impact on bedroom décor. People are moving away from the more traditional concept, often only using a headboard and no footboard to minimise the space taken up by the bed itself.

Apart from the traditional materials, such as upholstered or carved wood and styled metal, more and more designers are using unexpected materials to make up headboards, for example raw wooden logs, mirror, pressed ceiling pieces, picket fencing, a piece of a Victorian wrought iron gate or fencing – the options are really only limited to your own creativity and the style of the bedroom in which it is being featured. Oversized headboards have also become very popular options, as have very minimalist, contemporary styled ones.

Platform beds

The platform bed has made a very sought-after comeback locally. It has been a popular choice in Europe for quite some time now, largely due to the fact that it requires a minimum amount of space, making it ideal for the customary smaller European living spaces. The mattress is also built into a platform bed and since it is very often raised, this design allows for innovative storage spaces under the bed itself that often doubles up as stairs leading up to the mattress.

Reworking furniture materials

The reworking of furniture materials, such as wood, metal and fabric, is all the rage at the moment. For example, in keeping with the contemporary adage: “less is more”, the use of bent metal and stained wood for headboards, dressers and amours is currently very much in vogue.

The reworking of fabric has also had a lot of emphasis in general bedroom décor, both on the bed and within the greater décor scheme. Richly textured and luscious fabrics such as velvet, for example, has become very sought after, as it adds a feeling of warmth and opulence to any space in which it is featured.

Bedding trends

Never before has there been such a demand for new and interesting bedding, and likewise, there has never been such a wide variety to choose from. However, the top-end, super luxurious types of bed linen have become one of the most sought-after types available. Before, quality bed linen was exorbitantly expensive and only accessible to the very wealthy.

Today, however, this has changed and there is a wide variety of high-quality linen available at relatively affordable prices.

The Cotton Clique, for example, is the only company in South Africa licensed to use the Egyptian cotton logo. It is the agent and importer of 100% pure Egyptian cotton bedroom and bathroom accessories of high thread count and quality. Its products do not contain any other cotton blends or clammy synthetic fibers that dilute the true qualities of Egyptian cotton.

With its extra long fibre, Egyptian cotton is known as the Rolls Royce of cottons. The use of extra long fiber allows the cotton to be spun into a very fine yarn, which in turn means that more threads can we woven into a square inch of fabric that gives the cotton its durability, stability, softness and luster. Although many people believe that the higher the thread count per square metre, the better the fabric, this is not always so – it also depends on the production process and the weave.

Layering is another popular bedding trend used to create a luxurious, comfortable and aesthetically pleasing bedtime escape. It’s all about opulence and using materials that feel decadent against the skin, such as fake fur, silks, satins and cotton sateen sheets are all perfect and a good quality inner quilt such as white goose down will make you feel like you are sleeping on a cloud.

Colour

Although organically-inspired neutrals remain at the top of the log, the use of bold colour is back with a vengeance. Today’s bedroom colour trends are all about creating a personal space that expresses your innermost desires.

For many of us, that means a retreat in which we can relax and rejuvenate. As mentioned before, most of the popular bedroom colours are inspired by nature, but these natural colours are by no means noncommittal colours, but rather rich, earthy and inspirational hues that have a close synergy with the outdoors.

Colours such as various shades of brown, beige, tan, ochre, green, olive, blue and grey remain ever popular – reflecting the colour of rock, stone, soil, water and plant life. These natural palettes are popularly accented with bright hues to lift the décor and add an element of interest and surprise to the overall composition. – Antonella Desi

Pictures courtesy of:

Style Files: www.style-files.com.
Channel 14: www.channel4.com.

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