2023 Home Decor Trends: Spotlight on Style, Color, Texture, and Character
With every new year comes new trends, and 2023 is no exception. Health and human design are setting the stage in home decorating this year, with nature, sustainability, self-care, and wellness driving every design decision. Colors are optimistic and energetic; lines soft and sculptured; interiors calming; and furnishings and surfaces evoke warmth, character, texture, and beauty.
In 2023, we’re seeing repurposing and upcycling furniture in new and unexpected ways, a surplus of creative DIY painting projects, and more interior green spaces and organic materials than ever before. Want to know the deets about the trends on the horizon? Here’s what to expect in 2023.
1. Old Commingles With New
Mixing antiques with today’s decor will never fall out of fashion. However, materials need careful styling. The trick to creating an elegant and cohesive space when mixing old with new is in balancing color, scale, and proportion. Sticking to one period is a great place to start. For example, choose a Victorian side chair and a small rug to coordinate with modern furnishings and fabrics. Selecting furniture in corresponding colors or wood tones will also help create a cohesive space. Be extra careful not to crowd a room with too many small items, such as vases, candle holders, and table lamps.
2. Warm Wood Accents Soften Spaces
The warm wood tones of the 1970s are making a comeback, however, on a much smaller scale than the wall-to-wall wooden rooms, the design industry saw 50 years ago. The intention is to implement wood as an accent to warm up all-white and all-gray interiors. Hardwood floating shelves, media cabinets, vanities, and smaller wood touches, such as picture frames and decor objects, add warmth and character to a cold-looking space. Consider swapping out metal cabinet pulls and knobs for wood to warm up a kitchen.
3. High-gloss and Lacquer Finishes Shine
Another popular decor trend for 2023 is high-gloss and lacquered furniture finishes in rich colors. You’ll find glossy, vibrant paint finishes all over the home –– on kitchen cabinets, bookshelves, media cabinets, bathroom vanities, dressers, console tables, bar cabinets, and anywhere else a homeowner wants to make a statement.
4. Jeweled Tone Kitchens Sparkle
Gone are the days of all-white kitchens showcasing white walls, cabinets, and furniture. Jeweled tones such as emerald green and royal blue are all the rage this year. These bright and bold jewel tones create drama and a beautiful backdrop when coordinated with marble, quartz, or wood countertops. So get out your sandpaper and painting supplies if you’re up for a home painting project, or hire a pro.
5. Meet the Newest Earth Tone –– Mauve
The green and brown earth-tone colors of 2022 aren’t going away anytime soon. However, we have a new addition to the earth tone family –– enter mauve. A combination of pale pink and soft violet, mauve is a calming color –– and being used everywhere in the house, from the walls to fabrics, to furniture, and beyond, including the following:
- Nurseries
- Kids’ rooms
- Window trim
- Exposed ceiling beams
- Primary bedrooms
- Accent walls
- Sofas and settees
- Window treatments
6. Natural Materials Continue to Inspire
Natural and sustainable materials dominate home design this year. Designers report fewer synthetic materials and more natural choices used in home decoration. People crave the softness of organic fabrics––cotton, wool, and silk––and the warmth and texture of rattan, clay, and wood. To add natural texture to a room, choose natural fiber textiles such as textured cotton pillows and jute, sisal, and chunky wool rugs. Homeowners are getting creative by repurposing old furniture into something new, such as an old door into a coffee table, a project you can be proud of while saving some cash.
7. Touches of Black Accentuate
Sophisticated black accents always seem to find their way into home decor because they match almost anything. Black touches look super with any aesthetic or color–– from bold jewel tones to neutral color palettes, from modern to traditional. We’ve seen matte black for the last couple of years, but now glossy black is having a moment. Glossy black bookshelves make for a striking accent when paired with lighter colors and wood tones. Design pros also see glossy black accents in cabinet hardware, window trim, lighting, and faucet fixtures.
8. Bold and Brilliant Tile Steals the Spotlight
Forget subway tile. In 2023, vibrant colors and striking patterns steal the limelight on walls and floors. Styles feature tiles with multiple angles and geometric shapes such as hexagons, herringbone, asymmetrical rhomboid options, and circular shapes. Designers are seeing the return of classic vintage tile designs in black, white, and gray. They’ve also got their eyes on metallic and iridescent finishes such as mother-of-pearl mosaic tiles.
9. Limewash and Plaster Texturize
If you love the look of textured walls found in Italian villas and French chateaus, you’ll relish limewash paint and Venetian plaster –– available in multiple colors. Made from crushed limestone and heated to extreme temperatures, limewash paint is vibrant and easy to apply with a brush or roller.
On the other hand, Venetian plaster must be applied with a trowel, which can be challenging for inexperienced DIY-ers who might need to call a pro. Plaster usually comes in black, white, and gray. However, retailers can customize colors according to customer preferences. Whether you opt for classic Old World charm or want to bathe your walls in vivid color, limewash and plaster provide excellent options to amp up texture.
10. Fluted Details Create Movement
Add rhythm and movement to your space with fluted details. You’ve likely seen the style in showrooms and the latest design and decorating magazines. Fluted panels have a magic-like ability to elongate a room and make walls appear higher. But fluting isn’t just for walls. You can upcycle and revive old furniture and cheap Ikea pieces (hello, Kallax storage cubes!) to make them look contemporary and high-end. Fluted furniture can cost around $1,000 or more in a retail store. No one needs to know that you created your project for under $50 using primer, paint, and half-round molding you bought at the hardware store.
11. A Focus on Wellness Stays Strong
After spending so much time indoors during the lockdown, self-care and wellness became a priority. This led to a new niche in the profession: wellness design. Designers had to find new ways to bring health and wellness solutions into the home. To this end, they developed strategies for improving air quality, bringing in more natural light, and merging outdoor and interior spaces with an emphasis on adding greenery indoors, giving birth to biophilic design.
12. Conversational Spaces Define Seating Arrangements
After the pandemic, people felt a deep desire for social interaction and reconnecting with friends and family––and designers responded. They showed homeowners how to create communal areas that lacked appropriate gathering spaces, such as basements, family rooms, and outdoor decks. You can quickly achieve this by moving furniture away from walls and angling seating to face each other inspiring relaxation and dialogue.
13. Modernist Curves Evolve
In 2022, the design world brought curvy seating and sculptural details to modern interiors. This style became the new modern that once consisted of straight lines and rectangular shapes. Designers and makers continue to produce products with curved shapes and sculptural art forms that consumers can’t get enough of, including Shelfology’s RADius floating shelves, magnetic curved bookends, and new curvy coat racks. Now we see curved shapes and fluid forms constructed in wood, glass, metal, and stone moving into interior architecture such as winding staircases, entryways, walls, and archways.
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