A Celebrity Designer Reveals What’s Hot in Kitchens and Bathrooms
When it comes to kitchens and bathrooms, the product options are endless, and choosing the right styles can be overwhelming. Luckily, celebrity designer and author Vern Yip comes to the rescue with quick tips that are functional and practical for your design style.
Just remember Vern’s one rule of thumb when it comes to incorporating trends into your home design: Don’t subject yourself to a new trend just because it’s in! Always ask yourself, “Would I do this if it wasn’t a trend?”
Color While neutrals will always be in style, do not be afraid to inject bold, dark, saturated colors into a color scheme. Deep red, eggplant and dark blues, as well as blue-greens, are finding their way into homes everywhere. But when it comes to color, it doesn’t matter what’s “in” as long as you pick colors that make you feel good in your space.
Colors in metals are also branching out. While matte or polished chrome are always popular, consider bold, dark finishes such as oil-rubbed bronze and wrought iron for faucets and accessories.
Lighting Kitchen and bathroom lighting has become dramatic. While the old, standard fluorescent tubes are being banished to the garage or closet, incandescent and halogen downlights or sconces are taking their place, providing whiter, more attractive lighting.
Additionally, since kitchens and baths are used for a variety of occasions, dimmers help to set the mood to fit the activity. You may prefer bright, full strength light when cooking in the kitchen or applying make-up in the bathroom; or dimmed light when enjoying a special dinner party or soaking in the tub.
Showers versus Tubs While a sunken tub in the master bath sounds like a dream come true, many homeowners are realizing that these luxurious baths don’t fit with their busy lifestyle. Instead, showers are becoming very popular since they are the more functional choice.
However, this doesn’t mean that these showers are just a single showerhead and a curtain. For example, Moen recently introduced a variety of new products like its Vertical Spa, Revolution Massaging Showerhead and showerheads featuring Immersion Rainshower Technology to create one-of-a-kind shower experiences. Additionally, you can look to new materials such as glass, tile and stone to surround your shower.
Green Materials The popularity of environmentally friendly or “green” building products continues to grow and flooring continues to offer new materials that are beautiful and functional to meet these green needs. For example, bamboo flooring is a great, renewable alternative to hardwood floors. It is harder than pine and many manufacturers have been able to produce bamboo-flooring products with comparable hardness to popular hardwoods, like oak. Cork is another popular flooring choice, which provides a comfortable, soft surface and a neutral color that fits almost any design style. So, now you can be trendy, add design and be good to the environment.
Mix and Match The growing size of kitchens has opened the door to new design flair and originality by mixing and matching styles of products like cabinets. Today’s kitchens may feature a different style or wood variety on both the base and wall-hung cabinets. Another popular option is to use different styles or wood colors to separate different workstations in the kitchen.
One word of caution: While this trend works well in larger kitchens, Vern recommends sticking with one color and style in smaller kitchens, since a cohesive look will help to make the small space larger.
--ARA