Home Design and Lifestyle Trends for 2022

A COVID renovation boom has swept across the country, with Victorian homeowners granted $334,461 million worth of renovation approvals in the year to October 2021.

With experts forecasting the renovation frenzy to continue throughout 2022, we take a look at the latest home design trends.

Comfort and nature

Design authorities from Architectural Digest to Vogue Living are predicting comfort and nature to be the two predominant interior design themes in 2022, and although they can be interpreted as two distinct trends, really, they’re interlinked.

The creation of a comfortable home, with a warm atmosphere invoked by the use of natural materials, is the perfect antidote to two years spent craving human connection. Think natural materials like timber, bold stone such as granite and marble, and terracotta and travertine flooring. Our stunning natural surrounds here on the Surf Coast provide ample inspiration for this particular interior design trend.

There’ll be a greater emphasis on sustainable décor and design this year than ever before as sustainability moves from being a trend to a non-negotiable design approach. Homeowners are increasingly aware of the impact that synthetic fibres have on the planet and our health, and natural materials, like wool, silk, cane, raffia, rattan and linen will be more in demand than ever.

The great outdoors

We’re so lucky here on the Surf Coast to live in an incredibly beautiful natural landscape, and homes that highlight the natural environment with integrated indoor-outdoor living areas are very much in vogue. 2022 could be the year the indoor plant fad becomes the indoor forest trend, with potted trees like olive and lemon making their way inside. Lockdowns have also made big backyards and swimming pools more popular than ever.

Sustainability is big news outside as well as in. Growing food from seed, gardens designed for climate change with drought-resistant planting, and wildlife-friendly gardens planted with native species are all surging in popularity this year.

The pandemic continues to influence design

The experience of spending the last two years working, resting and playing almost entirely inside our homes continues to bear upon interior design in 2022.

Establishing a workspace at home, whether it be a home office, study, freestanding studio in the garden or a flexible area that integrates a workspace alongside other functions, remains top of many homeowners’ design wish lists. When building an extra room or two isn’t an option, folding screens are a stylish way to partition off a work area within an existing space. With remote working here to stay, the timber gate-fold screen trend is one to watch in 2022.

But it’s not all work and no play. Designers are now bringing other pleasurable elements of the outside world into the home too, such as incorporating drinks cabinets into kitchens. Cheers!

Individual, personality-filled interiors

Just as we’ve seen in fashion, interior design is moving away from rigid trends and towards personal expression. Trends aren’t disappearing, but homeowners are blurring the lines between themes and executing their own take on them, resulting in highly individual and personal interiors.

To this end, unexpected colour and texture combinations – described by Vogue Living as ‘cohesive clashing’ – will have a moment in 2022. Decorative wallpaper, boldly patterned stone and striking colour mixes will be all the rage.

Emphasis on texture

Tactility is a big design focus this year, with materials that stimulate our senses very much in fashion. The trend for texture dovetails with the nature theme, with organic materials effortlessly providing a texturally interesting palette.

Expect to see unique timber, with plenty of grain, and different timber species paired for contrast. Textured walls, tactile linens, wool and silk rugs, and hand-made, imperfect ceramics add individual sensory touches to interiors.

The colours of 2022

Dulux’s 2022 colour palettes Restore, Flourish and Wonder echo the interior design themes of comfort, nature and individuality. The Restore scheme creates cosiness and calm with natural tones of pumice, clay, forest green, moss, charcoal-purple and buttermilk. Flourish, meanwhile, evokes dreams and memories of travel with sensual hues like petrol blue, desert red and dusty rose, while Wonder invites homeowners to create their own individual sanctuary in 80s-inspired lilac, lemon, rose, green quartz and cornflower blue.

Vogue Living, meanwhile, nominates purples, greens and ‘70s brown’ as the colours to watch in 2022, while Architectural Digest’s website Clever puts its money on all shades of green. Pantone has opted for a purple-blue called Very Peri, chosen for its ‘spritely, joyous attitude’ as its Colour of the Year.

Looking to renovate or find a new home on the Surf Coast in 2022? You’re welcome to contact me for advice today.