6 Residential Interior Design Trends for 2018

Elissa Morgante, AIA

Elissa Morgante, AIA
Founding Partner at Award Winning Chicago Architects, Morgante Wilson

Dec 2, 2017 - 5 min read

6 Residential Interior Design Trends for 2018

Every one of our interior design and architectural clients comes to us with a wish list. It typically contains their must-haves, as well as a fair number of nice-to-haves. Each December, Fred and I like to review those lists – and the work we’ve done over the course of the year – to identify client requests that are coming up over and over again. For us, it’s a good window into the future – because we know if increasing numbers of clients are seeking something, it’s a trend on the rise. Here are our interior design predictions for 2018:

#1 Interior Design Trend: More Color

Our clients still love neutrals, but we’re beginning to see their infatuation with grays recede. In its place is an increasingly popular emphasis on color – either all-out saturation, or, more often, neutral rooms that are layered with color (particularly jewel tones) like never before. Deep blues and teals have become especially popular among our clients. In fact, I’d say blue is emerging as THE interior design color story for 2018 – it’s uncanny how much blue we’re doing. From baby blue, built-in furniture pieces like armoires and media cabinets, to dark midnight blues on kitchen islands, we’re working blues into our interiors every day.

#2 Interior Design Trend: Funkier Lighting

Our clients are getting more daring, and are moving toward more contemporary lighting as a way of achieving the eclectic interiors so many of us are embracing these days . I always tell clients choosing lighting for a neutral room is a lot like accessorizing a little black dress. At its most basic, a little black dress is a terrific foundation for all sorts of jewelry. You can go simple, dramatic, plain, or fancy with it – it all depends on the accents. The same is true of lighting. Take a beautifully neutral room, spice it up with an architectural light fixture, like a bubble chandelier or multiple strands of tiny lights suspended at different levels, and you’ve suddenly created a cool space that feels really chic. Lighting can do that. (Incidentally, so can unexpectedly fun pillows, if new light fixtures aren’t in your budget!)

#3 Interior Design Trend: Mixed Metals

In keeping with a tendency toward eclecticism overall, our clients are becoming more willing and interested than ever to mix metals such as polished nickel, brushed brass, and oil-rubbed bronze. The trick is to mix artfully, or a room can end up looking as though you neglected to think things through. My advice is to choose one finish as the dominant metal in a space, and then tastefully – and thoughtfully – sprinkle different finishes around as accents. For instance, you wouldn’t want to do oil-rubbed bronze faucets and brushed brass hinges – but you might want to try placing a pair of brushed brass light fixtures over a vanity accented entirely with oil-rubbed bronze. In other words, choose one metal to be the primary finish, then be intentional about adding a secondary metal.

#4 Interior Design Trend: Outdoor Views

For most of our clients, creating indoor-outdoor connections – both literal and visual – are a trend that continues to gather momentum at an unbelievable pace. Clients are actively thinking about how big windows are, how much light they let in, and what they look on to. As a firm, we spend a lot of time considering ways to allow landscape and nature to become an integral part of our interior compositions.

#5 Interior Design Trend: Texture

Texture never really goes out of style. But it’s certainly having a moment in the spotlight. Outside, we’ve been playing with brick patterns, changing up the way they’re laid from here to there, and either accentuating mortar or smoothing it out as a design element in its own right. Inside, we’re covering ceilings, walls, and floors with brick, wood, and stone – sometimes all three in the same space. There are no rules, and the more tactile the room, the more exciting it is.

#6 Interior Design Trend: Wallpaper

If you haven’t been paying attention lately, you could be forgiven for dismissing the idea of covering your walls with paper. But that would be a mistake. Today’s wallpapers are nothing – and I mean, nothing – like the ones you remember in your grandmother’s house. In fact, wallpaper has suddenly become downright hip and cool. Much of that is due to recent advances in technology, which allow formerly super-expensive hand-painted or hand-blocked papers, for example, to be created digitally. Or enable minerals such as mica, or glass beads, or even capiz shells, to be embedded into wallpapers. They’re interesting, affordable, and add so much warmth and character, which is why we – and our clients – are so crazy about them right now.

At Morgante Wilson, we’re always ready to push the envelope on exciting, livable architecture. Give us a call if you’re considering remodeling your home – or building new. We’d love to hear what you’re thinking. Happy holidays!

Elissa Morgante, AIA

Elissa Morgante, AIA

Founding Partner at Award Winning Chicago Architects, Morgante Wilson