| year is one of the most exciting years the home | | | | touch of Feng Shui techniques will help all novice home |
| decorating industry has seen in a long time. Wall | | | | decorators create the 2007 theme. |
| papers are inspired by hand painted silk, and | | | | Keep furniture at a minimum. Bulk is out. All those |
| embroidered silk, Chinese wallpaper panels. | | | | people who ran out and bought huge, overstuffed |
| While buying the silk panels in 2007’s colors will | | | | furniture, will have a hard time creating the warmth and |
| cost about $7 000 USD. Many companies are rushing | | | | ‘home’ atmosphere that is needed to |
| to create affordable wallpapers that mimic the lovely | | | | update their home. Bistro tables have replaced kitchen |
| Chinese pastels and bold colored focal points in deep | | | | dinette sets. Tall counter chairs replace stools, anything |
| plumbs and rich browns. | | | | that removes any ‘formal’ setting in the |
| Many of this year’s designs are muted. The | | | | dinning areas. |
| upcoming Olympics have drawn a definite Oriental | | | | Homeowners who have never been able to afford |
| flavor into this year’s designs. Decorators are | | | | heavy drapery with a flannel liner and weights, will |
| seeing the simple, black and white, lattice designs | | | | smile at this year’s newest innovation. Simple |
| appearing on everything from furniture fabric to | | | | room dividers create small places, and they become |
| umbrella stands. | | | | perfect sliding glass door and window screens. |
| Lifting simple patterns from ones that are more | | | | This is great news for apartment and condominium |
| complex and creating contrasts of light grey on black, | | | | dwellings. The ‘less bulk’ and simplicity |
| two-tone emerald greens, two-tone reds, and neutrals | | | | now lets apartment and condominium decorators |
| with a slight hint of Gold. Beige is out. Finally, the | | | | create the perfect 2007 trends. The bolder plumb reds, |
| industry is exploring the wide range of browns and red | | | | deep silk hue browns, and natural motifs open up |
| browns. | | | | space. |
| The Oriental silk wallpapers introduced the west to the | | | | Remove the blinds and shutters from windows and |
| beauty of browns. This has shown tremendous | | | | glass doors. Replace them with a black and white |
| growth in the American home decorating industry who | | | | screen. A better idea is to make your own with a |
| included elements from nature, and gave the colors | | | | single strip of silk as the screen. Homes do not need a |
| and designs a simplistic, elegant, flavor. | | | | hand painted silk panel on the wall to create the 2007 |
| This is expressed through the combination of leather | | | | theme. Instead, invest in a 8 ½ strip of expensive |
| and fabric, or hand made furniture. However, while | | | | silk, preferably hand painted, and make a window |
| many home made products are replacing the | | | | screen or room divider. |
| ‘Ikea’ feel accessories, the folk-art and | | | | The last element of the new trend is to use wallpaper |
| country classic look is definitely dead. | | | | as art. A short wall decorated by a strip of decorative |
| If you do not shop in New York, or have access to | | | | wallpaper – or better yet, grass paper – |
| high-end decorating items, then you can create a | | | | will replace ornate artwork and large paintings. Those |
| similar theme by employing bamboo and rattan, dead | | | | who can afford silk wall panels, a single wall is all the |
| branches painted plum red, and polished metal. A room | | | | artwork a room needs to create the 2007 theme. |
| may take a bit of ‘trial and error’, but a | | | | |