Colour Trends

Glittering gold, jewel colours, pretty pastels... sounds like the eighties to me!

At the Design & Decoration Fair in Sydney yesterday interior designers and colour forecasters Fiona Barker and Sarah Lahey gave us their crystal ball version of what colours we'll be decorating with in the next year or so.

Here is what they offered plus my interpretations and comments.

Not surprisingly, the natural palette is still big but I particularly liked the animal themes - animal colours and motives. Think owls, bugs, botanical prints, fossils.

The other trend is beautifully made natural furniture in bleached shades. We are seeing this around now but it will only get bigger.

Gold is on its way back but my pick of the shades is pale gold. We are going to be seeing gold jewellery and accessories everywhere soon. I see it creeping back into interiors in gold velvets, rustic gold frames, muted down with shades of charcoal.

Jewel Colours like emerald, sapphire, topaz, garnet, amethyst. Apparently we react to difficult economic times by being drawn to bright colour. How will we see it in interiors? Rich soft furnishings and accessories would be my bet.

Playful pastels? I have visions of tanned Barry Manilow in a mint jacket kicking back in a pastel penthouse in Miami. 

What do you think about these predictions?