Canadian interior designer Laura Stein annouces the top ten design trend of the year. Is your home up to par?

1. Glamour and Luxury — Luxury is no longer just for the ultra-rich and upper echelons of society. There is a desire for glamour and luxury at every price point, and manufacturers are making luxury more accessible. Sliver, lavender and champagne are popular colours, with a bit of sparkle mixed in. Look for rich fabrics like silk and velvet, beautiful polished metals, and shiny lacquered furniture in just about every shade.

2. Focus on Function — Despite a desire for glamour and luxury, focus this year remains on functionality (and who said you can’t have both?). Quality, practicality and comfort will be the driving forces behind most décor purchases this year. Fleeting trends are out and longevity is in. Contemporary décor is becoming softer, warmer, more comfortable, and there is a renewed interest in classic styling that has stood the test of time.

3. Back to the Classics — Classic and traditional décor is seeing a resurgence in popularity, but is often featured with a modern twist using bold colours, striking patterns, and clean lines. The look is warm, sophisticated and fun, rather than old and stuffy, but has a sense of place that won’t go out of style. Keep a lookout for warm woods, classic detailing, and traditional menswear fabrics like plaids, paisleys, pinstripes, and herringbones.

4. Metallics — Metal, metal everywhere. Woven into fabrics, stamped onto wallpapers, painted on walls, woods, whatever. Silver still reigns supreme but gold has made a huge comeback, adding a touch of warmth and the ultimate in luxuriousness. For a more toned down look, pewter, rust and copper are gaining steam. We’re also seeing a mixture of metals, as long as they have the same feel. Metallics are a great way to add some shine and a pop of light, but their best use is sparingly as accents. Too much bling is never a good thing.

5. Surrounded in White — Simple, sophisticated and sleek, the white room is the ultimate in stylishness. It is striking, clean, and it offers a tranquil escape from the visual noise we experience throughout the day. To keep the look from getting dull, we’re seeing a mix of textures throughout the room. For added drama, black or red accents are being used to spice things up. Classic or contemporary, warm or cool, white is always the number one neutral.

6. Blue — Blue is the colour of the year. From turquoise to deep royal, strong and striking blues are showing up just about everywhere. Blue is one of those colours that can coordinate with almost anything, and looks just as distinct in a contemporary setting as it does in a classic one.

7. The Tropics — No trip to the Caribbean this year? That’s okay – now the tropics can come to you! Turquoise, fuchsia, tangerine, lime green – these ’80s inspired tropical colours have made a comeback, along with big floral prints, leafy botanicals and bird patterns. We’re all tired of the doom and gloom of the recession, and this trend is here to inject some levity into our lives. Have fun with this one, but be careful not to turn your room into a rainbow popsicle.

8. Sculptural Furniture and Lighting — The style of furniture and lighting has always been important, but this year the line between traditional form and art has become more blurred than ever before. Both furniture and light fixtures have taken on a sculptural quality, designed not only to function but to be showcased as artwork.

9. Global Influences — Some of the best design inspiration comes from far and exotic places, and this year global design is having a huge influence. From traditional styles of colonial islands to tribal designs from Africa, global design is not just an aesthetic, it’s a story, a history, an exotic adventure right in your own living room.

10. Sustainability — The biggest trend this year has been building for a number of years and has finally become so entrenched in our value system that it is no longer a trend, but here to stay. More and more manufacturers are changing their business and manufacturing practices and offering products that are made sustainability with as little impact on the environment as possible. This year, for the first time, “green” has finally become ubiquitous. It has influenced our design aesthetic to bring nature and nature-inspired themes into our homes in a sophisticated and contemporary way.

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