7 Home Design Trends from Grand Designs Live

The Grand Designs Live exhibition at the Excel in London is one of the biggest home build and design exhibitions in the UK each year. The event draws crowds of budding house builders and trade professionals all looking to see what is new and exciting in the world of design and build.

We went along to give you the latest insight into the latest home design trends:

Larchwood

Larchwood is becoming an increasingly popular building material for cladding. This has recently become a popular choice due to its appearance, strength and beautiful texture. The beautiful shapes and patterns created by its rings are aesthetically pleasing and compliment the beautiful texture and natural colour of the timber. Larchwood is a highly dense timber and is one of the hardest softwoods commercially available and is 50% stronger than pine. This means that it is hardwearing and is highly resistant to scratches, scrapes and knocks. Exterior Solutions here at Sky House have seen this trend emerging for some time but it has now hit the mainstream. Their larch timber wall cladding gives you that natural and tactile finish that was seen at the show.

Colourful Front Doors

Your front door represents the face of your home and in 2018 it's all about making a statement with a bright colourful bespoke door. Black, is a safe colour choice for a front door and can act as a neutral base tone whereas darker shades of green or blue can be used to make a bold design statement. For those feeling adventurous bright colour doors can complement the style and design of the rest of the home. Indulging in an unusual colour can help to reflect your personality onto visitors to your home as this is the first thing guests will notice when entering your property. If you choose a front door like one of the Ingresso Range from IQ you can be sure of excellent security plus you have almost total freedom of design. You could even have a bright colourful exterior door face paired with a muted, seamless, modern interface to suit your modern interior design scheme.

Designer Sofa

Designer Sofas were a major element of all the interiors stands at Grand Designs Live. Homeowners and architects aim for simplicity, class and subtlety while achieving the look of timeless design with a neutral wall colour. This helps to make a room look less busy whilst emphasising the existing clean lines. To complement the neutral background wall tones, classical and dark coloured designer sofas in black, dark green and navy can help to create an inviting space. It is very easy to integrate furniture according to the colour and design with the range available from IQ Furniture.

Pocket Doors

Whether you are a homeowner or an architect you want to be making the most of every square inch of your property. Pocket doors are becoming increasingly popular with the latest advances in architectural design and technology. Rather than swinging or folding out a pocket door can simply slide into an adjacent wall and provides about 10 square ft of additional floor space. A great example of this is pocket doors from the ADL range. The internal disappearing doors are designed in Italy providing a perfect fit for any project looking for fantastic performance whilst offering the latest architectural trend. The ADL doors are also available to view at the Sky House Design Centre showroom.

Timber

Architectural styles and designs have changed dramatically over time in terms of how materials are appreciated and utilised in architecture. Timber provides a special aesthetic to any architectural project it is used in. Timber is widely admired for its beauty, flexibility and aesthetic nature and can be used in windows, cladding, kitchens, furniture and staircases. Prefabricating timber homes started out about 60 years ago and has now become the norm in some parts of the world. Timber has and still continues to garner interest is easily the most popular building material in residential architecture. To find out more read our blog post here "Timber Windows & Modern Glazing"

Contemporary Dramatic Ceiling Lights

Large dramatic lighting was another trend being exhibited at Grand Designs Live. Homeowners and architects look to light fittings to help create an ambient inviting atmospheric centrepiece to a room. Dramatic light solutions are bold, eye-catching and unique and help to brighten a room with a single source of light. If you are looking for the perfect centrepiece and stunning design then you may want to consider IQ Furniture who offer lighting designs big or small to fit into any room.

Home Technology

Integrating smart technology into a home has been increasing in popularity over the last few years. According to research undertaken by Houzz (UK Home Renovation Trends Study), "More than one-third of homeowners consider improving energy efficiency very or extremely important to their project (38%) One in five report the same for addressing health concerns (20%) and 12% for integrating smart technology. To create more energy efficient homes, 23% of homeowners are installing home automation technology during their renovations". Two of the main types of smart home technology people tend to opt for initially is security systems and lighting systems. Understandably maintaining and looking after your home is a priority for all homeowners and can include the use of Smart CCTV cameras and automated door locks. Smart lighting is another way to save energy costs whilst providing intuitive navigation around your home at night. If you are looking for safety, simplicity and lifestyle enhancement then why not consider Indigozest. They can offer the opportunity to turn your simple home into a bespoke home automation system connected to only one remote suiting each and every lifestyle.

It was interesting to see that the design trends predicted by the team here at Sky House Design Centre are finally taking a hold of the larger market. For more insight into future design, trends make your personal appointment to visit the Design Centre and meet with our group of design professionals by giving us a call on 01494 722 880 or email us at info@skyhousedesigncentre.com