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The 2024 home design forecast is looking colourful, according to Canadian home designer Leigh-Ann Allaire Perrault.
The DIY expert and Cityline host will be sharing the latest colour prognostications and style trends at the Edmonton Home and Garden Show, running March 21 to 24 at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
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“I prefer forecast opposed to calling something a trend. Trends associate more with flash-in-the-pan design, whereas forecasting is the evolution of where consumer appeal is and where preferences are headed,” she says.
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As a colour theory student and educator, Allaire Perrault combines her understanding of colour use with research into emerging design trends which are based on what’s happening politically, economically and socially in the world. Fashion, cosmetics, pop culture, movies and television programs all factor into what people want in home design. During her appearance at the Edmonton Home and Garden Show, she’ll present an inspirational palette of ideas in a Main Stage presentation and a DIY feature called Looks for Less.
“I’ll bring three emerging trends to life, which are paint colour, wood tones and metallic finishes. We’ll break everything into bite-sized pieces. I love taking people through the design process because so many don’t know where to begin,” she says.
One of the colours Allaire Perrault will feature on the Looks for Less style board is Clay Mask Green, a serene and natural colour she refers to as neutral. Or “huetral.”
“Green is nature’s neutral. It’s a great introduction to colour with a DIY component,” she says.
She’ll also discuss colour drenching, in which the walls, the ceiling, the doors and trim in a room are all the same shade. Colour drenching in white creates a white canvas so that everything else — the furniture and accessories — come forward and become the lead actor she says. Drenching in a dark colour, such as Stellar Navy (Allaire Perrault’s current favourite colour) does the same thing. Painting the walls and ceiling a dark colour may seem cavernous and for years, decorators have declared that dark paint will make a space feel smaller. However, if you painted the walls dark blue and left the ceiling white, the contrast would be a distraction.
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“You want a canopy of colour and to refocus the eye to the accessories and furnishings in the space,” she says. “Fearlessness is big now, not just in the colour you choose but in the use of the colour.”
The Looks for Less wood tones are sun-bleached, characterized by a subdued weathered look. The original wood colour is still evident, but lighter stains are applied to give the appearance of natural aging. A high-gloss lacquer finish gives sun-bleached wood a modern, polished esthetic.
The style board goes into metal finishes, and the forecast is for chrome. Not the mirrored chrome of the 1980s or the reflective coffee tables of the early 2000s. It’s about adding a sparkle of chrome with something as simple as spray paint.
“It’s about painting your brass or bronze cupboard knobs or a light fixture and adding chrome in small doses,” she says.
The Edmonton Home and Garden Show is open March 21 and 22 from noon to 9 p.m., March 23 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and March 24 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For the Main Stage presentation schedule and ticket information, visit edmontonhomeandgarden.com.
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