Category Archives: Trends

top 4 summer entertaining trends outdoor furniture

Top four summer entertaining trends

Summer has finally arrived and with the change of season comes a new appreciation for our outdoor spaces! There’s no denying that the weather is close to perfect and we think that calls for a celebration of our hard-working front yards, backyards, patios, and other open-air spaces (you know, the spots that are dedicated to entertaining).

With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that outdoor trends are starting to rival the number of indoor trends! Keen to know more about the latest craze in the interior space (or should we say exterior space)? Below we’ve gathered some of the top outdoor entertaining trends.

Front yard focus

Enhancing front yard areas is becoming more popular than ever before and rightfully so. This space is so often forgotten about, yet it’s the very first area your guests will see upon arrival. We’re seeing front yard makeovers everywhere and they’re certainly upping the curb appeal of houses as a whole.

So, what are some key elements to incorporate in an on-trend front yard? For starters, manicured lawn is a must (no explanation needed). You’ll also want to think about symmetry –frame your front door with potted plants or incorporate symmetry into your landscaping. Rid the space of unwanted weeds and dirt (yes, time to pull out the weed killer and pressure cleaner). Lastly, if you have the space, consider adding a seating area. This could be a singular floating chaise or a pair of outdoor armchairs.

Tuscan design elements

Dreaming of summertime in Tuscany? Why not create the same feel at home? Tuscan-style décor is in with its warm colours, natural elements, and a touch of rustic charm. This trend is all-encompassing, so to successfully pull it off, Tuscan additions are required to all areas of your outdoor space. Invest in wall hangings, ceramics, sculptures, terracotta pottery, and wrought iron furniture. Plant a variety of traditional plants like rosemary, olive trees, and lavender, and lastly consider an overall colour scheme – stick to olive greens, deep oranges, and even maroon.

Outdoor rooms

Much like the concept of open floor plan living, we’re seeing a trend develop where larger outdoor spaces are being divided into distinct areas or “rooms.” This includes outdoor kitchens, the use of pergolas, and contemporary poolside styling. Backyards now house multiple sections for seating, dining, and relaxation, rather than a single focal point.

Tip: if you’re struggling to create a divide between sections, look to the earth! Break up the areas by changing the flooring or ground texture. We recommend the use of gravel, tiles, and fresh grass.

Bold colours

Go bold with colours and say goodbye to muted hues with bright tablescapes, outdoor rugs, cushions, and statement furnishings. Minimalism is out and maximalism is officially back in!

We’re expecting to see splashes of colour everywhere this summer (indoors and out). Naturally, the Pantone colour of the year, Viva Magenta, continues to be a beloved shade this year. But hues of yellow and orange are also at the top of interior designers’ lists.

Keen to discover more summer trends? Read our Summer Trend Report online now and follow us on Instagram to stay up to date with retailer offers, professional decorating advice, and more interior inspiration.

Incorporating Muted Tones When Designing A Bedroom

Using muted tones when designing a bedroom creates a tranquil and calming space. Our lives are so busy, and we are under what feels like constant stress, so it is essential that we create a calming environment for where we rest our heads at night. Muted tones are a huge trend this autumn and we are seeing them be particularly popular within bedroom design. Inspired by nature and organic elements, in today’s post we are sharing how you can incorporate these into your bedroom space to create the ultimate retreat.

The Colour Palette

When thinking about the colour palette for a bedroom using muted tones, it is important to think back to nature and natural colours. We recommend using a base colour palette of soft white, light beige and warm grey in your larger furniture pieces and decorative furnishings such as the bed linen. These will create a soothing and calming backdrop for any muted colours to pop against. Next, you can add soft furnishings and decorative accessories in colours such as sage green, blush pink or a muted brown to bring life through in a subtle way. Head into stores such as Provincial Home Living and Koala Living to see how they have used a muted toned colour palette in their displays.

Decorating With Muted Tones

Our biggest tip when designing a bedroom space is to keep the large furniture pieces such as the bed, bedside tables, chest of drawers and occasional chairs in a neutral tone. This then allows you to inject some colour in a subtle way through the use of soft furnishings. Soft furnishings can include items such as cushions, blankets, throws, curtains, and rugs. We love using warm muted tones for the curtains and rugs for example creamy white, light beige, warm grey or soft brown. Cushions and throw blankets are where you can have fun with colour in a soothing way and use tones of soft green, blue or pink to inject personality. We love the gorgeous range of soft furnishings on offer at Bed Bath n Table and Adairs and be sure to head into Deco Rug to view their amazing rug options too.

Using Texture

When decorating and designing with a muted colour palette it is important to create interest through using texture. Natural and lightweight fibres are perfect to incorporate with this design style as they pair perfectly with the colour palette suggested. Use fabrics such as wool, textured cotton and linen for your bed linen and upholstered furniture pieces such as bed heads, ottomans, and occasional chairs. We recommend embracing texture when selecting your cushions and throw blankets and choosing items with a beautiful, soft fibre for a natural look. Provincial Home Living offer a wide range of furniture and home decorative accessories that use natural textures and finishes. We love their range of armchairs, rugs, and cushions in particular.

Setting The Tone For The Space

Once you have selected all your furniture and home décor pieces and your colour palette of muted tones is in check, then comes setting the tone for the space. This is the finishing element of a bedroom design and must not be forgotten when creating a tranquil and calming oasis. Finishing touches include ensuring you have a beautiful fragrance on hand through the use of candles and room sprays. We recommend going for a natural scent such as sage, cedarwood, jasmine or bergamot. You can pick up some beautiful home fragrances from retailers such as Adairs and Bed Bath N Table. Next, is to make sure the lighting in your bedroom is calming and allows for a soft and muted effect. We love using beautiful bedside table lamps or floor lamps for ambient lighting instead of the main downlights of an evening. It is also a great idea to install a dimmer to your bedroom, so you can adjust the lighting to suit your every need.

This Autumn at Nunawading Homemaker HQ we are embracing muted tones and creating calming spaces in your home. Make sure to head in store and view the beautiful range of furniture and homewares options on offer. You can also speak to our friendly staff to see how you can incorporate muted tones into your bedroom today!

The Best Practical Styling Advice For Your Home

Your home is not just where you live, but it is a place to relax, to entertain, to build memories and even to work (thanks COVID). This focus on our homes means that it’s now more important than ever to create a space that is not only multifunctional and practical but stylish and beautiful too. An area that makes us feel comfortable, but also makes us happy to spend time there.

One of the easiest ways to change the feel of your home is with styling. We’ve put together a list of practical styling advice that you can use when decorating or designing your home.

Finding the right furniture

Furniture is probably the easiest place to start when styling your home. It’s also one of the most important because the type of furniture you choose can dictate how you use the room, and the style of furniture will dictate the style of the room too.

When buying furniture for a space, measure twice and buy once! Furniture that is too big will impact how you use your room and will make it feel small, but furniture that is too small will make the room look unfinished.

Also, consider choosing furniture that is timeless and won’t date. Trends come and go, but good quality furniture that is simple but classic means that you can enjoy it for years to come, only needing to update the décor around your furniture to suit the latest styling trends.

When it comes to furniture, it’s always good to try before you buy so you can make sure you’re comfortable and it fits its purpose. Sit on dining chairs to see if they are the right height, lay on a bed to see if it’s big enough and look inside wardrobes to see if there is enough storage space.

Styling soft furnishings

A great way to change up the style of your home is with soft furnishings like throws, cushions and bedding. Easily changed and updated, use soft furnishings to dress up your room or refresh a tired space.

The trick to styling cushions is to consider pattern, texture, shape and colour, and layering them up to pull the look together. Pick a colour palette and then choose your soft furnishings with those colours in mind, mixing and matching textures and styles as you go.

The same goes for throws and bedding. While these don’t need to match each other, or your cushions, they should at least be complementary and be part of the same colour palette to create a cohesive room.

You can update your soft furnishings to suit the season. Florals are fantastic for spring and summer, while moody colours like plum and emerald green are best suited for Autumn and Winter. Also, think about colour combinations that work well together. We love blush pink and olive green, neutrals and burnt oranges or black and white with a pop of colour.

Choosing artwork for your home

There are lots to consider when choosing artwork for your home. While it can be an investment, you should think with your heart when choosing the right piece. Spend lots of time viewing different artists and note down artwork that grabs your attention. You may find you like abstract art more than realism, or you want a simple illustration rather than a splash of colours.

You should also think about the colour palette of your room when selecting artwork. As a general rule, you shouldn’t reference more than four different colours in your room, so look at paintings with similar colours to your wall colours or soft furnishings or neutral colours that won’t be too harsh in an already colourful space.

Also, think about sizing and placement. Always measure your space before you buy artwork and even consider using paper or masking tape to mirror the size of the piece on your wall. Oversized artworks (1m wide or more) will act as a focal point in your room while smaller artworks can be grouped together for the same effect.

Upgrading your lights

Changing the lighting in your home can give it an instant makeover. Even if your room has downlights, adding feature lighting like a pendant, wall light or floor lamp will provide you with more illumination and act as a feature for the room.

When placing lighting, you should measure your room to ensure it isn’t impeding on your space but will still provide the light you need for the purpose of the room. Pendant lights in a living room should be hung 30-50cm from the ceiling (on a standard 2.4m ceiling) while pendant lights over a dining table should sit 70-80cm above the dining table. If you’re choosing pendant lights over your bedside tables rather than table lamps, make sure they hang 35-50cm above so you get enough light for reading a book, but they don’t get in the way.

Floor lamps and table lamps can be added to your room if you don’t want something permanent. You can change the shade to complement the style of your room and move them around to create cosy reading corners or stylish décor displays.

Adding decorative accessories

We love using home décor accessories to style a room because although they may be small, they have the power to change the look and feel of a room in an instant! Think vases, candles, pot plants, baskets, mirrors and trinkets that can be placed on shelves, coffee tables, side tables and any surface that is bare.

When decorating with accessories, be careful not to overload the space. Group accessories with similar themes and varying heights to create beautiful displays and choose quality over quantity! Group items in odd numbers such as threes or fives so that your arrangement feels authentic and not too staged.

Plants add life to every room, so play around with different types of plants. A large Ficus Fig or Rubber plant in a statement pot will act as a feature, while succulents or a string of pearls will complement a smaller space. If you want more colourful plants, you can’t go wrong with an orchid or two. If you don’t have a green thumb, you can always use faux plants instead – don’t worry, we won’t tell!

Decorating with rugs

Rugs are often thought of as entirely functional, used to hide undesirable flooring or prevent furniture scratches, but you’d be surprised at how much a rug contributes to the style of a room, often tying the entire space together.

When choosing a rug, think about your lifestyle and the area where it will be placed. High traffic areas will need a hard-wearing material like sisal, jute or seagrass, while bedrooms won’t receive so much foot-traffic so tufted or shag rugs are suitable. You should also consider how easy your rug will be to clean, especially if you have children or pets.

When deciding on the best size, it is a general rule that part of your furniture should overlap the rug so that the space flows. Rugs under dining tables should be large enough so the dining chairs don’t come off the rug when being used and a rug in a bedroom should be positioned from the bottom 2/3 of the bed and extended out to the sides and end.

Play around with patterns and colours. If you already have a lot of features in your room, choose a neutral rug that won’t draw the attention away from those pieces. To avoid a clash, pick out a secondary colour in your rug and match it with a piece of furniture or the soft furnishings in the room.

Want to see your home styling come together? Check out our new Digital Mood Board Tool! You’ll be able to mix and match products to create a mock set up of your space while exploring different styles and colour palettes from the retailers at Nunawading Homemaker HQ. It’s free, and you can share your mood board with family, friends or design experts to get their opinions on your styling.

With over 25 stores, you can find everything you need to style your home at Nunawading Homemaker HQ. Shop from the best homewares, tech and furniture brands like Adairs, Bay Leather Republic, JBHiFi and more. If you’re looking to style your home from scratch, give your home a makeover or want to browse our wide range of stores, visit Nunawading Homemaker HQ today!

4 ways to embrace Autumn into your home

It can be hard to farewell summer. Endless sunshine, carefree days, sweet, ripe fruit and relaxed barbecues. Helping make the switch a little easier is the knowledge that every season has its own unique beauty and is rich in traditions to embrace.

Here are a few Autumn ideas to get you inspired.

Colour

There are classics hues which are synonymous with colder weather. From browns to oranges, experts say you should try and replicate the colours which are occurring outside.

The key is to infuse the entire house with relatable and powerful colours, such as purples and dark blues. Not only are they autumn shades, but they are dark and vivid. Plus, they are warm and add an element of cosiness. This was be easily achieve with a selection of throws, cushions or even some new wall art from PillowTalk.

Also, if you want to see items inspired by you, you can go through Decorug at Alexandria Home Centre.

Candle Lit Glow

To set the mood as the coolers month start to approach, introduce some candles around the house.

We love the collection of Ecoya candles from Bed Bath n’ Table there are so many unique scents to choose from.

Rustic Wood

We’re always talking about how the rustic warmth of wood can transform a room but the effects are even more apparent as we go into Autumn and Winter.

To achieve a truly homely look with lots of character, try mixing and matching pieces from different furniture ranges. Koala & Tree have a large range of unique pieces that are collected from all over the world. It is hard not to fall in love with all of them!

Seasonal cooking

One way to shake off the blues of a summer farewell is, naturally, with food.

Autumn brings with it a huge variety of seasonal goodness to invigorate your cooking. In March, look out for pumpkins, figs and apples, April is when we see mushrooms and chestnuts coming on board and May is a great time to enjoy Brussels sprouts and quinces.