Gold is Back!

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

I find that once I start noticing a new finish or color around me, it suddenly starts appearing everywhere I look.  The latest instance of this? Gold. Not 1980s brass gold that feels cheesy. No, now it has a shimmery sophistication that I’m open to for projects.  To show you what I mean I’ve gathered a few pieces to highlight how this trend is popping up throughout the interior design world.

First up: Lighting

Here are three examples of chandeliers that embrace the gold trend in a modern interpretation.  The one on the left would fit in well in a mid-century modern home or a transitional home with a youthful attitude.  The middle one could be a nice addition of texture and playful shapes to an entry way.  The pendant on the right references the traditional shades of Morocco but would be totally appropriate in a sophisticated downtown condo.

Here are a few tile samples and accessories I pulled together that highlight how metallics are  popping up across multiple categories in fresh new ways.

I’m loving the large format tiles with raised honeycomb and ovals patterns on top of solids with a bit of color variation to them (hard to see in these photos).  Imagine a whole bathroom wall in the honeycomb pattern with a floating white rectangular sink in front of it, stunning!  The long narrow tile would be a great accent between solid large format tiles to add punch and glamour to a minimal modern space.

The small square dish is from West Elm and is currently being used as a key tray on my sideboard. I love the abstract pattern and how the gold lines aren’t solid everywhere.

The stag ring is in a bronze finish, but I still consider that part of the new metallic trend. A fun find from Target, I love the surprise looks I get whenever I wear it.

The cream crackle finish tile and small crushed glass accent tile could be combined to create a sophisticated transitional back splash without reading as gold, but coordinating well with gold accessories nearby.  In fact, here is an example of the tile used in just that way on a recent project to update a standard builder kitchen in a condo and inject the home owner’s personal taste without going too flashy to turn away future buyers.

While gathering fabrics for that same project I found all of these great examples of modern textures and patterns in metallic tones that would fit right into this sophisticated urban condo.  Against the deep espresso stained bamboo floors we installed, these gold accents are really going to pop.  The bronze fabric on the lower left has a great tone on tone pattern that doesn’t really show up in this photo unless you study the lower left corner of the sample. Another example of a traditional pattern made modern by stripping it down to it’s basic form and doing it in one color instead of lots of colors.

Now I started gathering images for this post back in October, and in the months since others have noticed the trend too.

I spotted this gold wallcovering in the December/January issue of House Beautiful.

And in December, Elle Decor featured Gold in the Trend Alert column.

Gold’s resurgence is going to continue in upcoming seasons according to the trends spotted at High Point  Furniture Market this fall and the forecasts I’ve received from trend spotting experts. So keep your eyes open and watch it start popping up more and more.

Tags: chandelier, Elle Decor, fabric, gold, House Beautiful, interior design, lighting, modern, Pattern, tile, transitional, trend, wallpaper
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