Homeowners are splurging on increasingly luxurious items, equipping their personal spaces with quirky designs and the latest gadgets.
The annual Home Expo event held last week at LuxExpo, where experts from kitchen and bathroom designers to upholsterers, hot tub installers and interior architects showed off what they had to offer. Thousands of people gathered to watch.
The latest trends include sprinkling in luxury kitchen appliances, creating bespoke wardrobes with lighting, and replacing TV screens with retractable wall-mounted projectors.
“People aren’t afraid to spend a lot of money on kitchen appliances,” says interior decorator Vincent Delaunay of Home Design.
Kitchen: The sky’s the limit
Popular kitchen trends include integrating a barista coffee machine into your kitchen unit, adding a wine cellar or splurging on electronics to spruce up your worktop.
“We get a lot of requests for wine cellars,” says Christophe Blas, interior architect at GF Cucine. “Many people want to integrate a barista coffee machine into their kitchen unit. Just as people once had a microwave oven that fit snugly, now they have a coffee machine that is part of the kitchen unit. I now prefer a high-end coffee machine.
Many people also like to keep their worktops tidy, and placing the coffee machine inside the unit rather than on top of the worktop saves space and makes it look less cluttered. Another trend that’s been around for a while is boiling water faucets, which eliminate the need for a kettle.
Built-in coffee machine frees up worktop space © Photo credit: Shutterstock
To keep the kitchen looking tidy, many people choose a stove with a built-in extractor fan. That is, there is no hood above the stove.
In terms of aesthetics, blank canvas kitchens with white or wooden unit doors are trending, with a touch of color in items such as chairs and stools. Flashy colors like orange and bright blue are popular at the moment, Delaunay said.
One look that GF Cucine is increasingly selling is cupboard doors made of ribbed wood or metallic lacquer, without door handles. Ribbed wood is increasingly being seen in all rooms, whether it’s choosing wall designs or imitating tile patterns in bathrooms. Blass says metallic lacquers come in all colors, with popular tones like beige, mocha and bronze.
Sofas and chairs: comfort is back
A few years ago, hard sofas with low backrests were all the rage. The minimalist look gave it a modern feel, and the living room felt spacious despite having enough seating for everyone. Now, the comfy sofas and chairs are back, allowing buyers to sink into the enveloping seats once again.
Thibault Dupont, sales manager at Thommessen Interieurs, said: “This year’s colors are bright, especially beiges.” “We’re seeing a lot of curly wool fabrics and big pieces like corner sofas in bright colors and armchairs in matching colors. Colors like terracotta, rust and bronze are popular this year.”
Sink into a comfortable sofa © Photo credit: Shutterstock
Tables made from moltex (a mixture of cement and lime) and ceramic tables are overtaking wooden tables and making their way into living rooms and kitchens. Moltex and ceramic tables are highly durable and waterproof. Moltex is natural and one of the most eco-friendly and trendy tables.
How to decorate your home to appeal to Luxembourg buyers
Bed: perfect shape
Adjustable beds were once a popular choice when one partner needed assistance getting in and out of bed, or when the other partner needed a specific mattress to alleviate joint problems. It was associated with generations. Young couples are now jumping at the chance to buy adjustable beds, but for very different reasons.
Italian bed manufacturer San Lorenzo sells a number of mattresses that can be adjusted in an H-shape for young couples.
The shape allows two different single mattresses to be connected in the middle, but there is a slight gap at the top and bottom, so both mattresses can be adjusted separately. San Lorenzo sellers say young people prefer adjustable beds because their bedrooms often have TVs. Both partners can adjust their mattresses the way they like, and one can even sit upright and watch TV while one sleeps. H-shaped mattress protectors and sheets exist to fit perfectly into this popular trend.
Screen: Discreet home cinema
Want to watch a screen, but don’t want to watch it in your living room? TV projectors are the latest trend.
Place the projector in a low cabinet and place the projector screen behind the cabinet. The screen will remain behind the cabinet until you lift it off the wall with the remote control.
The screen is stored in the cabinet when not in use © Photo courtesy of Luxembourg Times
“The real advantage of projectors is that they are more like a home cinema than a standard TV and can be viewed very comfortably even with the lights off,” said Richard Czapla, founder and manager of Cinemotion. Masu. “The image is projected, so there is no strain on the eyes.”
It also means that homeowners can decorate their walls however they like, as the projector screen looks like any other wall while it’s down.
Some people splurge on vintage speakers or record turntables. Integrating speakers into walls and ceilings is also a trend. Freestanding speakers are turning to 1960s-inspired styles, such as circular speakers and more modern glass speakers.
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Wardrobe: slightly light
Gone are the days when the wardrobe was a practical bedroom item and clothes were stored, neatly or otherwise, behind closed doors. Nowadays, the wardrobe has become a design feature, and visible clothes have become a trend.
“Having wardrobes with glass doors has become very trendy over the past year or so,” said interior architect Khalil Bindir of Agro.
Glass or mirrored wardrobe doors are popular choices © Photo credit: Shutterstock
The wardrobe on display at the Home Expo booth has LED lights that turn on when you touch the door handle.
“You don’t even have to switch on the light because you just touch the handle and it turns on,” Bindil added.
For customers who don’t want their clothes on display all the time, Baindir recommends mirrored doors that become transparent when you touch the door handle and an LED light turns on.
