hello my name's laura crombie from realhomes and i'm here at birmingham's nec for spring fair. this is the biggest tradeevent in the uk for interiors and it's where the trends for 2019 are beingshaped. when we came to spring fair last year we saw a lot of black being used asan accent for the soft pastel colors that were everywhere. this year it's gonebigger and it's gone bolder, so we're seeing furniture, we're seeing lighting,really big, structural, statement pieces. what keeps it modern, because i knowyou're probably worrying that it's gonna look a little bit shiny and a little bitcheap maybe, it's the matte finish that keeps it really chic and just makes agreat backdrop. one of the things
that it's been paired with everywhere isbrass. this time last year if we talked about metallics, it was allabout copper, but things have moved on since then and now we're seeing brassand gold everywhere. this stand behind me is a perfect example so we've got thegold pendant lights, we've got candlesticks, we've got trays, we've got lamps, honestly it can be used on everything. one of thethings that brass works perfectly against is the new neutral backdropwe're seeing this year there's no grey. honestly, i'm as surprised as you arebut grey is gone, instead we're seeing much softer creams, we're seeing spicedhoney, which is obviously dulux's
colour of the year for this year, we'reseeing corals, we're seeing pinks, and it's just a warmer, softer feel and thebrass goes beautifully with it, as does the black furniture, because it reallystands out and makes a statement. one of the things that brass is brilliant at isreally showing off greens. take a look at this plant pot here, i love this and it'sa really affordable way to bring brass into your home. i'd love to hang them offmy bookshelves in my living room and then inside you can pop some plants. this one looks real but it's not now if you're anything like me, plantsprobably have a limited lifespan in your house. i'm going to let you into a littlesecret - i don't have the real thing
anymore, i just go for some faux foliage instead. there's been such advances in the technology used to create these thatthey look so realistic now and it's a great way to bring the outdoors in. oneof the best things about faux foliage is that you can use it in any room of thehouse and it'll help to tie your whole scheme together, it also works reallywell we've black and brass as we've talked about earlier. and as you can seebehind me now, we're not just talking small potted plants and cacti, you canget a full range of both foliage now, from these structural grasses to hangingbaskets, even a full sized tree
if you've tuned into our sorealhomes videos then you'll have joined us inside the homes of instagram stars like lisa dawson and amy wilson from this style rocks and the thing that's best abouttheir dining rooms is that they've got their own bars. this one is absolutelybeautiful. it's maybe a little bit big for the average home, but it's black, it'sgot brass ,so it's ticking off two of the key trends that we've already talkedabout. i think this would fill my whole living room, so if it's a little bit toobig for your house, another trend that you can easily tap into is thisbeautiful olive green colour. fake plants have been used as an accent, but if youwant to take it one step further, then green is the go-to shade that we'reseeing absolutely everywhere. we're
seeing every shade under the sun, fromolive green, to sage green, to emerald green, cooking apple green, british racinggreen, or this gorgeous sludgy mossy colourthat we're seeing here. whichever shade you choose, and however bold you are with how you use it, it's going to create the perfect backdrop for the black furniture we saw earlier, and the beautiful brass accents. another thing we've seen alot of when we've been walking around the show is exposed wood it's literallyeverywhere, so here we've got a bookcase with a nice metal frame and it looksreally, really good against the crisp matte black that we saw earlier, but youcan see in everything from pendant
lights to fruit bowls to dining tablesand chairs talking about natural materials, take a look at this gorgeous table - it's got a lovely rough finish and you've even got the exposed bark downhere, which is just so tactile. another nature-inspired finish that we've seencoming through is honeycomb - not the real stuff, unfortunately, it but it's thisbeautiful hexagon pattern that you can see here. it's like a new take ongeometrics, which aren't going anywhere we've seen it on these bowls, thesegorgeous canisters, which have lots of uses in the kitchen, and there's also been loads ofother examples. take a look... the key thing i've notice while walkingaround this year, is that the trends
aren't intimidating. for the last fewyears we've had things like maximalism, clashing colors and patterns, and theywere very easy to feel intimidated by, but this year you could easily investin a beautiful black table, some nice brass accents, and some gorgeous fauxfoliage. if you're buying for the home this year, now you know exactly what youshould be looking out for. you're going to find these trends everywhere from yoursupermarket to the high street and online. if you need more inspiration oradvice, just head to realhomes.com or check out our sorealhomes videos onyoutube.
