2011 Interior Design Trend: Made With Love

Have you ever made something? If so, you'll know the joy and satisfaction you get from putting something together with your own hands. From a flat pack piece of furniture to a car, everyone feels that warm glow of pride and happiness when you take a step back and admire your handy work. 

Going on from that, making something with someone or a group of people is even more rewarding, especially if it's your family. Made With Love is all about that feeling, that pride and joy. Taking part in the activity is as rewarding as completing it, so planning and enjoying the experience is an essential part of it. 

What's this got to do with an interior trend? Well it's simple, Made With Love is as the title suggests, and interior trend which you have to put love and thought into to get the best out of. 

The inspiration for this trend comes from an obvious place, the great outdoors. Unlike the first of the 2011 interior trends Finding The Way which takes it's inspiration from the urban city life, Made With Love looks to the countryside, specifically, woodland areas.

It's all about natural materials and textures, wood, clay and stone make up a big part of this trend and not just the materials but the colours. Base colours for this trend would be soft browns and very pale greens with hints of grey. Multiple bases can be used as long as careful planning goes into the pairing of the shades and tones and one of the hues is more dominant. Use a pale brown base and highlight with a slightly darker brown (but still a light hue).

Once you've chosen your base, you need to choose a deeper rich shade for the predominant colour. These are strong organic colours like clay brown or denim blue, colours often found in the outdoors. They're rich yet natural colours, man made shades are discarded in favour of original shades.

Raw and robust, these colours would often be picked for larger rooms as they are darker, yet this trend suits itself perfectly towards kitchens. What might seem as small and cramped can be turned into warm and homely with the right accessories and atmosphere. The kitchen has become the central hub of most homes, especially family homes so designing something with warmth and comfort is essential. 

Before you start adding things to the walls, make sure you have some natural materials in your space. Wooden floors and ceilings look great and can add to the rooms warmth and cosiness. Stone flooring works amazing in kitchens, the more random the better. If you have to lay brand new flooring, go for slightly imperfect tiles, preferably in different sizes and shapes. For an idea of how this can look, pay close attention to the small area of stone wall in the inspiration photo below. Simple yet effective stone work can look amazing with the right colours.

Furniture should all be wooden and preferably, ignore more modern designs and painted finishes. If you need to buy brand new, have a go at ageing the wood using sandpaper and (if you're brave!) fire to burn and slightly distort. If you can, buy old furniture, antiques are a must, but old is perfect. The furniture doesn't need to match either, 6 chairs around a dinning room table can be 3 of one design, 2 of another and 1 of a third!

For artwork, look towards organic art. Sepia tones look amazing and fresh next to the natural colours. Black and White can work but only with the right base colours and you need to get a sample first to see how it sits in the space. Photos on nature with a pale blue sky can add a hint of different colour into the space and will instantly draw people to the image upon entering.

Need some inspiration for the finished room? Or unable to get your head around what's just been described? Have a look at the inspiration image below to see how this trend can work perfectly in a kitchen. The original wood and stone work amazing together and thanks to the large window the relatively dark room is transformed thanks to lots of natural light flooding in. 

All artwork used in this article is available as Canvas Prints from WHoArtNow.