Archaic accents, industrial design and organic shapes will dominate outdoor living space design in 2015.

1. 3 Outdoor Living Style Trends for 2015
Archaic accents, industrial design and organic shapes will dominate outdoor living space design in 2015. At least that’s what design experts nationwide are predicting. “These three trends are the ones that have been building steadily among my clients over the past few years,” says Houston outdoor living space designer Wayne Franks. “This past year, however, they really took off – and no doubt, will become mainstream in 2015.” Archaic accents “In their décor and accents, my Houston outdoor living design clients are becoming increasingly drawn to items that look so weathered or ancient, they’re like artifacts,” he explains. “I’m seeing more and more archaic-looking pottery, botanical and dinosaur themes and formations that look like rugged stone, bone and fossil formations.” Restoration Hardware’s outdoor furniture offerings, for instance, include rustic stone troughs, undulating clamshell bowls and tables that look like fossilized wood. Pottery Barn’s Frog Rain Drum Side Tables, meanwhile, resemble drums that have been used Asia for thousands of years. And Janus et Cie’s Olympia planter is designed to look like a copper bowl (now greenish blue with age) from Ancient Greece. Agreeing with Franks on the archaic theme is Shawn Sowers, principal designer for Sauder Woodworking Co. “It sounds a little out there,” Sowers writes in his “Spring High Point Market Reveals 2015 Trends” post on Sauder’s Furnish Forward blog. “But elements such as bones, animal prints, iridescent shells and woven patterns – as well as dark, metallic and bold colors – already are all around us in designs.” Similar motifs, he says, include botany, insect prints, fossils, bone, bark and stone. Industrial Design “Industrial-style design really came on strong this past year in our Houston outdoor living space projects,” says Franks, “especially when it came to outdoor furniture and lighting.” Concrete, as a result, has become a more mainstream choice for outdoor countertops,

2. backsplashes, flooring and furniture. Customers are also drifting toward the bare-bones, utilitarian look of reclaimed wood pieces, barn or cage lighting and exposed ceiling beams. This outdoor style trend mirrors what’s going on indoors, says Franks – who has joined the growing number of his clients now infusing their interior design with industrial design elements. “People are looking for simple comfort and strength in the form of massive elements, contrasting with traditional interior design ideas,” explains modern interior design website Lushhome.com. “Rustic materials, industrial style accents, brutal feel and simplicity are modern interior design trends for 2015.” Organic shapes Adding comfort, femininity and balance to all these hard lines and heft, however, is the movement toward more rounded, organic shapes. This not only includes the rounds and ovals of ottomans and tables, but the sculptural lines and curves of accessories, lighting, ceramics and glassware. In Houston outdoor kitchens and covered patios, Franks sees it in the popularity of outdoor furniture pieces by Janus et Cie. Examples include the Amari lounge chair, the Capsule bench and the Shell daybed. He also sees it in outdoor accessories like Janus et Cie’s Loop bowl, Grandin Road’s Floral Garden Trellis and Frontgate’s Bella Tabletop Torch. “To soften the lines of our crisper and cleaner looking modern homes, we are adding accents of less rigid and more organic-inspired shapes,” notes Sowers. “Graceful, rounded, expanded looking shapes continue to be very popular, but we are seeing that trend taken a little further into the direction of droplet, hanging, dripping, pulled, ‘gloopy’ looking forms that look like they almost just ‘happened’ or grew in the space.” More information on outdoor living style can be found on Outdoor Homescapes of Houston’s website, at www.outdoorhomescapes.com