Home decoration has always been popular. Since the pandemic began, it’s become more popular than ever. The Christmas season tends to give some good pointers to what’s likely to be popular over the coming year. With that in mind, here are some of the top trends emerging for Christmas 2021 and what they could mean for 2022.
Sustainability
Concerns over sustainability have now been around for so long that it seems unfair to describe them as a trend. It’s probably more accurate to say that concerns about sustainability manifest themselves in different ways and that these can be described as trends.
Two trends that have been steadily growing are the use of fake Christmas trees and the use of LED lights. In fact, these trends have increasingly been going hand-in-hand as fake Christmas trees come with integrated lights. Outside of Christmas fake plants are also a growing trend.
These work for people who don’t have green fingers and/or enough space to keep real plants. Some people are going for realistic fake plants. There is, however, a growing market for fake plants which are obviously fake. These essentially combine the popularity of plants with the popularity of art.
Outside of trees and plants, however, it’s natural all the way. Using natural materials for decor now goes way beyond cut flowers. Rustic and rural themes are popular. There’s a growing appetite for handmade decorations either shop-bought or made at home. Decorations are openly reused “as is”, sometimes at other times of the year.
Tradition
With hindsight, it was probably inevitable that the 2020s would draw style inspiration from the 1920s. Add in the effects of the pandemic and it’s easy to see why people would want to immerse themselves in the comfort of tradition. As with sustainability, this trend is manifesting itself in all kinds of ways.
For Christmas, vintage and vintage-look decorations are very much back. What’s more, people are going “all in” on traditional customs such as stockings, tree decorations (which now go right down to the base of the tree with tree collars making a big comeback) and outdoor decorations (e..g wreaths).
Other seasonal decor looks set to follow much the same basic trend even if it’s less elaborate for most of the year. The big exception here is tablescapes. These are huge all year round. This is possibly in part due to the restrictions imposed in the earlier part of the pandemic.
Customisation
The last key trend is the trend towards customisation and personalisation. Possibly in a reaction to the “influencer” world of social media, people have increasingly been moving away from “following the herd”.
One clear sign of this has been the growing trend of people making or buying decorations made from unusual materials. For example, there are now Christmas wreaths made of pompoms. These also often tie into the trends of sustainability and tradition. For example, pompom wreaths are often made from scrap material, they’re reusable and they can still have a traditional feel.
A word of caution
In general, you’ll only need to inform your home insurer if you’re making significant changes to your home. That’s unlikely to be the case when you’re changing out basic seasonal decor. With that said, if your decorating journey starts leading you down the path of larger-scale home improvements, make sure that your insurer knows about them.
Also, remember that the more you change seasonal decor, the more likely it is that you’ll have a minor accident during the process. For example, you could knock something over and have it break something else. This type of damage is generally only covered if you specifically have accidental damage cover on your home insurance.
Accidental-damage cover is well worth considering, especially if you have children and/or pets. Even if you don’t, the extra money can literally be a small price to pay for the protection it gives you.
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