How green is my home

When decorating one’s home, fashion reigns supreme. But each person has his own special style...which can become variants of fashion trends.

By JUDAH MASSIAS
ARTESIO KITCHEN AT NIGHT WITH ATMOSPHERE LIGHTING 311 (photo credit: POGGENPOH)
ARTESIO KITCHEN AT NIGHT WITH ATMOSPHERE LIGHTING 311
(photo credit: POGGENPOH)
Buying a home, be it an apartment or a house, is a very important event for any family. But it is only the first step. A home is much more than four walls and a roof. It has to be decorated to create the right atmosphere, to create the home.
When decorating one’s own home, fashion reigns supreme. But each person has his own special style which, with the help of a good decorator, can become variants of the current fashion trends.
Today, there are two main trends - green and health. These two have nothing to do with fashion per se, but they dominate the current fashion trends.
Green – that is, eco-friendly - is very much in the mode. Many people want their homes to be decorated with items that are not harmful to the environment. Health means fresh air – large open windows, good air circulation, and cooking utensils that are beneficial to health.
Yaeli Moses is the owner and general manager of Poggenpohl Israel. Poggenpohl is a German producer of high-quality kitchens, so Moses is very familiar with all the modern trends in kitchen design and kitchen equipment.
“The modern kitchen is an open space, part of the living space. The living room or salon, the dining room, kitchen and hall are all one large open area, making maximum use of space,” she says. “Extensive use is made of new technologies that make for more healthy cooking. A prime example is the steam oven, a much more healthy way to heat food than the microwave. Most clients also prefer green products. Artificial plywood paneling is more expensive than the real thing, but in spite of that it is much in demand.”
The kitchen as part of the open space living room area is part of a new social trend. Cooking is back in fashion. In the not so distant past, a modern family would buy frozen meals, put them into the microwave and that was that. Nowadays, people like to cook. An open space kitchen allows the host or hostess to display their cooking skills.
The green and healthy living concept is also reflected in other areas of the home, such as the living room, bedroom and terrace. Tomer Peretz, owner and manager of Tomer Design, says, “There is a trend to go back to nature. This is evident not only in the popularity of green products but also in the use of local natural materials. The use of stone, for example, is much in evidence in the outer walls and floor tiling.”
Many interior decorators make extensive use not only of local materials but of local motifs as well. Local materials such as stone are best suited for the climate. Terracotta tiles are used in terraces and roof gardens, while painted floor tiles with 19thcentury designs are back in vogue.
The wooden floors and heavy furniture associated with Northern Europe, where many of the original olim came from, was very fashionable in the past. They may have been suited to the cold climates of Northern Europe and the plentiful supply of timber, but they are not suitable for the climatic conditions in Israel.
One example is sofas and armchairs. In the past, leather sofas and armchairs were very popular. Not anymore. Today, cloth is king. It is much more practical and suitable than leather.
Interior décor is also influenced by the size of the homes in this country. Many local apartments are not large. Thus clean lines are very fashionable because they give the impression of space. These clean lines are combined with splashes of color and decorative items that neutralize the sterile effects those lines may have. The effect creates a more spacious atmosphere. Clean lines and light colors are popular in kitchens and bathrooms. In kitchens, the monotony of the clean lines and light colors is broken by trimmings of natural wood. In bathrooms, the white ceramic walls are accented by vividly colored marble or small ceramic tiles.
Extensive use is also made of granite-porcelain floor tiles because they are strong and have a calming light grayish color. Large floor tiles of 60x60 cm, 80x80 cm and even 100x100 cm are in fashion. Another major trend is wood paneling and interior brick walls.
But what is in today may be out tomorrow. Fashion in interior design is in a constant state of flux. At present, there is a shift from heavy to light, from conventional to hi-tech, from conservative to modern from classic colors to metallic colors. This may change in the twinkling of an eye. In the past, there was symmetry in design; today, interior design is eclectic. Modern furniture mixed with the odd antique. Modern light fabric curtains mixed with traditional Persian rugs. One wall painted a vivid color, and the other walls a light color or even white.”