Cool, calm and collected
After a period of global upheaval, isolation, and uncertainty, one of the big trends in design and decor is all about bringing calm, comfort, and confidence back into our lives. With the Smooth Operator style direction, home really is where your heart is – a life-affirming and nurturing retreat. Be gently cocooned by reassuring simplicity, clean lines, and restful colour harmonies. Stop and smell the roses... in every soft and muted baked pastel shade.
While drawing heavily on a retro aesthetic, Smooth Operator is as fresh as tomorrow. It perfectly balances the current yearning for newness with the reassurance of the familiar. Pared-back palettes layer mono-colour shades and therapeutic tones over clean interior lines. Classical touches such as arches and bespoke built-in furniture set a luxurious scene. Monumental materials like stone and concrete are made soft, and timber becomes fluid as sinuous, sensual curves deliver both visual and physical comfort and reassurance.
From interior finishes to furniture, soft furnishings to accessories, the colours that define Smooth Operator style bring a sense of calm, light and serenity to spaces. Soft, warm and tactile, the baked pastel, mineral-based tones draw clear lines to their natural inspiration – muted organic greens, mellow yellows, and dusty plums. Muted greys, chalky whites and limed blush pinks. Explore relaxed tonal layering and complementary pairings to create an inviting, tactile and restorative home environment. As you retreat to your sanctuary, be calmed by colours that encourage mindful living and a gentler pace.
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Just as the harmonic tonal palette is inspired by nature, architecture, joinery and furniture are also informed with the clean curves and essential contours of natural forms. While minimal in its appearance, there's no compromise to practicality or comfort. Lounges invite lounging. Your bathroom can be a restorative and luxurious spa. Slide into a leather banquette. Retreat to your cleverly conjured home working space or disappear in a dedicated reading nook with the best seat in the house. Let's stay home again tonight.
Many place-makers choose to create their interiors literally from the ground up. For flooring, find your inspiration in the barely-there tones of drifting sands and shimmering water, in soft and subtle woodgrains and the fine textures of natural stone. Even the concrete look can bring a surprising and welcoming warmth to your space. From the base, layer your look with seamless harmonic tones, textures and materials.
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In kitchens and bathrooms, rose gold, true gold or copper tapware may provide a finishing touch of luxury and harmony for pink-led palettes while touches of contrasting black will also work well as clean-edged 'pops' within tonal layered colour schemes. Soft furnishings are organic, contoured and tactile - think suede, plush velvets, softened canvas or even a touch of chunky corduroy.
Feeling inspired by Smooth Operator? Further elevate your space with Karndean flooring by ordering your free product samples from our new LooseLay Originals range, inspired by nature and designed for life, this exciting new range has something for every interior style.
Have you seen our new look and feel Karndean Residential Brochure? View online or order your free copy for a comprehensive overview of our ranges and plenty more interior inspo!
And don't forget to visit our Instagram and Pinterest pages for more inspiration.