Quiet Luxury: Sourcing a Grounded Aesthetic

The design world has been shifting dramatically. For so long, it seemed as though we had become a culture obsessed with showing off our status to everyone around us. Each space is designed to shout louder than the last, often at the expense of everything else around it. Over-sized furniture, a seemingly endless array of bold, brightly colored accents, and large logoed pieces created the perception of status, whilst actually leaving the space feeling hollow and impersonal. However, of late, we have witnessed a marked change in this perception, and designers are increasingly moving towards creating quieter, more intimate spaces to induce feelings of calm and serenity in those who experience them.

There is a misconception about luxury items and how they are perceived. People may think that they need to scream for attention, however, this isn’t the case. In reality, luxury has the ability to provide comfort and relaxation to those who are fortunate enough to have it in their lives. It can be achieved through soft lighting, textured fabrics, and tactile surfaces that evoke a sense of calm. This is what we call quiet luxury, a feeling that isn’t provided by loud colors, metallic accents, and oversized logos.

We describe quiet luxury as a home that feels like an escape. We attempt to achieve this with a grounded aesthetic by beginning from the bottom up – literally – with the floors within a home. No matter what is on the floor, the feeling one gets from it is immediate.

The Foundation of a Grounded Home

When building or designing a room, it’s essential to focus on the most basic element, and that is the floor. It is the canvas of a room, and whatever design elements you add to your room will have to sit on it. If the floor of your room makes you feel like you are walking on a cold, hollow, or flimsy surface, then the overall feeling of your room will never be as magical as it could be.

Therefore, when choosing a floor covering for your room, you have to choose one that feels great under your feet and makes you feel good.

Design in the past was often associated with luxury, featuring very expensive materials, rare hardwoods, and high-quality stone. But today, there are many options on the market that are equally high quality, durable, and don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. They can look just like natural wood or stone and have a very luxurious look and feel. And they don’t have to be as fragile as some of the natural materials on the market.

Designing a home that is of the Quiet Luxury aesthetic means choosing the best-sourced materials for your space. Rather than spending an arm and a leg on imported exotic hardwoods or large, expensive stone flooring, look to wholesale vinyl flooring. Many high-quality designs offer a very realistic imitation of real flooring- offering the exact same texture and grain of natural wood or stone- at a fraction of the cost of real flooring. This allows for a high-end designed space within a very smart budget- truly the heart of Quiet Luxury design.

From there on in, the design details can fall into place, and you don’t have to overcomplicate things with the selection of furnishings, accessories, and anything else for your home.

Elements of the Quiet Aesthetic

The design elements to attain the perfect blend of peaceful elegance are found in simplifying and editing all elements within a home or space, and in selecting a few truly perfect items to bring a touch of elegance. This, in turn, can aid in relieving much stress and allow the mind to focus on all of the positive aspects of design as well as daily life. Perhaps this is why the aesthetic of Quiet Luxury is becoming increasingly more popular. Here are a few key elements that can bring the perfect touch of Quiet Luxury to your own personal space or home.

Warm, Earthy Neutrals

Steer clear of bright, clinical, white, and cold, gray, sterile-colored paint. In contrast to these spaces, a home incorporating elements of the quiet luxury of a natural, earthy interior will contain warm-colored walls painted in such neutral shades as warm beige, soft cream, muted clay, and gentle, mossy sage green. These colors can effectively absorb light throughout a room to prevent a harshly lit area. A room incorporating warm, earthy neutrals will immediately allow the senses to recognize a feeling of peaceful, luxurious comfort that a contrasting space would never be able to achieve.

These colors are great because they are absorbers. They don’t reflect light harshly. Instead, they create a warm, cozy atmosphere in your home that makes it feel cozy and inviting. It instantly makes you feel relaxed, because the atmosphere is so warm and inviting. Your shoulders will instantly drop when you walk into a room painted with these colors. It feels so much better to be surrounded by warm colors rather than harsh, glaring ones.

Rich, Tactile Textures

Since you are not using loud colors to grab attention, you need texture to make the room interesting. Mixing different materials is the secret to creating depth and warmth.

Combining various materials of different textures to make a space more interesting is key. A soft and chunky Bouclé sofa in a warm color will add plenty of comfort to a room. Pair it with a coffee table made of rough, matte-finish stone for a great contrast in texture. Add some light linen panels for your windows to filter in natural light in a soft and diffused manner. You want people to feel like touching every surface of your home, and it should feel great to the touch.

It is all about the sensory experience.

Mindful Minimalist Furniture

Clean lines and soft, rounded edges make for excellent minimalist furniture. Chrome or other metallic trim and embellishments detract from the aesthetic beauty of the items. Even in more ornate designs, the lines and edges should speak to the observer and be the real point of interest.

Make sure each piece has a purpose. Also, be sure to give each piece a lot of room around it. Having plenty of space around your furniture will make your home look and feel luxurious. Having space in your home will also make your home look and feel bigger, and it will feel less cluttered and less chaotic. A home with plenty of space and a good balance of form and function is what a home should be.

Designing for Real Life

The best thing about the quiet aesthetic of a luxury home is that it is truly meant to be lived in. As opposed to a museum, where you are expected to tiptoe around in white gloves and not dare to sit on the couch, a luxury home should exude an air of comfort and relaxation. And that’s exactly what a home with a Quiet Aesthetic does best.

One of the most important things when choosing your flooring for your luxury home is that it is durable and can be well and truly lived in. Our premium vinyl flooring has the look of natural stone or hardwood but is a lot more hard-wearing and easier to clean and maintain. That means you can be sure that it will withstand the day-to-day wear and tear of family life, including scratches from pets, scuff marks from muddy shoes, and spillages from family meals.

Another great aspect of quiet luxury is that it can be very durable, meaning you can have a beautiful home and still enjoy it with your kids and pets. Premium vinyl flooring is a great example of this, because while it may look like carpet or hardwood, it is scratch-resistant and easy to clean.

The Art of Slow Sourcing

Sourcing items to add to your home slowly is key to building a space that reflects your sense of style and gives it lots of character. It is also crucial to create a home of quiet luxury because every item will have soul and tell a story.

Because of this, it is very important not to put your home together to look like a typical home with lots of mass-produced pieces. Items like vintage or antique pieces, unique rugs, and flooring all make a home stand out and create a unique home, or as I like to call it, a Home of Quiet Luxury.

A home filled in one weekend can often look unremarkable, lacking character and personality. It is typically filled with mass-produced items, lacking soul and personality. Taking your time to slowly source individual items that resonate with you creates a home with real personality and history, telling a story of who you are and what you like to surround yourself with.

Begin with the foundation of your home and be sure that the items you choose are of the highest quality. Let the rest of the room develop around these basic pieces. With time, your home will become a comfortable, grounded, and beautiful living space – one that is truly your own.

By ML staff. Images courtesy of Unsplash.