Off The Shelf And On Trend

Keep your interior style on-trend with changing landscapes to suit your mood or the latest fashion

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 17 September, 2018 – Interior design trends come and go and it’s not easy to ensure a home remains fresh instead of dated. Soft furnishings can only go so far in adding those ‘pops’ of colour so favoured by interior decorators. A splash of paint here and there can help spice up a room’s look, but it’s the layout of the room as well as the larger pieces of furniture that need to be addressed when it comes to keeping up-to-date.

One of the biggest problems in the past has been the ubiquitous television set. If it is wall mounted, then there are cables to contend with. If it sits on a shelf, table or TV unit so the cabling can be discreetly installed out of view, then that becomes yet another piece of furniture to manoeuvre and place.

Reginald Nxumalo, Director of Consumer Electronics for Samsung South Africa, says, “Not only are Samsung’s TVs highly advanced technically, we’ve also solved design dilemmas. Cables are simply not an issue any longer; the One Near-Invisible cable merges everything into one and allows you to place your TV wherever you want. Coupled with that, the One Connect Box gathers all your connections, with just the One Near-Invisible cable connected to the television.”

With cables out of the way, the next challenge comes up when the TV isn’t in use. Usually, when the TV is off, the black square simply doesn’t fit into the décor, unless of course it’s a black and white minimalist theme and even that’s debatable. Samsung’s Ambient Mode solves that as well – it elevates your television room or living space with decorative content, useful information, your own photographs or even by mimicking the texture of the wall behind it.

With greys still a popular base colour, but more moody and darker accents coming into play, the Samsung’s Ambient Mode feature can play a major role in introducing new colour into the room or creating a whole new style focus.^[i] For example, Pantone’s Ultra Violet is 2018’s colour of the year. If displayed on a television screen either as a block colour or an appropriately themed and shaded artwork, it could update a soft grey palette to a richer and more dramatically provocative style, in line with current interior trends. Much like Samsung’s drive towards innovation, Pantone’s Ultra Violet has been touted as communicating originality, ingenuity and visionary thinking that points us toward the future.^[ii]

“Only Samsung removes the black screen, allowing your TV to seamlessly blend into the room and enabling you to completely personalise your space,” concludes van Nxumalo.

Solving the issue of a blank screen dominating whichever room it’s in makes an immense difference to the way interior designers will view the television. In the past, it’s been about hiding the screen, but now it’s about how best to display it, integrating the TV into the décor theme and style. Additionally, connecting the television to a smartphone means a room’s ambience can be seamlessly changed to address moods and activities – from a serene image with soft background music to an invigorating scene with upbeat music to match; making the television an interior décor game-changer.

^{[i] http://www.idealhome.co.uk/news/home-decor-trends-2018-191244}

^{[ii] https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2018}