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Ceramic coverings break down the boundary between indoor and outdoor: “crossover” materials have arrived!
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Nowadays, a lot of people wish to maintain the same materials and colours throughout their homes
Nowadays, a lot of people wish to maintain the same materials and colours throughout their homes. This trend, which during the last few years became popular just inside the home, with an identical floor covering in every room, overturning the fashion in the “wonderful” ‘60s and ‘70s, when it was a MUST to choose different finishes for the various rooms, has now moved out into the open, and the trend for “crossover” materials suitable for both indoor and outdoor use is growing stronger and stronger.
Definitely this trend makes interior design easier, because it creates a basis that can be “dressed up” with furnishing which, depending on taste, may be very “pop” or “modern” or minimalist, since the materials do not impose any major constraints.
As I love to underline, for the interiors of our homes we should choose the style or mood we like best, which makes us feel at ease when we live in it, which reflects our tastes and personalities, creating our own “islands of happiness”!
Ceramic coverings are definitely a good way of meeting this need. Marazzi has a variety of collections that include two types of surfaces, one for indoor and one for outdoor use, with special properties such as non-slip characteristics and better weather resistance.
With stone-look stoneware Mystone-Gris Fleury, I would recommend a “minimalist” style: simple and plain, with geometrical forms and flat surfaces, leaving plenty of space for freedom of movement, with no constraints or impediments.
In this case, the focus on minimal sizes and absolute practicality means the use of no decoration and ornamentation, surplus items or inconvenient details. The few furnishings are arranged along the walls in equipped blocks; the forms are clear and well defined, roomy right-angled units that give the greatest tidiness in the least space. We may be daring with either “total white” or “total black”!
As always, in interior design exercises of this kind lighting is very important: light fittings must bring warmth to rooms to avoid an “icy” look.
In rooms where wood-look porcelain stoneware (Habitat and Planet) is used, we can go for a modern “ethnic” style, which allows the use of materials suitable for both indoors and out.
In ethnic-style design schemes, versatility is crucial: there is no preset design code, so everyone can use their own taste, drawing inspiration from a specific culture and reusing it in their own home.
Unusual materials like bamboo, teak, rattan, wicker, stone and silk can be used.
Modern ethnic interiors involve whole walls and large carpets that create a dynamic, vibrant interior, where armchairs and coffee-tables can be chosen to make the best use of space in a seductive alternation of light and shade, solid forms and gaps.
Marazzi coverings help to give the imagination free rein.