Trending for 2022: Alternative Realities as Multisensory Design

The Alternative Realities design trend puts emphasis on escaping the world and designing the home to awaken the senses. Throughout this trend you will see high-contrast colors, gaming rooms and mood-altering lighting implemented as a way of embracing euphoria through home design.

Nightclub-evocative purple and indigo will immerse you into a moody ambiance that will provide an escape from an often harsh reality. Glowing neon colors offer a bold punch, and wallpaper and fabrics that create trick-the-eye optical illusions will create a welcome distraction.

Offering a bold and impactful design element, neon signs will emerge as a cheeky accessory in this trend.

The party’s always happening with black light and neon elements hinting at altered states.

As staying in continues to be the choice of many, at-home bars will be on the rise. “This is huge because of how people seem to be hanging out at one another's homes rather than going out in groups," says HGTV designer Brian Patrick Flynn.

Hallucinogenic moiré, pixelated and perforated patterns convey a sense of movement. Mind-bending design that plays tricks with your eyes typifies the trippy, escapist qualities of these patterns.

To further the mind-bending effects seen in this trend, 3D design elements will be brought into the home, offering a unique and interactive home experience.

This playful print is graphic and punchy, and will be seen throughout the alternative realities design trend.

Movement, ebb and flow and forms that diverge from the straight and narrow define both tabletop objects and furniture.

Creating an optical illusion and ever-changing art created by sunlight, this vivid design element is a show-stopper.

As we move toward home being our escape from the outside world, tapping into the energy, the love of gaming, we will see more spaces devoted to this type of entertainment.

“Lighting is everything and I will never stop emphasizing the importance of it,” Angelique Velez says. This trend embraces mood-altering lighting that can have you rising to an energizing yellow in the morning or relaxing under lavender hues at night.

This vibrant, almost-neon color will pop up more and more often, especially in stunning combination with seafoam and eggplant. Bringing an added moment of intensity to this trend, this bright hue really jazzes things up.

Taking your eye on a journey, curved and wavy lines are preferred to the more rigid and structured, 90-degree angles.

As we spend more time at home and look to cleanse ourselves from the outside world, healing substances will be very important in this trend. An emergence of crystals and stones will be seen throughout the home.

These panels harness the power of sunlight to create designs that move and change throughout the day, amplifying the mind-bending pattern play that encompasses this trend.

In Alternative Realities, we will see a move toward darker interiors that provide the home with a more edgy design, offering an escape from the everyday.

Gemstones feature deep, rich colors that will enhance your space, making it feel like a luxe retreat.

This trend features a dark, moody color palette, and high-gloss paint will be on the rise to reflect light and make those colors not feel so dark.

Adding more architectural detail and fewer harsh angles, arches will begin to make headway in the Alternative Realities trend.

Founded on a joyful, escapist approach to design, curved couches and chairs transform the home into a chill-ready space. The rounded edges of curvy furniture lend a more fluid and relaxed vibe.

Dark blooms provide eye-catching landscaping in this trend.

Plants bred for ever-darker foliage will contrast with bright blooms and create a striking garden display.