Instead of returning with small trinkets, today consumers are bringing furnishings and larger, often very colourful artifacts (authentic or adapted) into their homes from other cultures and places.

Southeast Asia, China and India are examples of intense travel or interest attractions today. These traditionally mystical parts of the global village have, for centuries, influenced Western ways of thinking and created interior decorating with a palette of powerful colors and styles. Coupled with the dramatically increased Asian population in the United States and Canada, Asian style, has been emerging as a strong interior decorationg trend for the past several years.

Current colors include: Lighter, neutral settings, punctuated by warmed-up accent colors from a exotic mix of countries and cultures. Deep, rich ethnic reds and warm, glowing oranges are the ‘punch’ colors for 2008."

Other examples of styles and colors from around the world include:

Far East: Watch for "Eastern cool" and aged neutrals from the landscape: stone gray, moss green, deep indigo accented with lacquer red and sky blue. The forecast shows a continued interest in metallics, too; particularly with special finishes such as blackened patina or hammering.

Indian Market: An earthy, saturated palette is reflected in the emerging Indian market with vibrant colours related to fresh fruits and vegetables showing the growing strength of the natural food movement. Look for ethnic prints, modernized either through bright colors or oversized scales.

Mixing of styles is one way of achieving a global village interior of your own. This is known as eclectic and begs a few rules to achieve success. One is that each furnishing item must be wonderful unto itself. As a standalone, each element in the interior should be high-quality, excellent design and interesting. Bringing divergent furnishings together into an intriguing whole depends on the artistic placement of color, texture, form and mass.

The result of decorating your own corner of the world with all these new colours can be highly satisfying, emotionally charging and thoroughly refreshing.