At home: what’s trending now?

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press • September 5, 2020

We love checking out the latest trends.

It’s not so much that we are going to repaint our white, two-year-old kitchen cabinets the popular color of the moment, but more that, it’s fun to know what’s new and fresh.

As a Southwest Florida interior decorator, I always caution clients against following trends. Instead, I suggest that we take a favorite trend and find a way to work some version of it into your current décor without an expensive renovation. And I recommend that you always ask yourself if you will still love it in five years. The goal: classic and timeless. With a little fun included in the mix.

Kitchen cabinets and island painted in Sherwin Williams Pewter Green (SW6208). Pottery Barn’s Rory pendants in burnished brass shades. Fenton leather bar and counter stools. Available at www.potterybarn.com. Photo: Pottery Barn.

Not a normal year for trends

High Point Market, the largest home furnishings industry trade show in the world, with over 10 million square feet and 2000 exhibitors throughout 180 buildings, takes place in the fall and spring. It’s where designers meet with suppliers and seek out the newest and most beautiful trends in the industry. It’s where it all happens. Walt Disney World for designers.

This past spring, the show was canceled because of COVID-19 and like in the fashion industry, there was no real excitement around design. We were all at home (and still are for the most part) trying to survive a pandemic. The usually flurry of articles and photos with the latest trends did not happen.

So, when a client recently asked me for trends, I thought it was time to take a look at what has come about in the past six months or so while we have all been at home and isolated.

Comfort and function

My go-to for the pulse of the industry is Kravet, the industry leader in to-the-trade home furnishings. The fifth generation family business offers a one-stop shopping venue for designers looking for fabrics, furniture, wall coverings, trimmings, carpets and accessories.

Naples showroom manager, Amy Jimenez, says “comfort” is key to current trends.

“After spending so much time at home, homeowners are looking for comfort, function and performance. Creating a cozy space with a modern feel at home is what’s important.”

Also important, according to Jimenez, is color. Blues, greens, soft shades and dark teals.

What’s trending now?

Kitchens

We are now using them for working at home, school work, entertaining, dining. Trends: Larger islands. Open layouts. Upgraded appliances. Bronze and brass hardware and lighting are hugely popular. Color for cabinets and islands. Think: sage green and navy blue.

Nooks/office space

With everyone working at home, zoom rooms have become a necessity. Okay, you really don’t need a whole room. A wall or a nook will do. But the point is that you need a background for your zoom meetings and a quiet space with privacy. A wall with a piece of art or a countertop with flowers. Lighting is important. A little creativity makes this one easy.

Reconfigure a guest bedroom so it can be used as an office. Rework a laundry room for crafts and a small desk area.

A calm home

This means a lot of neutral colors, open spaces, elements from outdoors, soft indirect light in public spaces, plants to purify the air, chemical-free household products.

Color

Wild and eco-friendly, dried grasses look like you just came back from a walk down a country road. These beautiful arrangements are easy and maintenance-free. Available at www.potterybarn.com. Photo: Pottery Barn

This is the one change that everyone can make with a minimum of expense. And most of my clients have been repainting. It lifts the mood and refreshes the space, almost instantly.

Trends: Neutrals like white, grey, beige are still popular because anything can be used to accent a color palette. Black is now considered a neutral. Blues work everywhere and navy is so popular. All shades of green for walls and fabric. Afraid to commit to a color in a room? Go with neutral walls and paint the ceiling a beautiful color that you have always wanted to try. Worried about imperfections in the wall? Use a matte finish.

Vintage

The days of cheap, fast furniture as a temporary fix have slipped away. Thankfully. Using what’s already here not only honors the skills of craftsmen of the past but it embraces quality that lasts. And vintage pieces will not end up in a landfill. There is a renewed love for vintage and antique pieces and new ideas for using them in your home.

Trends: Incorporate a rare and unique vintage piece. New paint and modern upholstery will give a collectible new life and provide an accent for your room.

Boho chic vibe

This is a look that is fun and provides a lot of comfort.

Trend: Rattan, cane and wicker. All new, this retro style of chairs and tables mixes with your sofas for an affordable, light style.

Bedrooms

Paint a dark wall behind the bed in midnight blue or charcoal. It’s a dramatic backdrop for artwork and photos. Sacrifice a fan for a gorgeous chandelier. As one of my favorite clients says, “we have air conditioning.”

Dried grasses

Wild and eco-friendly, dried grasses look like you just came back from a walk down a country road. Beautiful arrangements are easy and maintenance-free.

Wrenda Goodwyn is a Southwest Florida interior decorator, A.S.I.D. associate and gold member of the Interior Redecorators Network. She helps homeowners throughout Southwest Florida with timeless, affordable ways to create beautiful spaces and solves decorating problems. Her articles appear the first Saturday of each month. For more information visit her website at spectacularspaces.com. Call her at 949-1808 or e-mail wrenda@spectacularspaces.com. For more decorating tips, articles and photos, visit spectacularspaces.com/blog

A new year: Finding peace and comfort at home

Wrenda Goodwyn • special to the Fort Myers News-Press • January 4, 2020

A new year begins. With new dreams, hopes and possibilities. A time to take inventory and come up with new inspiration to enhance our homes for 2020.

If you’re like me, the decorations are almost all put away and things are looking a little sad without the lights that kept things bright and cheerful over the past month.

Never have our homes been more important to us. They’re our sanctuary. Our refuge from all of the stress and turmoil that is swirling around nonstop. From everything that is thrown at us on a daily basis. Some days it’s just a relief to get home and turn off all of the noise. To disconnect.

And whether “home” is a temporary rental, a studio apartment, spacious condo or estate home, we all want the same thing when we walk in the door: peace and comfort. It’s the only resolution worth having (in my opinion) because if you have peace and comfort, you have everything.

Each January, I like to take some time to think about how I can renew and refresh. A little reboot for myself and my home. I like for ways to enhance what I already have. A bit of a reimaging for the New Year. A tweak here and there. Some fine-tuning.

This is the time of year, as a Southwest Florida interior decorator, that I receive phone calls from clients who tell me their home needs something but they don’t know what. Just something to give it a little life. It can mean anything from new paint to new sofa pillows to a new kitchen backsplash. Here are a few of my suggestions. Maybe a few will work for you or at least give you a little inspiration.

• Take a photo of the room. A design trick! There is nothing like a photo to help you zero in on what you need. Artwork? New lighting? A new rug? Furniture rearrangement? I promise this tells the truth and will help you to say goodbye to what isn’t working.

Thibaut’s Palm Frond wallpaper from its Tropics collection adds a perfect Southwest Florida coastal look to a home. Photo: Thibaut

• It’s all about you. A client recently told meat she wanted to redo her home for herself this time. Huh? She said that she had always tried to make it look like a home in decorating magazines and it had never worked. Of course not. Those rooms were styled for the camera. Here is a fact: the design of your space will only make you happy of a personal approach is taken. One that is unique to you.

• Add some sparkle. An outrageously beautiful chandelier over your bed. If it means removing a fan, give it a try. You can always switch it back or you may love it some much that you don’t give it a thought.

• Pick one accent color and flow it through your home: paint, pillows, flowers, wall covering, a tray on a table. A little sprinkle here and there. This is an easy one.

• Set your table. It looks pretty and chances are that you won’t need to purchase anything except maybe some new napkins.

• Hang a pot rack in the kitchen. This gives the space a new look with a gourmet kitchen feel (even if you never cook).

• Rethink the walls. Maybe this is the year that you go for a huge change and invest in a beautiful wallcovering. Botanicals are outrageously popular and you can’t go wrong. Powder rooms are perfect for this treatment.

• Supersize lighting. Kitchen pendants and chandeliers are all trending huge and it is a great look. Go big if you are replacing lighting.

• Bathroom mini makeover. The New Year is a perfect time to refresh with new towels, rugs, scents.

• Paint the ceiling. If you are looking for a small investment that will give you a huge change. Designers have been doing this for years and you can too.

• Speaking of designers. This may be the year that you decide to call one of us to help you come up with a plan. We can keep you from making mistakes, come up with creative solutions that you have never considered and we have great sources.

• Refresh window coverings. If they are looking a little tired but a total replacement is not in the budget, think about trimming them with tape for a designer look. You can find directions online or have them done professionally.

• Kitchen reboot. If it’s looking a little tired and outdated, purchase a showstopper faucet. A knockoff of the ones that you see in magazines that homeowners design a kitchen around! It’s a small investment for a kitchen reboot. You can find them (affordable) online and at big box home stores.

Wrenda Goodwyn is a Southwest Florida interior decorator, A.S.I.D. associate and gold member of the Interior Redecorators Network. She helps homeowners throughout Southwest Florida with timeless, affordable ways to create beautiful spaces and solves decorating problems. Her article appears the first Saturday of each month. For more information visit her website at spectacularspaces.com. Call her at 949-1808 or e-mail wrenda@spectacularspaces.com. For more decorating tips, articles and photos, visit spectacularspaces.com/blog