Four Trends in Interior Design: Antiques, Brass, Color, Wallpaper

Margaret Chambers

Over the course of my interior design career, I have watched many trends come and go.

Some looks are timeless and never seem to go out of style. Others fall in and out of favor in decades-long cycles. In this article, I’ll touch upon the four trends I am seeing come back this year: colorful interiors, antiques, brass hardware, and wallpaper.

Color:

Starting around the 2010s, designers and homeowners alike gravitated towards neutral interiors with cool grays, dark hardwood floors, and all-white walls. Fast forward to 2020, and I’m starting to see things swinging back in the other direction. Colors, especially rich colors, are finally back. While I have designed many white-and-gray homes at my clients’ request, I’ve always preferred color and am excited to see homeowners favoring it once again.

Antiques:

Contemporary design has enjoyed precedence for quite a while now; meanwhile, Old-World styles went out of fashion. Nowadays, however, people are wanting to mix old and new pieces again, rather than buying all-modern furniture. Although antiques are not as valuable as they once were, I predict that buyers will begin to seek them out. Vintage items, such as Italian glass pieces from the midcentury, are currently very popular with the younger crowd.

“Now is the perfect time to capitalize on those looks, so reintroduce them into your home to your heart content.”

Brass Hardware:

For many people, brass hardware screams ‘the 80s.’ Interestingly it’s been making a comeback for the last few years. This may be related to last contrast and warmth to those otherwise cool spaces. One popular brass finish for 2020 is “living finish,” which starts out bright and patinas naturally over time.decade’s trend of tonal gray rooms: brass added some much-needed contrast and warmth to those otherwise cool spaces. One popular brass finish for 2020 is “living finish,” which starts out bright and patinas naturally over time.

Wallpaper:

Wallpaper has been back for four or five years now and is still going strong. Lately, I see a lot of wallpapered ceilings and bathrooms. The one area of the house where it’s still considered “too dated” for wallpaper is the kitchen.

Some of this year’s most trendy patterns include botanicals, geometrics with metallic colors, textured wallpapers, and trompe-l’ œil wallpaper (such as faux bois or faux tiled patterns). Some people also frame wallpaper panels and display them as pieces of artwork.

If you’ve been wanting to redecorate but have worried that your love for color, brass, antiques, or wallpaper dates you, fear not. Now is the perfect time to capitalize on those looks, so reintroduce them into your home to your heart’s content.


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Margaret Chambers

Margaret Chambers, a registered interior designer (RID) and member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), leads Chambers Interiors and Associates. Her colleague Caitlin Crowley helped edit this column. Find more design advice at chambersinteriors.com/blog

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