2020 New Orleans home trends: Warm and comfortable, with a healthy dose of the outdoors – NOLA.com

Marie Kondo. Internet pop-ups. Environmental consciousness. Travel. Natural disasters. Political chaos. The economy. Instagram.

What do they have in common? They have a direct effect on the color of paint you choose for the living room walls and the new sofa you plan to buy next year. Anything that influences how we feel impacts interior design trends for the new year.

According to local designers, we are feeling good about warmer neutrals, even better about classic blue, and celebrating the return of color, even when it's monochromatic. Homeowners are now drawn to comfortable furniture, and we want to bring outdoor elements inside.

We also want things we can keep and treasure. Places we have traveled or dreamed about seeing are incorporated into life at home. We still want fewer walls and more open spaces. Whatever we have overdone in the past we want to dispose of in the near future. But more than ever, we want home to be our sanctuary.

OUTDOORS IN: Bring nature into your home with organic, sustainable, environmentally friendly furnishings and fabrics, says interior designer Grace Kaynor, co-owner of Sotre on Magazine Street in New Orleans. But dont stop there. Incorporate real plants and living walls, Kaynor says.

While some of the more sophisticated ways to accomplish this require the art and skill of a landscape designer, others can be DIY projects found online, such as creating an eye-catching display with hanging plants suspended from a rod in front of a window, or using a discarded chest with drawerspulled open to create tiers for plants.

Indoor/outdoor fabrics and rattan and wicker furniture are also elements to bring the outdoors in, Kaynor says.

NATURAL ELEMENTS: The beauty of wood in floors, furniture, columns, ceilings and even countertops plays a major role in dcor for 2020.

Floors that show off wood grain are left uncovered; doors that could be painted into the color scheme of a room are instead focal points in a natural state. Furniture and even lighting are there for brightening the room, as warmer wood tones are in favor.

Interior designer Katy Koch of Katy Koch Home, also on Magazine Street, likes the handwork of local woodworkers NOLA Boards (NOLAboards.com) to create elegant farmhouse-style surfaces in kitchen renovations. Their woods range from white oak to black walnut to sinker cypress. Its a softer, more natural look for a kitchen, Koch says.

Quartz for a very light tone on kitchen countertops is still holding in popularity, as well as dark stones such as soapstone, which Koch has paired with wood surfaces.

ROOM WITH A VIEW: There is a continued course toward placing a higher value on outdoor space, which is no longer treated as an afterthought but rather, in many cases, a focal point and integral part of the living area, says architect and interior designer Caroline Ferguson.

Examples she cites are fully furnished porches with such indoor comforts as fireplaces, televisions, dining areas and cooking capabilities. These spaces, she says, have become a home oasis.

While porches and patios may be the al fresco space in a home, these areas can still be private. They might contain something organic in style to camouflage an open wall. Ferguson custom-ordered a laser-cut, bronze-finish aluminum screen to serve as a privacy wall in a recent renovation of a Colonial Revival home.

THOROUGHLY MODERN MINDSET:Modern interiors not sleek and cold but sparse with richer finishes is how architect/designer John Chrestia of Chrestia Staub Pierce design firm sees the comforts of a well-appointed home where the California Style concept continues to reflect todays lifestyles.

The open plan produces a seamless transitions for the communal spaces (dining room, family room, kitchen) at home. That feeling of openness, Chrestia says, also translates into non-cluttered and non-collected spaces.

We are getting away from the collected look like all French that was popular a few years ago and embracing a more eclectic style where a single treasured antique piece can stand out in a modern setting, he says.

Chrestia sees the younger generation looking back at a grandparents home and seeing elements of comfort they want to incorporate into their contemporary homes. Retro looks from the '50s, '60s, and '70s are particularly popular for reinterpretation in current designs.

A treasured heirloom piece can be an item of of distinction in a contemporary room. In many cases, a piece of furniture from the past now intersects with the present. Chrestia sees Vladimir Kagan's curved sofa from the '30s as reflecting the new affinity toward softer edges where form addresses comfort.

FEELING BLUE: The color blue was on the minds of interior designers even before the Pantone Color Institute named Classic Blue the color of the year for 2020.

Layers of blue look beautiful. You can create a room that looks like a jewel using deeper tones, says Koch, who has seen it play out with paint, wallpaper, furnishings or cabinetry.

A small bar in an Uptown home was transformed by Kaynor into a blue room, literally, with Farrow and Ball Hague Blue paint. The walls were then lacquered to create a shimmering, light-reflective surface for a striking and sophisticated space. Monogrammed contemporary hardware by local architect and designer Marion Cage added the final touch.

Classic Blue is described by the color forecasting institute as a reassuring presence instilling calm, confidence and connection." The 2020 shade "brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the human spirit, offering refuge," according to the institute.

ARTFUL LIVING: There is an appreciation for traditional craft, skilled workmanship, artisanal goods (versus manufactured, mass produced, synthetic materials) and a rising awareness in wellness carrying over to furnishings, with a strong prevalence of natural and organic fibers, says Ferguson.

She sees hand-chiseled tiles such as zellige tile from Morocco continuing to gain popularity in interiors, as opposed to the geometric perfection of machine-produced tiles. Hand-loomed rugs, nubby wools and textured linens also add to a handcrafted look.

Technology is not ruled out, says Ferguson, but can be used for more one-of-kind accents or custom-ordered pieces that provide unique and artistic, rather than trendy, elements to a room.

THE RETURN OF KEEPSAKES: Chrestia sees his clients carefully choosing pieces they treasure, whether the aforementioned retro pieces or something unique that holds special meaning. The eclectic leaning in todays interiors allows a mix of moods and styles.

For some clients, their furnishings include a mix of travel treasures, says Ferguson, who sees social media sources such as Instagram and Pinterest also serving as windows to global influence in design where homeowners seek carefully curated unique finds.

PATTERNS AND PRINTS: There are countless ways to play with colors and moods: wallpaper in botanical prints, metallic surfaces, abstract shapes, even accessories such as bedding and throw pillows.

The bedroom is the prime environment for mixing prints with pillows, throws and beddings, says Kaynor, who points out that we spend a third of our lives in that room, and we are a sleep-deprived nation. This is the room that should reflect the home-dwellers personal view of what sanctuary should be to the eyes and the senses.

In any room of the house, the mix of prints is not just limited to furniture and accessories, but the walls can be a canvas of rich interaction. Koch was recently taken with hand-woven colorful fabric borders from Rebecca Cole, whose hand-blocked and hand-embroidered textiles from Nigeria pop with color, whether earth tones or bright.

While borders are often associated with upholstery, Koch sees these fabrics as the perfect accent to place under crown molding to mix with complementary wallpaper. And dont rule out painted walls and wallpapered ceilings, she says.

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2020 New Orleans home trends: Warm and comfortable, with a healthy dose of the outdoors - NOLA.com