Design

Insider information

Clean lines and bold retro colors

top the hot list, local designers say

Resources

Bruce &Becky’s Interiors 15526 Smokey Point Blvd. Marysville 360-653-7245 www.bruceandbeckys interiors.com

InteriorFix 2614 Colby Ave. Everett 425-252-3177 www.interiorfix.com

Schoener’s Interiors 16911 Highway 99 Lynnwood 425-742-8378 www.schoenersinteriors. com

Serendipity Home Decor 411 State Ave. Marysville 360-659-5600 www.serendipityhome decor.com After Feb. 4, Serendipity will be at 1326 Fifth St., Suite D1, in the Delta Professional Center in Marysville.

By Debra Smith

Herald Writer

L ynn Fitzpatrick isn’t sure why, but her high-end customers seem to smell a trend before it hits.

Fitzpatrick works with every income level as lead designer at Bruce &Becky’s Interiors in Maryville.

But it’s often her affluent customers that turn out to be the savviest, requesting what everybody will want in a few years.

Sure enough, the sleek, retro furniture her wealthiest clients already took an interest in has become one of the must-have trends for ordinary folks.

So is pairing chocolate brown with a blue-influenced green in fabrics. (Don’t call it “aqua,” it’s not quite green enough, she said.)

“This area runs a good two years behind Seattle,” when it comes to interior design trends, Fitzpatrick said.

“People want to see it everywhere before they’re comfortable.”

Several local interior designers shared their take on what’s emerging in the industry, the trends we’ll be getting cozy with during the next several years.

The forecast

Expect sleeker, simpler furniture, dramatic accessories, and bold colors and fabrics reminiscent of those popular in the ’60s and ’70s.

“The biggest trend is simplicity,” said Terry Sawyer, owner of Serendipity Home Decor in Marysville. “Uncluttered, clean lines are huge right now.”

Sawyer specializes in luxury bedding and also provides custom and interior design services. More people are staying home and want to make their homes a relaxing place to be with their families, she said. Her clients crave an uncluttered environment and many ask for fabrics that are soft, rich and warm.

“People’s lives are hectic and fast-paced,” Sawyer explained. “The world is so hostile; people want to come home to a refuge, a sanctuary. They need to be soothed comforted and relaxed. They want to leave the clutter and complication at work.”

In the master bedroom, Sawyer’s clients want to create a haven, and they’re doing so by adding larger beds with plush, velvety headboards; fireplaces; spas and reading areas with chaise longues so soft they can melt into them at the end of the day. Simple, soft coverlets and duvets in rich fabrics are preferred over fussy floral designs.

Feng shui, the Chinese philosophy on how physical characteristics of the home may affect the fortunes of the owner, remains popular as a way to create harmony and balance. Using feng shui can be as simple as getting the home office out of the bedroom, Sawyer said, “So you’re not laying in bed and thinking about that work on the desk.” Or at least putting a screen between the desk and bed.

Some of Sawyer’s customers are requesting products made with more environmentally friendly materials such as furniture made with recycled woods. She carries a line of organic bedding made from natural fabrics like hemp and wool.

At InteriorFix in Everett, owner Brenda Paquette will be ordering smaller scale upholstered pieces with simpler lines like minisofas, which are bigger than a loveseat but smaller than the “92 inch monster” that has been popular.

“Furnishings are shrinking back in scale, the are much smaller than even a year ago,” she said.

The sleeker furniture fits with the trend toward the simple. But to offset the pared down lines, Paquette said accessories such as lighting and vases are growing larger in scale to create interest and contrast.

The simplicity goes hand-in-hand with a more glamorous, high style she sees coming into fashion, where a few quality pieces are valued over quantity.

“It’s modern but not the modern we grew up with,” she said. More industrial materials like metals and glass will be used, but they’ll be tempered with natural elements such as woods and woven grasses.

Expect big innovations in home entertainment and office furniture, said Linda Schoener of Schoener’s Interiors in Lynnwood.

Manufacturers responded slowly at first to accommodate new technology, particularly wider, flat-screen televisions. Office furniture, on the other hand, did the job but did nothing to blend with the home. Function and form are finally melding for both, Schoener said.

The big, bold patterns popular in the 1960s are coming back. Schoener carries fabric samples with names like “Hippie,” “Definitely Dots” and “Hot Stuff.”

Fitzpatrick said designers are borrowing elements from a number of styles to create furniture pieces that feel classic but are new, rather than just replications.

Furniture is pared down, sleeker, with boxy, square, straight, simple lines, Fitzpatrick said.

“A lot of baby boomers are downsizing” and their furniture doesn’t fit in their houses anymore, she said.

Many of these designs are influenced by the 1950s, the “swinging days when life was good,” Fitzpatrick said.

Remember the avocado, gold and browns popular in the 1970s? They’re back in slightly different tints.

Orange is back, too, in shades of spice, cinnamon, coral and terra cotta. Purple influenced reds are also showing up again.

Part of the appeal may be that for the younger generation that didn’t live through it, these retro designs and colors feel fresh, Fitzpatrick said.

“They didn’t live for 20 years with avocado,” she said.

When choosing a color palette for the home, Fitzpatrick advises clients to select colors that are right for them rather than always sticking with trends. Colors affect everyone differently, she said.

That said, some people “do need a budge to get out of their rut.”

Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.