Wall Street Journal Interior Design Trends for 2021 quotes Mally Skok

“Bathrooms have become less austere, less like operating theaters,” said Boston designer Mally Skok. Once-popular materials are faltering. “Bookmatched marble is so beautiful, but it’s almost echo-y white. It feels cold,” said Ms. Skok.

The Top Interior-Design Trends for 2021

By Kathryn O’Shea-Evans | Dec. 30, 2020 2:59 pm ET

We asked 200 design pros which trends feel fresh vs. finished. They forecast a hunger for hushed, murky rooms and hardware-less cupboards—and a quick fade for farmhouse white and open kitchen shelving.

DESIGNERS LIKE Lance Thomas see the serendipitous upside of 2020’s quarantine. “It has forced homeowners to evaluate how they live in their homes, how it makes them feel,” said the principal and co-owner of Thomas Guy Interiors in Lake Charles, La. And judging from some of the incoming trends our panel of design pros identified, the feeling most people seek is cushy, coddling comfort. Rich, deep colors replace the chilly white of Modern Farmhouse décor. Earthy, touchable materials push aside the glitz of lacquered finishes and shiny fabrics. When Andrew Kline, design director at New York’s Workshop/APD, called out nubby bouclé fabric and warm woods such as walnut, he commented, “I think this speaks to that need to create a cocoon at home, so that when you shut down your laptop and dim the lights, you’re no longer in your ‘office.’” Here, the decorating styles our experts consider past their “best before” date and the trends that will replace them in 2021.

OUT: Lab-Like Bathrooms

While we still need me-time in the bath to maintain our sanity, the white-on-white loo has lost its allure. “Bathrooms have become less austere, less like operating theaters,” said Boston designer Mally Skok. Once-popular materials are faltering. “Bookmatched marble is so beautiful, but it’s almost echo-y white. It feels cold,” said Ms. Skok. And Sara Hillery, a designer in Richmond, Va., finds fabricated quartz looks too manufactured: “Design trends are headed toward a softer, more natural look, and these man-made options fall short.”
IN: Open-Air Showers

Meanwhile, the al fresco shower has acquired powerful appeal, part of the continuing push to “make the outdoor as well-designed and comfortable as the indoor,” as New York architect West Chin put it. San Francisco designer Jay Jeffers, who often installs showers like the one at right on clients’ properties in Napa Valley, points to the dreamy sense of escape they conjure. “You’re almost in a different world—Mexico or the Cayman Islands or Anguilla—somewhere else that’s not your home.”

>> Read the full Wall Street Journal article here