Every year at Spring Furniture Market in North Carolina, we enjoy learning from professional TREND FORECASTORS as it offers us an inside look at leading trends shaping the home furnishings industry.

In 2020 we are pleased to bring you a summary of the first part of a three part series from a Trendwatch seminar by an interior designer, Julie Vincenti. Her company specializes in trend reporting especially for residential interior designers and home products retailers.

Small-scale florals, warm neutrals, and hand-crafted embellishments thrive in MEADOW, a serene space that evokes prairieland dotted with wildflowers. The mood is quaint and romantic, yet travels effortlessly to a metropolitan landscape. In MEADOW, we connect with nature, and the picturesque posts we upload seem to validate our effort. Colours evoke a breathtaking sunset, while finishing treatments are natural and refined, rather than rugged and well-worn.

Dining room with dark brown table and grey upholstered seating

Summary of the main ideas in this theme:

Florals based on realism, large scale
Pastoral charm, country landscaped, maintained gardens, and backyard gardens with wild flowers and grasses.The desire is for calm and serenity. Example: dinnerware sets exhibiting patterns with small flowers.
The craving is for a space to be able to do activities in

Nostalgia will re-emerge this year as Tradition, like the lovely dining set pictured above. We will cherish old items by re-visiting whats familiar. E.g. Jacobean patterns (see photos of the quilt and wallpaper sample below).
Today’s woman will wear a floral dress even in an urban environment.
Furniture related items will sport ruffles, like to be tactile, prints show petite florals decreasing in size from last year to be smaller and dainty.
Emerging purples and purple cast pinks are very strong. Often shown with mint which is popular in Europe but now moving to North America.

Butter yellow, orange cast pink pastels for furniture such as on sofas and chairs.
Insects are coming in on items like pillows, or butterflies on ottomans, or small scale meadow bugs in metal for decorative accessories.
Leather sofas, lamps and accessories will incorporate blue hues.
Watercolour inspired bowls will show less broad strokes but smaller more defined patterns of colour.
Greys are shown with saffron yellow & sage with blues compliment nicely. Examples of this will appear in home products such as rugs and sofa colour combinations. Rugs will also show refined flowers.
Also developing is gold with white and mint and mossy tones of green. As a nod to these colour palettes, botanical wallpaper is on the rise.

Asymmetrical wall units, quite often with open shelving.
Art: we’ll see more traditional styles and botanicals. Designs that speak to the interplay of the sun in artwork showing light effects. Pictures showing the serenity of nature.
Accessories: rising in appearance will be embroidered pillows, leaf patterned etched glass vases, many lanterns and candlesticks with rounded edges, faux fur throws & toss cushions, terrariums are still a hot item from last season as they look to nature and can be appreciated on their own. Last season’s vintage approach was more grainy. Notice a stronger tilt toward pastels, sand and wheat tones on area rugs, throws, ottomans and wall papers.

Going forward taking accessories into ‘meadow’, the Scandanavian idea of hygge layers in an injection of colour with Nordic patterns.
Romantic florals are modernised for Millennials. They are settling in to have families. They want florals to look fresh and new...so they may get hyper-digitised, or show alongside geometric patterns on items such as dinnerware, and as previously mentioned, minty and mossy greens in dining spaces or outdoor furniture spaces will be fashionable.

Florals may often have a traditional feel, but with an unexpected application, it can feel modern too. Customize an occasional chair for a classic look, or choose Jacobean drapes for something unexpected. They’re a great jumping off point for a rooms color palette. Often these florals have lots of different shades in it, which gives you a kind of road map for the other colors to bring into the room.

Throughout this post, we have shown you a few photos from inside a Bennett’s store for Part One of this three part series, to help you visualize this concept. Stay tuned for the next two parts of this Trendwatch series, Aviary and Penthouse!

Marlaine Bennett