Interior Designing Women

Minimalist, rustic, shabby chic, coastal, Hollywood glam, Bohemian, modern farmhouse or the forever eclectic, designers universally agree that during the pandemic, the value, sentimentality and comfort of homes surged. From white brick exteriors to vibrant colors inside, we welcome the outside in and the inside out, redefining “Home Sweet Home.” Opportunity comes with change.
Explore what these seven interior designers share about their experiences and trends. And no, it was not difficult to find all Jewish ones.

Andrea Turry Designs
With the pandemic spurring home evolutions, Turry received numerous requests to redesign the most essential rooms – bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens. Her trends in early 2021 include florals, bold patterns, and color – particularly blues and greens. “We are seeing many new and great-looking ‘performance fabrics,’ which are easy to clean and withstand wear-and-tear. They come in many textures and colors, patterns, velvets, wovens. Another new dramatic kitchen trend is black cabinetry. Black is a neutral that works well with color. The more traditional subway tiles of the past, used often in kitchens and bathrooms, are being replaced with more interesting shapes like hexagons and honeycombs. As we move through 2021, we will continue to see trendy, updated living spaces.”

Andrea Turry poses in a powder room she designed using hexagon floor tiles, a graphic wall covering, forged brass vanity with a quartz top, oversized sconces and a custom designed mirror.

Bressler Brown Interiors
For this upcoming season, Debra Brown sees bright yellow and light gray trending. Neutral palettes with a pop of color in artwork, accessories and pillows really add excitement.

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Wallpaper is very popular and with choices of amazing new prints and designs.

Brown explains, “Since families are spending more time at home, they want comfort and functionality. Clients are having fun with home office design by incorporating unique lighting, cool colored desk chairs and more spunk into an ordinary office.

“My mother/partner, Linda Bressler Wand and I have different styles, and merge our thoughts to bring our clients’ personal tastes to life. During the pandemic, our business has been steady. With so many staying and working from home looking in the same old spaces day in and day out, projects that were on the back burner for years are coming to fruition.”

Debra Brown is shown in a sitting room with white chairs and linen window-side panels with an art selection of a handmade paper piece on the wall. The room is neutral highlighted with navy blue.

Patty Benator, PSB Designs
Concepts in design throughout 2020 and into 2021 have not changed, Benator said. Re-imagining and creating beautiful, functional details, she said, should continually be specific to each clients’ lifestyle.

“Formal dining rooms are more casual. Allowing this space to function as work or study vignettes are the new norm. Making the work/study space disappear for a family celebration can easily be achieved. Renewed guest retreats that include added living space, small kitchens and children’s corners are accommodating extended stays for visiting guests, while also adding value to the home,” Benator said.

Patty Benator created this custom kitchen with dual cabinet finishes, waterfall island, terrazzo with glass and natural stone, quartz countertops with porcelain tile backsplash.

“Creamy whites, grays, pale blush tones are our blank canvases. Adding rich navy, citron or celery greens, rose or blush can enhance a neutral palette. Accent walls of interesting wood, metal or a stunning wall material is also a simple refresh. Trends are inspiring, yet don’t take a ‘trendy’ style so far that you’ll be stuck in 2021 going forward.” She concludes, “Mixing texture, finishes and styles will achieve ‘your’ wow. There are no rules in design. Every home should reflect its owner with their signature.”

Amy Spanier, S.N.O.B. and I.D.E.A. Gallery
During COVID, Spanier’s clients discovered that their homes weren’t sufficiently warm or therapeutic and needed more spaces for office, meal prep or pets. Recently she placed numerous mirrors and 19 pieces of colorful figurative “feel good” art, mostly abstracts on walls where there was previously nothing. She states, “We go outside to experience better brain chemistry amidst color and trees. Bringing that concept inside, I just did a 6-foot-wide by 4-foot photo enlargement of woods and mountains.”

Spanier designed this townhouse from the ground up as a mixture of modern and antiques. Cindy Crawford sofa from Rooms To Go, end tables and lamps from Interiors Market, rug from Westside Market.

She now trends towards color. “Aesthetically I came to realize that the old neutrals yielded to color: emerald green, navy blue, delicious orange red/persimmon; and everyone loves blue. I designed a little girl’s room in aqua that was originally planned for taupe. We painted several brick exterior homes solid white!”

Julia Larrabee Designs
Larrabee concurs that the pandemic has influenced remodeling/refreshing personal spaces. Master bedrooms, master baths and new kitchens are high on clients’ lists.

“We encourage them to let us design the space for them and not focus on traditional reasons like ‘resale’ or other ‘what if’ influences that limit how they will personally use the space. They should use the budget on themselves and not for some ‘future’ resident. Thus, we see a trend to want new spaces, especially bedrooms and baths, to be like a sanctuary using monochromatic, complimentary, and sometimes bold tones to walk into the extraordinary.

Julia Larrabee put finishing touches on a master bath that she designed. She notes the trend to making the home a sanctuary.

“It is also important to use smart design, like removing a never-used tub and replacing it with an open, ‘wet bath’ shower enclosure. Or, replacing fixed walls with glass and use wall-mounted vanities to visually open up the space. It’s not just about making the space new or different but making it more usable and enjoyable.”

Linda Rickles Interiors
Rickles believes that more time is being spent at home with the main priority of making spaces very comfortable, multi-functional and unique.
The trends she sees are bringing the outside inside by making outdoor views focal points. She uses lots of plants and trees to incorporate colors of nature, especially different shades of green and blue.

Rickles brings the outside view inside in this beautifully designed Buckhead condo mixing clean lines with a modern sensibility. Fabrics are from Gianti and Kravet Couture in jade velvet.

“Color trends are relaxing and grounding like Sherwin Williams Color of the Year Urbane Bronze. The Benjamin Moore Color of the Year is Aegean Teal. It’s the blue of the sea reflected in the sky. Pops of yellow are on-trend, representing the sun. They also infuse a feeling of hope for the future.”

cg interiors
Caryn Grossman’s current projects include single-family homes in Virginia- Highland, Candler Park, and a loft on Edgewood Avenue.

At the start of the pandemic, “we initially saw a sharp drop in renovation projects as contractors and suppliers struggled with staffing and material shortages. It’s now easier to anticipate and navigate those challenges, and clients are moving forward with expansions and renovations. While most of our clients either already had home offices or converted spaces, we saw a wonderful trend toward adding bright spots of color ‘rays of happiness’ as those spaces were organized and brought to life for full-time use.

This sunporch in Virginia-Highland from cg interiors has furniture by Paolo Lenti, represented by Switch Modern. Fabrics are proprietary to the brand and are rated for outdoor use. Grossman chose a lively combination of purples, blues, violets and greens.

“We worked on creating comfortable and joyful spaces for family gathering after work and school. For one client, we converted a dining room into a family lounge with a custom banquette incorporating chaise lounges for movie watching after dinner. The banquette is a custom design, wrapping three sides of the dining room. Laid end to end, it would total 30-plus feet. It’s upholstered in a rich cobalt blue performance velvet by Perennials Fabric that is fade resistant, mildew, mold-resistant and bleach cleanable. Outdoor spaces and sunrooms saw a jolt of color as they became places for socially distanced cocktails and casual snacks with neighbors.”