5 trending design inspirations for your home’s interiors

You don’t need a major renovation to make your house feel more up-to-date. With a nod to current design trends, Philadelphia-area interiors experts offer five ways to refresh rooms that will make you fall in love with your home all over again.

Five thousand years ago, ancient Egyptians started the practice of growing plants and flowers indoors. Ever since, non-green thumbs have struggled to keep desktop ferns and bookshelf pothos alive — brown, withered leaves a daily reminder of failure.

But there’s good news for today’s horticulturally disinclined: You can fake it … and still make it pretty.

“Greenery adds life to a space, even if faux, and adds a layer of decorating,” said Rasheeda Gray of Gray Space Interiors in Elkins Park.

Thankfully, artificial greenery has come a long way since those dusty plants in the waiting room of your childhood dentist’s office. They’re variegated and look like the real thing — without the need for water, light, or messy soil. The proof is in a Delaware County home that Gray designed.

After she boldly brightened the new-construction, white-box house for a color-loving client, she turned to faux greenery for the finishing touches.

A eucalyptus holds center court on the coffee table. A fern spills out along the top of a built-in cabinet. Salmon-colored pampas grass brightens another cabinet.

All faux — but all lovely accents that give you a dose of nature when you’re stuck on back-to-back Zoom calls.

Getting the Look

Have fun with placement. Faux greens don’t need sunlight, so there’s a lot of flexibility on where they go. Gray said she typically avoids bunching arrangements together and instead uses them to “take your eye across the space.” In the Delco home’s kitchen, Gray strategically used a tall vase with salmon pampas grass to bridge between a blue-tile backsplash and bright-green wallpaper and “broaden the color palette.”

Choose the container first. Faux arrangements don’t have to be anchored in soil or drained, so they “give you more freedom of vessel selection,” Gray noted. “There are some beautiful vases that are not suitable for real plants.” So buy something that you love or find fun. For example, a fern in the home’s living room flows out of a half head that’s cheekily placed next to a sculpted derriere.

Nurture nature. While you’re adding faux greenery, rethink easy-to-change pieces like rugs, throws, and baskets. Gray said natural materials like rattan, linen, and jute add softness and texture to make a room feel cozy. “What makes a space feel like home is the layers and being able to tell a story or give the room the feel you want it to have.”

Bypass the nine-hour flight to Naples, Italy, and bask in Mediterranean vibes at home.

According to Main Line-based interior designer Larina Kase, “I’m seeing a lot of the warmth and natural beauty of Mediterranean design. Perhaps because it reminds people of a relaxing and inspiring vacation or the warmth of the Mediterranean sun.”

Color and material choices depend on whether you’re after a blue-and-white Santorini look or the warm tones of an Umbria vineyard house. Both, Kase said, are “elegant in a rustic, understated way.”

For the entryway of a Spanish colonial in Haverford, she chose terra-cotta tiles: ”The clay has a lot of variation, and people are drawn to that organic feel that doesn’t look manufactured.”

An old bench has an “aged-over-time” look, and a jute rug and dried grass arrangements add a “soft, natural” feel.

“I think one of the reasons that the Mediterranean style is really popular is that it combines these classic and also clean and modern elements,” she said.

Even if the bones of your house aren’t Mediterranean, there are still ways to update with this trend in mind.

“You do want to be careful not to go over the top, so it feels like there’s a disconnect,” Kase said. “Certainly you can have one space to really go in that direction and then just pull a couple of the elements to use in other spaces, such as color scheme or wood.”

Getting the Look

Introduce arches. This soft-curve detail appears over windows and doorways from Rome to Marrakesh, and rounding a squared-off entry point isn’t that big of a project, Kase said. “I just changed my pantry door to an arch. I found this old beautiful door. It did need reframing, but it wasn’t a huge deal and took maybe two days.”

Add ceiling beams. Don’t have exposed beams? Attach your own. To go modern, choose clean-edged new wood. “If you’re wanting to go more rustic, then you can literally use old barn beams,” Kase said.

Amplify natural light. A well-placed mirror can “move light in the space,” she says, adding that “cleaning your windows makes a huge difference” too. Or upgrade to high-visibility screens that let the sun stream in.

Lay hand-painted floor tiles. “You’re getting a really intricate, interesting design that feels calming and natural because it was handmade,” Kase said.

Mix woods. In the Spanish colonial entryway, Kase used four different woods. “All the rules have gone out the window that [say] things have to match. Now, as long as it looks good together, that juxtaposition is really interesting and makes things feel more collected and not like your house is just plucked out of a showroom. Combining old oaks with a walnut or even teak or mahogany, it’s all a fair game. There’s no right or wrong.”

Bonus! Kase’s paint color picks to evoke Mediterranean vibes (all by Benjamin Moore):

Goodbye “millennial gray.” Hello vivid color.

The minimalist design trend featuring shades of gray, and nicknamed after the generation that enthusiastically embraced the look, has been waning for a few years, according to Chestnut Hill-based interior designer Michelle Gage. However, a shift toward vibrant hues doesn’t mean you need to go Pollock with the paintbrush.

When the owner of an 1800s Philadelphia home wanted neutral walls, but still wanted the living room to be colorful, Gage said she “brought in color through the upholstery, and then we did the blush pink pop on the ceiling because it felt like it worked with the timeless nature of the home.

“It’s all about balancing it all. So nothing on its own feels too jarring, but together it just feels like it works.”

If the client had wanted something more shocking, they could have gone with hot pink. As Gage noted: “It may have been a little more fun, but if you want it to be something that lasts, then choosing something more timeless kind of trumps any trend.”

The blush ceiling also draws notice to the historic charm of the original crown molding.

“We really wanted to highlight that,” Gage said. “So some of those choices were made based on the bones of the room. Some were made based on personal style for the people who live there.”

Getting the Look

Choose carefully. “It’s not just about picking the paint, it’s picking paint that works with the character of the room,” Gage said. If you want a more lasting look, pick a shade with history, like navy blue. “We’ve done a full navy-blue room: ceiling, walls, and trims. The color is not polarizing,” she said.

Finish strong. Consider whether you want a matte or glossy look because, Gage said, the paint finish “can either dial up or dial back the drama.” She’s working on a project in Bryn Mawr where the ceiling will get a coat of high-gloss lacquer atop maroon. “The ceiling literally looks like a mirror,” she said. “It’s so glossy and shiny that you can see your reflection. That’s a much more high-end, labor-intensive approach. It’s meant to be dramatic.”

Change your mind. The great thing about paint? You can repaint. With a durable finish, the white walls of her client’s home will hold up well over time, Gage said. “But you could change that pop ceiling. You could say, ‘OK, I did pink for five years, now I’m looking to do a blue.’”

Skip this trend if your ceiling is already too busy, Gage advised. “There are definitely rooms I walk into and think, ‘I don’t want to paint that ceiling.’ If there’s a lot of recessed cans or sprinkler or speaker equipment, you don’t really want to highlight that.”

Craving bold hues but don’t want to tackle your walls or ceiling? Keep them neutral and paint your baseboards instead.

Gage has loved seeing this throwback trend get more attention. Home design styles “come and go just like fashion,” she said. “I think there are some that come back for a reason because they can feel really approachable and really timeless and worth repeating.”

You’ll find examples of colored trim in many an old home-turned-museum in Philly and the region. “You may have seen it in a Williamsburg blue in an older home,” Gage said. “We like to freshen it up a little bit and make it feel current, but have a nod to history.”

Gage took colored trim a step further for a Philadelphia client’s powder room by pairing olive-green baseboards, door casing, and door with a pretty floral wallpaper. All are done with a semigloss finish, which is best for wet spaces like bathrooms.

The traditional tall baseboards are prominent, but Gage said painting modern two-inch ones will work, too.

Getting the Look

Start with the wallpaper. “There are many, many wallpaper options, but definitely less wallpaper out there in the world than paint colors,” Gage said. “You can always get paint colors mixed to match.”

Matching is optional. If you’re painting the trim in a wallpapered room, you don’t necessarily have to pull out a color from the paper. In the powder room, Gage said, “we could have pulled out the yellow flower or pale blue” from the pattern. Instead, olive green (technically dark celery; see below) makes an impression. “We wanted it to be a little unexpected and a little fresher. Green is definitely the least safe of the three choices, but it still works.”

Carry through. When pros like Gage paint “trim,” they typically mean baseboards, doors and their framing, and crown molding too.

Bonus! Gage’s paint color picks to evoke “historic yet current” (all by Benjamin Moore):

Entertaining at home has come a long way since Victorian-era parlors. Today, one of the biggest requests that Randi Edelman, founder of Philadelphia-based Remy Creative, gets is for bar-and-lounge spaces.

What her clients are not looking for: a Western saloon aesthetic or a man-cave sports bar with neon Yuengling signs.

“A lot of my clients are people who are investing in their house for the first time and moved from the city to the suburbs during the last five years,” she said. “They have young kids. Life has transitioned. They’re not going out to bars downtown.

With wine and spirits collecting becoming more popular, too, the trend is now “five [friends] coming over and tasting whiskey or bourbon or making cocktails.”

Home bars don’t have to take up a lot of space. Often, Edelman tucks them into a kitchen nook or along a dining or living room wall and designs them in the style of the house. (Bonus: They increase storage capacity!)

However, she also helps clients who want to devote an entire room to entertaining . “Those are designed where it’s a total departure from the rest of the house, and the rooms are a little bit moodier and have a little bit of a different feel,” she said. “So it speaks to an escape, like you are going out.”

That said, barrooms can and do become multipurpose. “I have one client that the intention was that it was ‘his’ space,” she said.

In reality? “Their family plays games in that room at least twice a week.”

Getting the Look

Show and hide. While you’ll want to display spirit collections, Edelman points to “very cost-effective beverage drawers” that don’t look like refrigerators for stowing beer and soda. Tuck the big handle of vodka in a cabinet too. “Step one is building the bar, step two is styling it,” she said. She has even hidden an icemaker behind a cabinet.

Glass half full. Red wine? Martinis? Make sure you have the right mix of glassware. Edelman stocks home bars with four of each type of glass that will be used and makes sure there’s a place to display them. Her go-to source for barware is Home Grown in Haverford.

Level up. Good shelving will enhance the aesthetic and provide more storage space. Edelman works with Philadelphia fabricator Amuneal on brass-and-glass shelves that can be custom built and installed atop a bar or mounted to the ceiling.

Please be seated. When it comes to choosing furniture for discrete barrooms, “most of these spaces have conversational seating,” Edelman said. “At a minimum, you generally want seating for four. A banquette is a good way to get the amount of seating that you want in the space without taking up too much room on the floor.” Avoid recliners and loungers. “You’re going to be falling asleep, laying back. That’s not the vibe.”

Hold the water. According to Edelman, unless your home bar is very far from your kitchen, you probably don’t need a sink. That leaves more countertop space and avoids the hassle of running a waterline. Dry bars don’t need a backsplash, Edelman says, so you can go with a “fun wallpaper as a backdrop.”

Bonus! Be your own barkeep with this U.S. Bartenders’ Guild championship Lotería cocktail by SC Baker:

1.5 ounces Don Julio 70 Cristalino

.5 ounces Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur

.5 ounces Jamaica-Cacao Grenadine

.25 ounces Canela Syrup

.75 ounces Lime Juice

Shake with ice, strain, and serve.