These 2020 Home Trends Are About to Blow Up Your Instagram Feed

As Etsy’s trend expert, Dayna Isom Johnson pays close attention to how a look evolves, and over the past year she’s watched the terrazzo trend give way to the larger-scale iteration of cutout shapes, which blends abstract and geometric designs. Now Etsy designers are leaning into a more “mature” take: color blocking. This is particularly seen when pairing unconventional colors—like chartreuse and navy—in a room to add a splash of personality. Isom Johnson recommends easing into it by adding a throw pillow or wall art, like this print from Apricotandbirch.

Call it the Justina Blakeney effect—or our perpetual obsession with bringing a sense of the outdoors in—but filling a room with plants, plants and more plants has never been hotter. “I’m seeing layers of potted plants, all arranged together—small, medium, large—to create these incredible corners,” says interior designer Adriana Hoyos, who’s regularly scoping out decorating trends as she jets between projects in the U.S., Mexico, South America, the U.K. and France. Ease into the look with a tiered planter.

Yes, carpet. Real estate company Opendoor has seen a surge in requests, and their consumer trends expert, Beatrice De Jong, says this is likely threefold: (1) It can add subtle texture to a room, (2) it’s a soft surface for kids to play on, and (3) it can help buffer the sound in upstairs rooms. 

As a master KonMari consultant practitioner, Karin Socci of The Serene Home is used to helping people streamline their lives, culling their belongings to just the things that spark joy, as Marie Kondo would say. And in the process, she says she’s seeing people take a greater interest in what happens to the stuff they get rid of. “People have become much more critical of their consumption: Where’s all this stuff going? What’s happening with all this plastic?” she says. She predicts that furniture rental services, like Feather, The Everset or Mobley, will become increasingly popular, much like Rent the Runway has done for fashion. That way, if you’re over it in 2021, you’re not out the cost of an entire blush pink sofa. 

Concrete countertops have been popular for a while, but now the look is taking over more square footage in kitchens, particularly in outdoor spaces. Cement surfaces, aged metal and stone-inspired cabinet finishes are increasingly requested at Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens, likely because they can stand up to the elements and have a patina that’s more visually interesting than a run-of-the-mill solid color.   

In Hoyos’s residential work, she’s finding more and more clients who want to steal an idea from her commercial projects: massive custom-built beds. “They want something that looks like it’s from a resort,” Hoyos says. These often feature a headboard built into the wall for a vibe that’s very room-service ready. 

If you’re going for a five-star master bedroom, it only makes sense you’d want a bathroom to match. Hoyos says. “[People have] realized it’s a big statement you can make,” and that she’s been adding more square footage in order to create separate shower and bath zones. The whole goal is to open up the space, making it feel more luxurious. It’s a pricier upgrade—on average, a midrange bathroom reno will set you back $20,000—and if you’re only in it for the resale value, you may want to spend a little extra time crunching the numbers: People typically recoup 60 to 67.2 percent of those costs, according to Moving.com. Something to think about before going all #DemoDay, that’s for sure.