At a moment when many are spending more time at home than ever, many homeowners are finding inspiration in the latest home design trends.  From large-scale interior renovations to uplifting colors of paint, transforming one’s space can be an amazing way to refresh the spirit, and make homeowners feel truly at home. Here’s a quick guide to some of our favorite home design trends for 2020.

Creative seating solutions

Benches and sofas that blend seamlessly with windows, walls, and architecture are poised to be one of our favorite trends of 2020. Variations on cozy reading nooks, window seats with built-in shelving, and convertible bench-style seating can add personality and a custom feel while freeing up interior space. This can be an especially valuable trend when remodeling for an ADU, where limited space is often a factor.

Multipurpose areas

While traditional home design often tends toward dedicated, single-purpose rooms, current trends are skewing toward blended and multifunctional spaces. This is proving to be especially true at a time when home offices, remote learning, and at-home leisure experiences are booming. As an example, home entertainment furniture is more frequently being used for both movie-watching and video conference calls in rooms suited to both work and play.

Luxe outdoor spaces

Being trapped at home doesn’t have to mean being trapped inside, and home entertaining is poised to be more important than ever. Casual yet high-quality patio furniture is making a major comeback, as are outdoor lighting fixtures and fire pits. As people spend more time outside but on their home turf, wooden privacy fences and elaborate backyard landscaping are among the top exterior design trends of 2020.

Sustainable furnishings

For those looking to renovate more mindfully, eco-friendly and energy-efficient furnishings have never been more in vogue. As consumers become more aware of sustainable options – and as these options become increasingly available from a range of designers – people are tending toward eco-conscious options in furniture, appliances, and overall design. This trend is being reflected not only in more eco-friendly materials and manufacturing standards, but also a tendency toward nature-inspired aesthetics.

Neutral tones

Hand-in-hand with sustainable furnishings, neutral tones are beautifully dominating interior aesthetics this year. From warm woods to natural earth tone upholstery, one advantage of this trend is that design elements transition seamlessly from one season to the next. One way this trend is playing out in the revitalized popularity of vintage patinas, including terracotta flooring, clay accents, handmade pottery, and sandstone home accessories.

Home work spaces

Long before working from home became either mandatory or encouraged, an uptick in freelance work among millennials led to a major surge in home office design. Here, furnishings that combine form and function are essential. Oftentimes, home offices are shared with other spaces in the home, so desks and chairs with sleek, minimalist design reign supreme.

Retro touches

While no one’s advocating for wood paneling or shag carpet, infusing your home design with vintage accents can be as easy as making small changes to cabinet fixtures or kitchen and bathroom accessories. Little details like choosing the right door knobs and handles can go a long way toward achieving a vintage-inspired aesthetic you’ll love. In what might be our favorite design term of the year, House Beautiful has called attention to this blend of retro touches with contemporary design as ‘grandmillennial’ style.

Rounded furniture

Inspired by the past but with a fresh infusion of new design, furniture with rounded edges is definitely enjoying a cultural moment. In contrast to a good deal of brutalist, contemporary, and mid-century modern pieces, rounded furniture can convey both sophistication and comfort, making it a fun and inviting choice for shared living spaces.

Bringing nature indoors

From artfully potted flowers to indoor mini-trees, adding indoor plant-life and greenery is a beautiful way to add personality to your space. One thing we love about this trend is that it can be effortlessly (and affordably) incorporated into virtually any home setting, regardless of space or climate.

Eye-popping accents

While sometimes a complete overhaul is required to achieve the look you want, a few key pieces can often have an equally dramatic effect. In living rooms and multipurpose spaces, area rugs with vivid colors and unexpected patterns can complement more neutral decor, while bathrooms and kitchens can benefit from on-trend statement tiles in colors like ocean blue, hibiscus pink, and sun yellow.

Creating your perfect habitat

If there’s one 2020 home design trend that surpasses all others, it’s being true to your own personal sense of style. Whether your instincts tend toward minimalist and modern or eclectic and chic, now is an incredible time to take a step back, get inspired, and create a habitat you love.

This article was originally written by Tess DiNapoli and appeared here.