Interior designers push cleaner look

IOWA CITY — The trend in interior design is moving toward simplified lines, less clutter and ease of care, according to Emily Hughes, an interior designer from the Mansion design company in Iowa City.

Furniture and accessories that make a bold statement against a basic background, accentuated with a bold color in a room where less is more, minus ruffles, excessive carved details, fringe or floral prints. Basic, bare, bold and structural. Gone is the cute and small of yesterday.

'People are going in more for more modern and cleaner lines,' she said. 'They are gravitating toward wood floors with area rugs instead of wall-to-wall carpet,' she added, noting that it isn't so much about ease of cleaning these days as it is about how the wood flooring looks in their homes.

'The classic designs have a more updated finish, incorporating a metal look, glass or acrylic, and then as far as the wood finishes, we see a lot of people doing more the gray wash or the driftwood look versus the more traditional cherry or mahogany.'

White craftsman cabinets for kitchens, along with Carrara white marble for countertops are all the go these days.

More pattern and color in area rugs is another trend, with the woven-grass look of sisal being a popular choice.

'Some people are choosing to layer another smaller rug over top of their sisal,' Hughes noted.

Simpler looks in sofas as well as draperies follows suit, she added, with less pattern and more of a textured woven look for drapes. The linen look with a decorative streak or band of trim that might have a touch of pattern or color to it is a popular choice.

'More people are also going for a plain textured cream or gray sofa, with maybe a tiny bit of print in it, and many are still drawn to real classic sofa frames and things like the Chesterfield sofa,' she said.

'It's made a comeback because of that restoration hardware look. People want a more tailored look in general for their sofas, and the low arm or big oversized roll arm look provides that.'

But Larry Roberts of Larry Roberts Interiors in Cedar Rapids has a different name for today's trend.

'I would call it the transitional look,' he said. 'The things that we are doing these days are just cleaner and they are taken from classic designs. They are just very simple.

'The designs we are doing are very young looking, for, I'd say, people in their 30s and 40s, yet there is still a traditional flare to them,' he explained. 'We just did a setting for a client, and it is young but still had the traditional flare in that the colors we used were reddish tones and oatmeal.'

One of the most popular things he is seeing currently is upholstered beds as well as four-poster beds that fill the room.

'The beds look like rooms themselves,' he noted.

'It used to be a headboard might be as high as 44 inches and a mattress was normally 18 inches off the floor,' he explained. 'Nowadays, with these thick mattresses that might be 28 inches off the floor, we are seeing headboards as tall as 72 inches.'

'Bright, airy and big. It is absolutely today, along with lots of patterns on the walls once again,' he noted.

Indeed, even among the desire for simpler lines in furniture and accessories, designers are seeing wall coverings making a comeback, according to Roberts.

'I've seen it over and over again in some of the most prestigious magazines,' he said, 'but you won't see it in Cedar Rapids for a while yet. Someone will have to have the courage to do it here before it will catch on again.'

Roberts encourages people to avoid faddish decorating trends with high glitzy finishes that are overburdened with design or ornamentation.

'So much is being said in such a piece and it can feel uncomfortable.'

'Quality, classic design and fine taste will win you over every time,' he added.