With the turn of each year, and especially the turn of a decade, we get all kinds of predictions for the days ahead and the trends to come. Whatever develops in this new decade, the only sure prediction is that iconic trends and styles from the past will continue to influence our design choices, and what could be more iconic than Art Deco, the style of the Roaring 20’s.

Art Deco is all about bold statements. Geometric patterns and rich, deep colors.  Steep angles softened by the warmth of gold, glass, and wood.  Furniture with sharp lines and interesting shapes; with sleek materials such as exotic wood, chrome and mirror.  It was a consciously modern, even futuristic, aesthetic – perhaps the first such in history. It reflected a society that was speeding up, like the cars and streamlined trains, and the breaking of all the old rules.  Even a hundred years later, it still looks “modern” to us.

Deco is known for boldness, with strong contrasts and color blocking, the colors often played against heavier, larger wood pieces or lacquer.  Bright and deep yellows, reds, blues and pinks mixing with black and chrome.  And what would the Roaring 20’s be without inspiration from the flappers!  Look for beaded upholstery, mirrored, chrome, black, brass, bronze or gold accents like a dramatic gold sunburst mirror.

But alongside all the woods and metals we know and love, Art Deco also incorporated a bit of the exotic, the East-meets-West flavor of tortoise shell, animals prints, leaves and feathers.

The 2020’s, like the 1920’s, will be an era for eclecticism. We’ll see many of the “rules” of design cast aside in favor of mixing our most favored items together (metal layered with lace or wood combined with crystal) with the final effect being drama. Your home should be a representation of you and the things you love.