Vicki Pickle Colin Miller/Strauss Peyton

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What’s on the horizon in contemporary design in regard to fabrics, art, accessories and flooring?
Look for Modern and transitional styles with fabrics full of texture, such as leathers (even patent leathers), micro-suedes and wood-textured fabrics. Pop art – Andy Warhol – and Modern/abstract art in classical/traditional environments are so dynamic to transitional design. Accessories are textured: fossils, seashells, sisal, seagrass, bamboo and interesting sculptures. And there are chairs that are suspended from the ceiling in Lucite or rattan. Watch for interchangeable carpet squares and exotic woods.

What are your favorite floral designs for a contemporary look?
I especially love Birds of Paradise or white lilies. Large green leaves with no flowers make fabulous nature-inspired arrangements. I like a look that is natural and life-like. Add texture with rocks, water or banana leaves to line the inside of a see-through glass container, or use limes, lemons or oranges for color.

What are some of your favorite spaces you designed with a real “wow factor”?
Showhouses, media rooms, children’s rooms and a Sarasota, Florida beach house – all with captivating, inspiring, larger-than-life looks. I personally love a handsome look. I’ve designed entire rooms and homes based upon a client’s favorite dinner plate or golf bag, for example. No two projects are alike.

How do you incorporate indoor and outdoor entertaining into a modern design plan?
I like to use a great selection of pottery blended with fossil stone, teak, iron, and versatile, all-weather fabrics. And I use lighting and artwork in order to create indoor and outdoor spaces with personality.

Web Extra: More from interior designer Kim Guinn

Coming soon to the design scene:

- A focus on more interesting wall treatment design: textured wood walls, sisal, sea grass and bamboo

- Glass curtain walls; exterior and interior - these walls retract and merge outside with the inside

- Concrete walls with embossed designs

- Wallpaper is back in the form of murals and removable paper, and new modern choices, such as large geometric circles or pop art prints

- Metallic walls, corrugated steel or satin metallic paint

- Contemporary floral wallpapers are more monochromatic, such as brown and white for a “Marimekko look”

kimguinn@interiorsbydesign.net