Lighter, simpler interiors take center stage on west coast of Florida

Miromar Design Center showroom manager says whites and off-whites are consistent colors in home design.

By Grier Ferguson
| 6:00 a.m. February 1, 2019
| 2 Free Articles Remaining!

Courtesy. Vivian Armenti, showroom manager for the Hickory Chair Interior Design Showroom at Miromar Design Center, says whites and off-whites, along with blues and greens, are staples in area homes.

Development

Design trends can be a driving factor in residential real estate, from sales to renovations to home furnishings.

Vivian Armenti, showroom manager for the Hickory Chair Interior Design Showroom at Miromar Design Center in Estero, says the collection by designer Suzanne Kasler displays classic, timeless pieces with light finishes and the color rose, which is popular this year.

“We do very well with a lot of light textiles,” she says. Whites and off-whites are consistent colors in home design that allow people to add their color tastes to the mix. “We still see a lot of grays, beiges and taupes,” Armenti adds.

The 250,000-square-foot Miromar Design Center has about 45 different showrooms and caters to both interior designers and homeowners. Since its common for people in the area to be purchasing a second or third home, Armenti says "a lot of the consumers that are buying here are also looking to change things.” They don’t want the same look they have in their homes in the North or Midwest.

Armenti says she sometimes hears clients say that bringing their dark furniture down with them to Florida was a mistake. “It becomes a mistake because things are trending toward cleaner lines.” Now people are keeping things lighter and simpler.

Naples-based Premier Sotheby’s International Realty President Budge Huskey has seen the same transition to cleaner designs. He says there’s been a move away from “heavy architectural style and interior design associated with Tuscan to a cleaner, lighter coastal contemporary or modern” style.

He’s seen it in Naples and Sarasota but says it’s most pronounced in Naples. There it’s so prevalent, he says, it’s leading to a niche market for architects and designers called de-Tuscanization, a trend that he says has "hit Naples really hard."