Top 3 Interior Design Trends for 2020 from High Point Market : Annie Elliott Design

High Point. That’s all you have to say in the interior design world and everyone knows what you mean: the semi-annual, 5-day, 2,000-manufacturer, 12-million-square-foot, 75,000-attendee furniture market for trade professionals. In High Point, North Carolina.

Busy street at High Point Furniture Market — “Have a good Market!” From the High Point website

I love High Point. We generally go in the fall (we just got back), but I’m thinking we may have to go in the spring, too. There’s just so much to see, and we always find great new items for our clients.

As my colleague Amy and I sped through the aforementioned 12 million square feet of showroom space — thoughtfully, but briskly — 3 trends emerged.

1. Caning and wicker. The great part about this “trend” is that it’s timeless. So caning isn’t as much a fad as a classic that’s cycled back into popularity. (Like grasscloth.) Don’t hold back if caning and/or wicker appeals to you: it never goes out of style.

Example of wicker as a 2020 design trend — Wicker bed! Perfect for a weekend house, don’t you think? From Century Furniture

Woven caned furniture interior design trend at High Point Market — Cane, wood, and brass chair from Alfonso Marina

Cane and iron accent tables illustrating caning as interior design trend — Surprise! Isn’t this a cool use of caning? There’s glass over these, of course. They’d be at home in a formal or informal room. By Thomas O’Brien for Century Furniture

Woven caned furniture as interior design trend at High Point Market — Cane and linen-painted chairs from Port Eliot, one of our favorite new resources (even if Eliot is spelled incorrectly). Shockingly comfortable for long dinner parties, too

2. A certain shade of blue. I don’t quite know how to describe it. Cornflower? Light royal blue? Not periwinkle (hello, Laura Ashley), but definitely not the aqua Robins-egg blue of recent years. It’s a bit puzzling, though. I mean, why? Why this blue? And why now? If you have any thoughts, send them my way.

Royal blue as 2020 interior design trend at High Point Furniture Market — Blue upholstered chair and ottoman from CR Laine

3. Scenic mural wallpaper. And not just Chinoiserie, either! Amy and I kept admiring showrooms that used mural wallpaper to decorate their spaces, regardless of the products they sold. Then we stumbled upon the holy grail: MuralSources.

Mural wallpaper as 2020 interior design trend at High Point Furniture Market — Panoramic mural wallpaper featuring an American hunting scene at MuralSources. I’d love to see this in a foyer

A sub-trend is framing portions of large-scale mural wallpaper as artwork. What a great idea ;)

Framed mural wallpaper as 2020 interior design trend at High Point Furniture Market — Oh, hello! One of our projects, which was Washingtonian’s Space of the Week recently! Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg

And finally, here’s a bonus trend that isn’t really a trend: animals. “An animal in every room!” is my motto, and there were a lot of terrific animal objects this year. I covet this one for my living room:

Animal decor as 2020 interior design trend at High Point Furniture Market — Snakes! On a fabulous drinks table by Carrier and Company. Loveliest people ever — and their new line for Century Furniture is fantastic

Animal decor and furniture as 2020 interior design trend at High Point Furniture Market — Pugs? Chinese lions? Dragons? Who cares! Also at Baker

If you’re feeling restless, I hope one of these trends inspires you to change things up. A little house refresh can go a long way. (Trust me!)

Annie Elliott Design is based in Washington, DC. Annie’s design work and insights have appeared in numerous local and national publications, most recently The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.