Pittsburgh Magazine Home Trends January 2020
Fabric ottoman in study - helps add color and pattern to the room
Pittsburgh Magazine featured me in January 2020 for "New Home Trends for the New Year" — local designers share hot ideas for 2020.
My predictions were simple: make it functional, make it durable, make it colorful.
1. Ottomans 10 to 1 over coffee tables
Why? Modular furniture that can be mixed, matched, and moved is how families actually live. Ottomans work for feet, extra seating, a tray for drinks. Coffee tables just sit there.
2. Performance fabrics move inside
Performance fabrics formerly reserved for outdoor furniture are now inside. Clients want durability for kids and dogs.
Brands like Designers Guild, Schumacher, and Romo now make upholstery that looks like linen or velvet but cleans like outdoor fabric. We use it on everything — sofas, banquettes, even breakfast chairs.
3. Paint more than just walls
For a fresh take on color, consider paint for more than walls. Continue color on crown molding, base molding, chair rails, even window panes.
"It just creates a really seamless look. It's really dramatic. I've seen it in purple, blue, green, gray, you name it."
We do this in almost every project now — Timberhill's deep blue grasscloth lower level, Bunker Hill's Slate Teal den.
4. Wallpaper that is easy to remove + large murals
Wallpaper is no longer a nightmare to hang or remove. Nonwoven papers mean you need little more than fingertips to take it down.
More homeowners are taking wallpaper to new heights — literally — with large murals in living spaces. Like the botanical mural at Cypress Grove Boca Raton.
5. Closets become rooms
As closets become rooms in their own right, it's all game. I had a client who added pop by papering the wall behind her shoes in the closet.
We did this at Kips Bay Palm Beach 2020 — 11 Schumacher wallpapers on walls AND ceilings, even on garment bags.
6. Entertainment moves upstairs
"With the house getting more casual on the second floor, the basement is no longer the place where you throw the big, ugly leather couch."
Table games — ping pong, pool, pinball — are back. Golf simulation rooms are gaining popularity. At Timberhill, the lower level became the gathering point with media, bar, dartboard.
Those 2020 predictions? Still true in 2026. Ottomans, performance fabric, color on trim, and mural wallpaper are now standard in our Pittsburgh and Florida projects.
Read Full Article: Pittsburgh Magazine
Pittsburgh Magazine January 2020 "New Home Trends for the New Year" — Betsy Wentz trends: ottomans over coffee tables, Designers Guild / Schumacher / Romo performance, seamless paint on trim, nonwoven wallpaper + murals, game rooms, closet wallpaper