If you’re lucky enough to be a Floridian, you know it’s a phenomenal place to live, work, and play thanks to warm and sunny days, breezy tropical nights, gorgeous beaches, friendly people, and a bustling art, culture, and dining scene. In addition to being wonderful in and of themselves, these attributes also provide excellent interior design inspiration for local homeowners.
Whether you’re decorating a home from scratch or looking to make some alluring upgrades, we’ve got you covered.
Read on for a closer look at all things Florida home decor, including five popular interior design trends for homeowners in Miami and beyond.
An Intro to Florida Home Decorating
The first thing to keep in mind when you set out to come up with an interior design scheme for your home—regardless of where you live? Lead with what you love.
Considering that we spend 62 percent of our waking hours at home, it makes sense to surround ourselves with things that spark joy.
And while Miami homeowners all share the common theme of living in South Florida (and all the benefits that go along with it), all Florida homes aren’t created equal. In fact, Florida homes encompass many different design styles—from Mediterranean and Scandinavian-inspired interiors to Key West and Palm Beach decor.
Your home’s architectural style, as well as its surroundings, will also dictate your interior design choices. After all, a magnificent mansion will have a different vibe than a casual beach bungalow. While a glittering chandelier and other over-the-top fixtures and finishes might be at home in the former, they’re likely to look out of place in less ultra-luxurious environments.
The ultimate goal for your Florida interior design project? Aesthetic alignment between your home’s architectural style and its decor. Just don’t forget to also factor in purposefulness into the mix. The best design plans achieve a beautiful balance of form and function.
5 Interior Design Trends in Florida
Interior design is not one-size-fits-all. Depending on factors ranging from your personal taste to your home’s existing style and thanks to a preponderance of options, there are near-endless possibilities when selecting color palettes, furnishings, accessories, and other design elements.
If you’re looking for ideas and inspiration, consider these five trends:
1. All Things Natural and Organic
Florida is known for its natural beauty, which many homeowners try to echo in their interior design choices. From organic materials like wood, linen, clay, bamboo, ceramic, stone, and terracotta to natural touches like plants and flowers, there are many ways to incorporate earthy elements into your Florida home design scheme.
In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, these items can also have a calming effect.
2. Neutral Hues
Along the same lines as natural and organic elements, neutral tones are also a popular choice for Floridians. For starters, lighter colors can help keep your home cooler when the temperature soars outside. They can also make your home feel more modern, open, spacious, and comfortable.
Neutral hues are also very versatile. Feel like mixing things up? With neutral paint colors and furniture, you can easily freshen up a room just by swapping out existing accessories and decor for new ones.
3. Tropical Accents
Just because neutral hues are on-trend doesn’t mean you can’t embrace bright colors, busy patterns, and dynamic textures. In fact, neutral hues are the perfect backdrop for bolder accents like pillows, rugs, and other accessories.
Tropical accents are especially popular with Florida homeowners. Think beach motifs, palm trees, rattan furniture, barkcloth, leaf motifs, pineapples, woven jute and sisal, parrots, flamingos, seashells, and more. Depending on your personal preference, you can follow your whimsy with abandon or take a less literal approach.
Meanwhile, popular color palettes range from vibrant oranges and hot pinks to cooler blues and greens that echo sea and sky.
4. Indoor-Outdoor Spaces
Indoor-outdoor spaces for everything from relaxation to recreation are having a major moment in interior design, and there’s no better place to embrace this trend than Florida.
Whether you’re looking to increase your home’s livable square footage or to spend more time enjoying the great outdoors, improving and upgrading porches, patios, backyards, decks, and other areas is an excellent way to make your home a more inviting and enjoyable place.
Some strategies for enhancing your outdoor areas include:
- Create“zones” for different activities like eating, entertaining, and relaxing
- Add shade in the form of everything from umbrellas to plants
- Incorporate ample and comfy seating, such as deep seating and hanging chairs/swings
- Add a fire pit for light, warmth, and marshmallow roasting
- Upgrade to indoor-worthy outdoor furniture and accessories that align with your home’s design scheme while also expressing your personal style
- Invest in outdoor lighting that will help you keep the party going long after the sun goes down
5. Impact Windows and Doors
High performance impact windows and doors may not be the “sexiest” trend on this list, but they’re one of the single-best improvements Floridians can make to their homes.
While super-strong and durable hurricane windows and doors are an excellent way to protect your home and property when a tropical storm is headed your way, they can also be excellent design elements in and of themselves. Not only are today’s high performance impact windows and doors available in many sizes, shapes, materials, and colors, but they can also be customized to your exact taste and specifications.
For example, architectural impact resistant windows in shapes like arcs and trapezoids, have the potential to add amazing visual allure to your home’s appearance.
In addition to minimizing your risk in extreme weather, impact windows and doors offer many additional advantages for homeowners, including energy efficiency, comfort, sound reduction, UV light protection, security, and curb appeal. They’re also one of the best investments you can make in your home in terms of added value.
If you live in Florida, you’re already living the dream. So why not make sure your home is equally dream-worthy? Use these trends, ideas, and inspiration to create a home that truly speaks to who you are, where you live, and what you love.
