Interior design is not about decorating your home for the next buyer in safe beiges and whites. It's about making your home a satisfying, emotional and comfortable experience for you and your family.

So, if you've been shopping in furniture and fabric stores with your new home in mind, you may be seeing some surprising changes in interior design - furniture is suddenly hugging the floor and bold horizontal patterns are dominating in draperies, furnishings and accents.

In a tall-and-thin-is-in society, why the sudden change to low and long?

"The events of September 11, 2001 coupled with a shaky economy have driven the nation past Faith Popcorn's notion of cocooning," says Linda Fritschy, ASID. "Now we are nesting, and that is driving home design elements in new directions."

"It's about change," says Kathy Adcock-Smith, ASID. "When events change how you feel, you want something different in your home."

That means looking at design elements in a new way. Ceilings are still soaring, but new furniture hugs the ground like a Ferrari on a turn. Why? In a shaky period, we want grounding.

Not to mention that unless you buy your furniture at Castles-R-Us, soaring ceilings make it harder to decorate.

"Some ideas in retrospect weren't so practical," says Fritschy. "Tall ceilings take your attention upward, making it harder to stay focused on the people and things around us that we love. They can in some ways make a room feel smaller."

So guess what is back in style? That one-story ranch-style home your parents lived in.

"We aren't advocating building a new home with eight-foot ceilings, but if you own a home with low ceilings, you will find that some of the new design elements will bring out how comforting they can be," says Adcock-Smith.

Nesting is inviting the increased use of horizontal lines in décor including the return of horizontal stripes in fabrics and low-heeled furniture. Draperies are simple, sheer or opaque (to take the weight out of those shorter walls.) Bold architecturally scaled hems in a contrasting color break like a pants leg on the floor.

Also back are sliding glass and wood doors. Low ceilinged interiors are complemented by grounding elements such as shoji screens and woven leather furniture.

Bedrooms are back to simple and structured, with tailored bedding. Sleeping pillows are left out on the bed, replacing rows of ruffled shams.

And what would low ceilings be without the right floor? "More interest is in the simpler Tibetan carpets with subtle colors as opposed to the heavily patterned Orientals," advises Adcock-Smith. "Also popular are bold, textured geometric rugs to accent the new bamboo floors."

That's right - bamboo, not oak or pine. Bamboo can be cut horizontally or vertically for different grain patterns and come with tough ceramic glazes that can be easily be refinished over the years.

Says Adcock-Smith, "If you have an eight-foot ceiling, you want to furnish in the correct proportions, and if you have taller ceilings, there are design elements that can pull the eye back to the people and objects in the room."

Published: March 11, 2002

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