The best design requires culling furniture with intention. A chair or a sofa is not merely a place holder for a floor plan. And while a desire for comfort goes without saying, seating can be pivotal -- a make-or-break style and look.

Houston designer Paloma Contreras' study for this year's prestigious Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York is a perfect illustration. She followed her recipe for mixing traditional and modern by pairing an armless settee upholstered in marine blue velvet with creamy swivel chairs edged in a sexy fringe, and framing a gilt-accented antique desk with 18th-century Adam chairs, emboldened in chrome yellow upholstery. It's an effective anchor for a meticulously appointed room with a backdrop of pale chartreuse silky drapes and a stunning floral de Gournay wallpaper, which informed the palette.

Today's chairs and sofas are not taking a back seat to other interior furnishings. Many cutting-edge designs are coming from Europe, which has become a bellwether for decor trends.

"Seating is obvious because it's so essential," says trend spotter/writer Arianne Nardo, most recently home editor for The Robb Report. "You have to have one or two comfortable pieces. And there's not only a move toward making form and function even more relevant, but also that people are less afraid of making a statement with a utilitarian piece.

"Usually we look to chandeliers, sconces and accessories as our fashion moments," Nardo continues. "We've moved into an era where pieces that are essential can be awe-inspiring. Not a basic sofa with a low profile that disappears, or a lounge chair meant as adjunct piece. People are being more considerate about choosing what to bring into the home. Every piece has its own personality."

Nardo says that context matters more -- "whether it's a small studio in New York or an exciting landscape competing with inside views."

"We're also now making a link to what's going on in hospitality -- where those wow moments are. How we feel when we walk into well-designed hotels and restaurants. How can we recreate those same emotional references in our homes -- where we sit down, where we put our drinks down."

More and more, savvy shoppers turn to Instagram, design magazines and Pinterest for leads, trying to hone in on styles and looks that resonate. A more informed customer seeking ways to put it all together is duly noted by manufacturers and retailers, who now are providing some tools in showrooms and on websites.

Modern profiles and treatments (think an unexpected pop graphic on a traditional frame or classic wing chair) have been gaining traction. Backs are tighter, with channeling and minimal tufting sometimes defining them. Arms have been pared down or dropped off altogether. Loungy ease is a new focus. Dramatic shapes are sculptural or architectural. Patterns are not timid -- from floral to geometric, deco- to Bauhaus-inspired, with fashion riffs like animal prints or plaids in altered scale and unexpected hues. Feet and platforms are going for gold, following burnished metal leads in other areas of home decor.

Throwing a curve. Curvy sofas and chairs seem to be everywhere. The Italian brand Minotti describes its new Lawson collection, as "an impressive choreography of curves and linearity." Okamura's Nagare makes a statement with an exaggerated silhouette inspired by geologic forms. A Roche Bobois chair features stone-inspired back cushions in different scales. Some new seating, especially in the contract arena of offices and hospitality, looks like it's made up of bolsters or cylinders joined together.

All the angles. Architectural pieces that boast more straight lines and angles are dramatic.

The Italic chair by Fabio Novembre for the Italian brand Driade, for example, is a curiously off-kilter design -- its seat, back and arms totally canted to one side. The company describes the piece as "midway between an armchair and a small architecture."

Get Back, the latest design by Ludovica and Roberto Palomba for Poltrona Frau (which follows Let It Be and Come Together) takes an accustomed modular approach and shifts the angle of the generously proportioned add-on piece.

Modular expands its base. In modular seating, one growing trend is an almost bedlike addition. Long and wide, it often features a pillow or two for leaning and enough space for people to sit on either side. When it's skillfully designed, it's not at all overpowering. The Josh sofa by Edward van Vliet for Moroso shows how harmoniously two such pieces come together. The uber-scale botanical print cover on a light ground has a stitched pattern reminiscent of traditional Japanese futons. The designer sees it as "the main player in the living room where everything starts."

Other pieces are like modern tete a tetes, "head to head" from the French, a 19th-century invention featuring an S-shape with a central armrest and two seats facing opposite directions, designed to engage conversation. German designer Christian Werner created what he calls "a conversation seat" for Ligne Roset, with large pillows and bolsters anchoring the overscaled area.

Velvet still rules. The love affair with velvet that began a few years back still is going strong. Its elegance and textural richness appeal. And palettes have expanded to include dark rich indigo, teal emerald, bright and light blues to soft apricots, terra cotta, blush, rose and saffron.

Fringe benefits. Fringe once again is enjoying a moment. Roberto Cavalli's home collection clearly nods to fashion, as was evident at its introduction at Salone del Mobile in Milan in April. Two standout pieces: a sofa with padded rolled arms and fringed leather that dances just below the arm and extends all around the back. Another Cavalli armchair, Dudley, is upholstered in a bold silk black, blush and white animal print. The back, which seems to hug the chair, is cloaked in layered leather fringe, with some chunkier pieces for dimension.

That movement is fun and edgy, while the Portuguese company Dooq handles embellishment more conventionally -- as a flirty, silky bullion fringe above the plinth base of a sculptural tub chair. The thick pink adornment is a pretty complement to the apricot velvet upholstery.

Gilding the lily. Even though maximalism has challenged minimal interiors with an abundance of pattern and embellishment, detailing on seating has been more restrained. But it's strategically placed for great impact. Contrast piping and tape trims, while not new, are being employed more creatively and colorfully. Italian fashion brand Etro's impeccably styled new velvet sofa called Morocco borrows the back's shape from the architecture of its namesake. Barely there passimenterie at the bottom edge draws the eye to multicolored hues that blend with other contrast piping.

Give it a whirl. Motion chairs hit the sweet spot for many. A midcentury influenced rounded swivel chair from Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams is sleek and low with an angled back and sits on a metal (or wood) base.

Global accents. Notes from around the world continue to inform seating, as well as other areas of home decor. What's especially striking are the current interpretations of folk art or primitive designs on modern seating. One of Etro's new chairs, Masai, takes inspiration from Africa, with its strong shape, use of wenge wood and bronzed metal rings.

Bring it outdoors. Curves, texture and color have spilled into outdoor furniture design. Thea, from Fendi Casa's first al fresco collection, in fact, replicates its indoor offerings, but translates them with all-weather materials. In the place of strand-by-strand applied leather to a circular wraparound design (now on a 316 stainless steel frame), there's high-tech cord.

Sources

-- Cappellini, 212-966-0669, www.cappellini.it

-- Dooq, claudia@dooqdetails.com, www.dooqdetails.com

-- Driade, 212-334-3295, www.driade.com/en/

-- Etro Home, 212-247-1200, www.etro.com

-- Fendi, 212-897-2244, www.fendi.com/us

-- Ligne Roset, 312-846-1080, www.ligne-roset.com

-- Minotti, 212-685-0095, www.minotti.com

-- Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams Home, 800-789-5401, www.mgbwhome.com

-- Moroso, 212-334-7222, www.moroso.it

-- Okamura, 312-645-0115, www.us.okamura.com

-- Poltrona Frau, 212-777-7592, www.poltronafrau.com/en

-- Roberto Cavalli Home, 323-716-1497, www.robertocavalli.com

-- Roche Bobois, 212-889-0700, www.roche-bobois.com

-- Viccarbe, usa@viccarbe.com, www.viccarbe.com; distributed through coalesse, 877-318-2061, www.coalesse.com, and Steelcase, 888-783-3522, www.steelcase.com

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Paloma Contreras' Big Apple Showcase

Houston designer Paloma Contreras (www.palomacontreras.com) has had an interesting career path. About a decade ago, she started out as a blogger, amassing a devoted following with her on-point text and luscious design sensibilities. Because of the consistent, outstanding style she delivered, magazines and brands (Williams Sonoma Home, the most recent) came calling.

This year, she was honored to join the ranks of top designers like Vicente Wolf and Charlotte Moss to design a room for the prestigious Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York City. In the inviting study, she showed off her signature style -- a mix of traditional and modern furnishings in a fresh palette; in this case, one courtesy of a beautiful hand-painted garden floral wallcovering by de Gournay that she had custom colored, as well as the springtime views outside the tall windows in the room.

So this is what dazzled at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas earlier in the year:

Refrigeration and wine coolers in emerald green from the luxury brand True wowed with equally untimid brass or copper pulls.

Brilliant crackled glossy tile in the same shade from Ann Sacks got sustainable as well as style points, as the product is made partially made from recycled material.

Plum, lavender and indigo sinks from Kohler reflected shades that have been prominent in home decor.

BlueStar, known for its wide range of colors, showed off Living Coral, the 2019 Pantone color of the year and teased with a prototype for a pattern: blue-and-white stripe with overlay floral and hint of plaid, designed by Jason Oliver Nixon and John Loecke from Madcap Cottage. Dolce and Gabbana's ebullient patterns in vivid colors in the Sicily Is My Love collection for Smeg, now grace ranges and stove hoods, in addition to refrigerators and small appliances like mixers and toasters.

Wait, what? With a uniform of safe, neutral looks, especially in the kitchen -- where the favorite styles translate to lots of white cabinets, Carrera marble and stainless steel -- there's a bit of a shakeup going on. While there have been the occasional pops of color (orange, cobalt blue, red), particularly in ranges, more manufacturers are testing the bold. But the rainbow of colors, which covers brights and muted hues, also stretched across appliances to expressions in cabinetry and surface materials.

The appetite for color has been growing across the home design landscape, invigorating shows in Paris, Frankfurt and Milan. What has been striking for trend-watchers is that while there are a few colors and patterns so dominant on textiles (like checks, animal prints and hippie-inspired tie-dyes currently on fashion runways), the utter exuberance of it all sometimes tipped into full-on maximalism.

Are we ready for color in the kitchen and bath? That actually fits right in with current buzzwords that are often bandied about -- customization and bespoke.

Making it your own was one of the themes of last year's EuroCucina, the biennial international kitchen and bath show held in tandem with the giant Salone del Mobile in Milan. Although modular forms popular in Europe have not made a huge dent in our styles, personalization is starting to gain traction in the U.S.

There is much more color in kitchens and baths, to be sure. And instead of stainless pulls on appliances, burnished brass, rose gold and copper are options, coinciding with a warming of metals. Black matte also is huge -- especially paired with gold. Some vignettes at KBIS in Vegas were lessons in how to mix materials: natural and stained wood; painted matte or lacquered finishes; stone, porcelain and metals.

Kohler tapped into fashion and personality in introducing its rich palette, "understanding a desire for more color within the home setting." Now Dacor offers DacorMatch Color Match, inviting consumers to "show your true colors -- all of them," by providing a swatch so the company can match its appliances to whatever is your jam. Victoria and Albert offers a color-match system used in Europe with 194 RAL colors, in addition to its existing six standard color offerings. The brand cites that Elle Decor has identified a trend for deep blues and greens, while Color Hive, a global color trend consultancy, is predicting the hottest colors will be a warm palette of apricots, tawny browns and parchment.

"Personalization is a response to social media and technology," says John Loecke of the High Point, North Carolina-based Madcap Cottage, which designs products such as fabrics, wallcoverings, lighting, bedding and rugs. What people see, they want in their homes, he says, pointing out that digital printing also has opened the door to customization. The new tech, says BlueStar, means that virtually any image, text, print or pattern can be applied to a range, refrigerator or stove hood in a durable, smooth, satiny finish that can be easily cleaned.

"The options for colorful ranges and faucets didn't exist 10 years ago," says Nixon. "Now (with more choices), no one wants to be cookie cutter, with cabinetry exactly like the neighbors'. People want to have some fun. Feel fresh. Consumers now have the tools to do that."

Dallas designer Caitlin Wilson (www.caitlinwilson.com) called the BlueStar Pigeon Blue range and matching custom hood she made the centerpiece of her kitchen her piece de resistance.

She wrote in her blog: "With tons of natural light and a traditional crisp, white aesthetic that glows when the sun hits, our space was invigorated with this fresh, blue statement piece." She chose White Dove (Benjamin Moore OC-17) for cabinets and a contrasting natural oak island topped with Luccicoso marble for the backdrop. She specified antique brass accents and customized knobs in matching blue.

Angela Wellborn O'Neill, director of marketing and advertising for Wellborn Cabinets, says that new alternatives to stainless or white help people make statements in their kitchens.

"We cook with our senses -- taste, touch, sight -- so why not extend them to the room's design, from the cabinets to the kitchen appliances?" O'Neill suggests.

"Bright, beautiful colors help accent the rest of the home," says Jeremy Press, owner of Appliances by Design in Hilton Head, South Carolina. "The kitchen is so central to the functionality of a home. It's only right that it should be the focal point of the design as well."

That goes for the outdoors as well. A turquoise grill with rotisserie and a separate burner can inspire the color scheme for patio furnishings. Hestan, a California-based manufacturer with 12 signature colors in its appliance line, loves to gather insights on color from designers and those in the trade, as does Press.

While Nixon and Loecke welcome the idea of pattern in the kitchen and bath -- they are the authors of "Prints Charming" (Abrams; $35), a tutorial to sparking joy with pattern-filled rooms -- they say the key to it all is layering.

That's what designers Damian and Britt Zunino, husband-and-wife partners of Studio DB (www.studiodb.com), did with the bathroom they designed for this year's Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York City. They started with Kohler's new plum clawfoot soaking tub, which they set against a shimmery backdrop of a panther-patterned silver hand-painted paper by de Gournay. They described the space, that's walls are Viridian Green from Benjamin Moore's Century Collection, and that includes a sitting area and separate bath lined in beautiful patterned lavender and white tile, as "a sexy boudoir."

Here again, pattern is taking on a bigger role, thanks to elegant hand-painted murals and porcelain tiles. The range in porcelain tile, quartz, stones, solid surface and laminate has not coincidentally beefed up. Manufacturers are exploring more exotic stones and unique, complex patterns, with swirls and rich, pronounced veining. Backlighting also has added another dimension, alongside translucent surfaces such as quartz and onyx. Vetrite's Gem Glass collection, thin glass slabs created with polymer film that mimics precious stones and gems, is suitable for islands, backsplashes and furniture.

While color and pattern may be making themselves a little more comfortable in kitchens and baths, there's still a fear factor. Remodeling these spaces is not for the faint of heart -- especially if plumbing needs to be relocated. For that reason, choosing product -- appliances, fixtures, surface materials, hardware, faucets -- is a topic of angst and debate. Some of the deliberation is about style; the rest is about money.

But while you're dreaming about your re-do, here are some ways to think about driving out of neutral:

-- Make a statement. Choose your favorite color for the range and/or range hood and fridge. Or go bold with a colorful freestanding tub.

-- Pop color onto a backsplash. Even if you can't get past white or neutral cabinets, this can be a fabulous spot for exciting color and graphic pattern.

-- Ground it. The floor is a wonderful canvas, especially for patterns. Geometric ones, like the range of concrete and porcelain tiles available, work well -- if they're not too busy.

-- Center it. Focus on the island. Pattern can star here, and depending on what you choose, it can function as an art piece.

-- Add texture. "Pattern is not just a color or a print -- it can be a texture," says John Loecke. Consider strong wood grains, 3-D tiles and sinks with relief aprons.

-- Change it out. For a simple refresh, have a little fun with taps. Colorful modern options include the Hastings Vola series (www.hastingstilebath.com) and Grohe's semi-pro kitchen faucets with interchangeable silicone hoses (www.grohe.com). Or swap out cabinetry hardware for a bit of color.

Sources

-- Ann Sacks, 800-278-8453, www.annsacks.com

-- Antoniolupi, 312-329-1550, www.antoniolupi.it

-- Blanco, 609-668-6200, www.blanco.com

-- BlueStar, 610-376-7479, www.bluestarcooking.com

-- Devon and Devon, 312-676-3755, www.devon-devon.com

-- Dornbracht, 800-774-1181, www.dornbracht.com/en

-- Hestan Home, 888-905-7463, http://home.hestan.com

-- Kohler, 800-456-4537, www.us.kohler.com

-- Sicis, 877-839-8900, www.sicis.com/en

-- Smeg, 212-265-5378, www.smegusa.com

-- True Manufacturing Co., 888-616-8783, www.true-residential.com

-- Victoria and Albert, 800-421-7189, www.vandabaths.com

Unless you're a designer -- or just obsessed with all the product aesthetics -- you probably don't think much about hardware. On furniture, doors, appliances, it's functional. Its job as a pull, handle or hinge is to open and close things.

Hardware can, of course, be so much more. In design furniture history it is distinguished, and it's often been a focal point of pieces. The iconic Chinese wedding chest, for example, often finished in red lacquer, bears a recognizable central brass medallion held in place with a pin to keep its doors closed. That round shape sometimes is repeated in hinges that quite deliberately are visible on the door panels.

Hiding hinges and hardware became a thing in recent years in modern design, particularly in the kitchen, as well as bedroom and bath and entertainment pieces, where the touch latch became a clever disguise and allowed clean profiles. But those designing kitchen cabinetry with wood panels -- especially cladding large appliances like refrigerators -- needed substantial pulls to work. Curiously, that need evolved into larger scale, which translated into longer hardware.

Then it got interesting. Though sturdy, some designs got skinny, enormously appealing for modernists, not only in stainless steel but in a new favorite: matte black. Other warm burnished finishes also found popularity. And manufacturers of decorative hardware took the design challenges to heart. Game on.

So here's what we've noticed at furniture shows internationally and at the Kitchen and Bath show recently held in Las Vegas: Designers are paying more attention to hardware as punctuation.

In appliance design, some manufacturers are offering a "wardrobe" of choices in pulls, including copper. No longer an afterthought, the choices warrant careful consideration, especially when color is involved. True Refrigeration paired its bold emerald collection, which includes refrigerators and wine coolers, with brass pulls.

For cabinetry, matte black hardware has been wildly popular, unadorned or dressed up with burnished gold, which elevates it to elegant.

With some of the latest furniture introductions, it's obvious that designers are carefully considering their hardware options and integrating them into an overall plan, not just applying generic pulls.

With the advent of touch-latch (concealed hardware), some opt to celebrate a cabinet front without the interruption of hardware, especially when there's a strong pattern like wood graining or graphic markings in stone. Then there's the very minimal design when there's a barely there pull tucked into the top or sides of a door panel.

Luxury brands like Fendi often utilize their logos as part of fabric design or hardware. The fashion brand Etro riffed from their signature paisley pattern, pulling one comma-like shape and casting it into brass hardware.

Cast metal tassels, sometimes combined with enameling for a pop of color, may have taken inspiration from real textile tassels attached to keys on vintage cupboards.

Hardware also is being designed in a camouflage -- squares, circles or rectangles faced with the same veneer or surface material, so that aside from the defined shape, they disappear into the piece.

Clean, modern styles currently are most appealing today. The range in materials includes metals, wood, glass, crystal, concrete, resin, leather, mother of pearl, agate, even fabric.

Belwith-Keeler, a trendsetter in hardware design, provides custom pieces for many furniture manufacturers. More than 600 knob and pull designs are produced at its Grandville, Michigan, workshop, which dates to 1893.

"Design, inspiration and style are blurring the lines that used to define them," says the company's trend manager, Knikki Grantham. She looks to fashion runways for inspiration for interior design and home decor trends.

"As visual creatures there is a trigger that can be stimulated by the visual connection to a design," she says. "No longer do people want to be placed into style buckets; they want to define their own style."

The company actually refers to its designs as "cabinet jewelry."

"Hardware is much more than just an afterthought," says Grantham. "Just as jewelry completes an outfit or 'look,' hardware sets the tone and style for a piece or that of a room. That is why we work directly with furniture manufacturers and interior designers to create pieces that meet trends today as well as remain classic for years to come."

In fact, a number of high-end furniture manufacturers, such as Chaddock, have turned to boutique companies or artisans to create hardware that has a distinctive, hand-crafted look.

Anthropologie has been a popular go-to for hardware for the design-savvy, even before the latest attention. Color, pattern, materials choices and combinations excel -- ranging currently from metal with patterned fabric to agate rimmed in gold. Many resemble jewelry. The Corinne handle, a bar framed by circles in gold, is reminiscent of a brooch. Another bar style inlaid with mosaic stone looks like a hair clip. Others are like cufflinks or buttons. Some are playful, including the all-ears knobs -- small white glass spheres topped with gold bunny ears, which seems like a natural choice for furniture in a child's room.

Some spotlight craftsmanship, like the forager's handle, which features cast brass leaves. One of the most striking knobs is Isoke, a simple burnished brass slender crescent shape with a bar that cuts across a flat oxidized metal circle and extends to two ball finials.

Changing knobs or pulls is an excellent way to breathe life into outdated cabinets or salvage finds. Take a look at furniture with a little verve for cues -- also for clues as to what materials make good mates, and how size and proportion matter. At Anthropologie, for example, a low-slung tambour front rosewood buffet, strong in its natural hue and nearly 6-foot length, is appointed with white marble pulls with brass caps that match the dimension of the tambour. For a buffet patterned with diamonds, repeating the shape is the perfect choice, as is its striking mix of materials -- agate and brass.

With the hardware choices available today, you can strike whatever mood you wish -- from playful to bold and graphic, colorful to subdued, minimal to ebullient -- and give a piece of furniture or cabinets something to show off.

Sources

-- Anthropologie, 800-309-2500, www.anthropologie.com

-- Belwith-Keeler, 800-775-5589, www.belwith-keeler.com

-- Berenson, 800-333-0578, www.berensonhardware.com

-- Richelieu, 800-619-5446, www.richelieu.com