Make your house your own - hot decorating trends

If you’ve just moved into a new home you will be thinking about how to decorate. To help you think about colours and styles we’ve brought together below news and views of what’s hot (or do we mean cool?) in decorating this year.

The ideas of what’s trending in 2017 below are taken from sources such as Vogue, Houzz, House Beautiful, The Daily Telegraph and Pinterest.

Don’t be a slave to fashion, though - let your decor reflect your own personality and style. After all, you’ve got to live with it!

Colour

Blue, it seems, is one of the ‘in’ colours for this year. Navy and cobalt seem to be particularly favoured shades.

Green, too, is a favourite with leading designers in 2017. From lime green to emerald, the green theme can be used throughout the home in anything from a wall colour to a rug. If large areas of green seem a little over-powering you can add lighter touches such as emerald glasses to your table setting.

Or you can skip the big, bold colours entirely and go for ‘neutrals’ such as whites, beiges, pale greys, camel and blush pink.

Romantic bedroom colours like deep ruby red, raspberry, caramel and black will be popular in 2017. According to a recent Houzz survey, ‘intimate or romantic’ is the third-most desirable vibe when it comes to master bedrooms, after ‘calming’ and ‘cosy’.

In the kitchen, designers say that white is the ‘in’ colour mixed with wood accents to help the look from becoming too boring or sterile. Consider using a full wall of tile rather than a traditional ‘backsplash’.

Constructing an island in a contrasting colour is also becoming popular to break up an all-white kitchen look. And the days when things such as freezers came in a limited choice of colours (white or, er, white) are over – consider adding appliances in the same colour as the island.

Themes

Tropical seems to a leading theme this year – featuring in everything from wallpapers and huge prints to small collectable items.

One designer has dubbed the year’s theme as ‘jungalow’. It may be freezing outside, but it’s time to go tropical indoors.

Texture

Using texture as part of an interior design can make it both more interesting and more inviting. This year’s trend seems to be to mix fabrics and materials.

Marble and brass, features of designs in 2016, will continue to be a key theme in 2017 and bring a mix of different textures to the room – the cold, hard, marble blending and contrasting with the warm bronze.

Lighting

Changing the lighting in a room can give it a completely different feel. But it’s not just the light itself but also the light fittings which contribute to the style of the room. A ‘quirky’ lighting fixture can be a real feature.

Bedside pendant lights that hang from the ceiling are a striking and practical feature, as they can free up space in small bedrooms.

Well positioned mirrors in frames that match the décor style can help to maximise the natural lightning in a room – and they don’t use any electricity!