Casting an eye back over the first six months of 2024, we've rounded up seven rooms that sum up everything we're particularly enjoying in the interiors world right now.
Colour Drenched Rooms
The idea of drenching a room in a single colour is gaining traction at the moment (helped along by the recent launch of Farrow & Ball's new ‘Dead Flat’ finish, which can be used on every element of a room, from walls to radiators). It's a strong look, but if you have enough architectural interest in a space, and a pretty enough colour that works with the light, it can be a stylish way to update your schemes.
Murals on the Walls
A bit of escapism never goes amiss these days, and murals are perfect for transporting the inhabitants of a room into another world. Whether they are whimsical pieces of trompe l'oeil, as in the above 16th-century Piedmont villa from our April 2023 issue, or fantastical scenes that seem to open onto tropical vistas, a hand-painted mural is essentially a piece of art that is completely bespoke to your house. And with a crop of brilliant decorative painters working out there, you shouldn't have to look too far to find your Michelangelo.
Paint it Sky Blue
House & Garden's pages seem to be full of beautiful interiors painted in this shade of blue at the moment. Sky blue paint is a timeless choice, of course, and one we certainly wouldn't want to call trendy, but it just seems to have caught decorators' imagination in the last few years. Our favourite shades? Farrow & Ball's ‘Oval Room Blue’ is everywhere, and this wonderfully rich colour above, Pure & Original's ‘Blue Reef’ is equally delightful.
Framing with Wallpaper Borders
Australian interior designer Anna Spiro likes wallpaper borders so much she incorporated one into her ‘Island Garden’ design for de Gournay (above). And she is very far from being the only one. Interior designers such as Salvesen Graham and Susie Atkinson have been coming out with their own lines of wallpaper borders, and wallpaper designers like Common Room, Cole & Son and Schumacher have been adding more and more borders to their existing lines. Whether you choose to go for the full 1980s look or embrace something a little more modern, we're behind it.
Pare it Back
OK, it's true that we have just been talking about murals and wallpaper borders, which are about as maximalist as it gets, but we reserve the right to enjoy a whole spectrum of ideas in one go, and down at the other end is an increasing predilection for paring things back. Some of the most popular interiors we've featured lately have been rather more on the minimalist side of things, employing warm neutrals, interesting textures and a sparing use of pattern (often stripes or botanical motifs) to add visual interest.
Look Up to Decorated Ceilings
After that brief detour into minimalism, let's get back to our comfort zone with decorated ceilings. The question to ask yourself these days is: “do I really want a white ceiling?” If not, then consider the alternatives. You could wallpaper the ceiling in the same pattern, or paint the ceiling the same colour as the walls for an enveloping look (see colour-drenching, above). You could choose a different ceiling colour entirely. You could add a textured wallpaper, or some form of cladding, or you could seriously indulge and hand-paint designs onto your ceiling, as the artist Tasha Cough with a peacock mural. (above). The point here is, the ceiling is just another wall, so don't assume it has to stay a blank canvas.
Add Affordable Yet Transformative Accessories
Some of the ideas we've detailed above are on the aspirational side: murals and hand-painted ceilings certainly don't come cheap. But interiors, like fashion, can benefit from a healthy dose of high-low mixing. One such is through candle stick holders, which we've seen in more than one house on our pages, but we also love such affordable decorating ideas as classical pediments fixed to your kitchen cabinets (buy them in MDF from Jali), vintage posters and prints against a brightly painted background, and lovely lettuceware plates hung on the wall.
This story originally appeared on House & Garden UK.
