The inside scoop

Whether your vibe is Coastal Grandmother or Whimsigothic, the way you feel in your home environment has a direct impact on not just your comfort, but your health and happiness. A thoughtfully designed home, starting with the architectural plans, right through to flooring materials, furniture textures and lighting choices, can actually contribute to your general wellbeing. With that in mind, we talked to the experts about the newest interior trends, and found out what’s still hot- and what’s not- for 2023.

Your new office

Remote and flexible work is here to stay, so why not incorporate office space- or spaces- into your architectural plans, instead of labouring on a laptop over the kitchen island? If you don’t have an extra room to dedicate, or if there are multiple people working from home, you can opt for what designers call ‘tech spaces.’ These are small alcoves that make the most of square footage while offering a sense of comfort and privacy when working from home.

Clutter-free comfort

Organization is key to wellbeing, especially with so many of us living and working in a hybrid environment. When you have a home that is in order, it creates a calm and relaxing environment. You can spend more time with family and less time tidying or stressing over your space. Clever containers, attractive baskets, built in cupboards, functional closet space and lots of pegs make it easy to keep all of your stuff relatively in order.

Bring the outside in

Biophilic is from the Greek, meaning a love of living things. Biophilic design goes hand in hand with an increased focus on sustainability in home interiors. You can use outdoor elements, such as organic and nature inspired features to decorate. Large, floor-toceiling windows showcase our amazing Scottish landscapes. Coordinating décor, paint and flooring in earth and sky tones, especially in rooms with lots of windows, blurs the line between indoors and outdoors, giving an illusion of openness inside your home.

Cottagecore chic

This popular ‘Core’ trend has been around for a few years, but Cottagecore seems to be here to stay, at least for a while. You don’t have to live in a cottage to love this look- it’s a welcoming vibe for our British weather! Think nostalgia meets cosiness, in a welcoming interior warmed by a centrepiece wood stove or fireplace. Embrace the trend with floral or tartan inspirations, creams, browns, roses and baby blues, wood and copper combos, warm, low level lighting, vintage furniture touches, warm wool throws and chunky knits.

Warm up those whites

A simple colour palette of bright whites and cool greys has been on trend the last few years. Now moving away from this fashion, many interior designers are opting for more colourful alternatives. For those of us who designed our homes around the all-white trend, and are now seeing this phase out of style, adding soft, warm tones and light wood accents can immediately add warmth and bring cool tones up to date.

The dark side

Dark interiors, ranging from deep green to charcoal to the deepest black, even in wall colours, are all the rage this year, and are surprisingly inviting. But if you aren’t quite ready to go full on Wednesday Addams, weave darker tones throughout your decor with dark-coloured bed linen or accessories. Accessorise with vintage prints and candelabras, slightly untidy bookshelves and unusual ornaments.