With any ‘trend’ article, you should remember: trends come and go, but style is permanent. Jumping headfirst into the latest look just because it’s ‘hot’ doesn’t make you stylish or prove you have great taste. That said, it’s important to keep abreast of trends, as they offer an easy way to refresh your wardrobe/home/art collection and can stop you from falling into a style rut.
Consider the below the biggest interior design trends for 2024. From colours and materials to textures and approaches, use them to help inspire and update your own living space.
Stone Fruits
The Nordroom
This year, the colourati have declared ‘stone fruits’ the hues to know. Pantone’s colour of the year is Peach Fuzz, while trend forecasters WGSN have given it to Apricot Crush.
Pantone picked this divisive shade because: “In seeking a hue that echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection, we chose a colour radiant with warmth and modern elegance. A shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless.”
If soft transition shades somewhere between orange and pink aren’t your vibe, then maybe brown is your thing. Vogue says fashion colours are jumping the gap into interiors, feeding into wooden panelling, tone-on-tone decor, heavy drapes and upholstery.
Quiet Luxury
@apparatusstudio
Another trend carrying over from the fashion industry, with the go-to reference inevitably always coming back to Succession, most notably Kendall Roy. The Tom Ford suits, the heightened Italian athleisurewear, thousands spent but not a logo in sight, everything tastefully expensive.
What that means for your spaces is similar to what it means for your wardrobe. Expensive, statement pieces that form the creative spine of a space. One-of-a-kind, classic furniture pieces and more money spent on premium decoration – be that paint, wallpaper or textured walls.
Statement Stripes
@heidicaillierdesign
Here at Ape, we’re big fans of stripes in every walk of life, whether sartorial or racing. And 2024 is a big year for them in the home.
What’s great about stripes is that they are an easy but notably prominent way to update a space and can be employed across the board. Tiling, curtains, upholstery, walls, carpets and ceilings can all be striped.
We’re especially fond of using blue or green with white in a tiled space, evoking the warm and relaxing feel of a Mediterranean getaway. We’re also partial to a statement armchair or stair runner.
Take It To The Max
@smartanson
There was a great article recently by The Guardian about why every coffee shop you visit around the world looks exactly the same. It’s a very aesthetic but notably uncomfortable mixture of concrete, Scandinavian influence and minimalism, which has lazily fed into interiors everywhere. As well as being uncomfortable, it’s also a bit of a cop-out.
Thankfully, this look is on its way out. Everything on this list is moving against it, not to mention other microtrends we’ve spotted, like vintage lighting, dark wood panelling, marble accessories and curated approaches to collectables, whether it’s branded kitchenware collaborations or sought-after antique shop pieces.
Sustain Your Home
@nkukulife
Buy once, buy better – a rule that transcends every area of life. The same ethos applies to interiors, and in the modern day, you’re never far away from a mention of the big S, and rightly so.
Everything in your home should be seen as an investment, and if you can buy something from a trusted supplier that prioritises sustainability, even better. Opting for second-hand items over new also closes the loop and avoids waste. Out with the fast, in with the slow.
Think carefully about who you are buying from, too. Try supporting local businesses and artisans instead of purchasing cheaply made, imported products from high-street retailers. The world and your home will thank you for it.
Mixing Textures
@william.jess.laird
Mixing textures is the interior equivalent of layering clothes: multiple items complementing and contrasting each other to create something that is more than the sum of its parts.
This interior trend is another clear sign that minimalism is on its way out. The idea is to let your creative juices run wild – think different fabrics on the same sofa, juxtaposing traditional pieces against modern decor, and clashing metals with earthy textures.
The aim is to bring interest and intrigue back to your space. Mixing old and new by considering timeless pieces that will age gracefully and slotting them in alongside fresher, more contemporary and even futuristic items.
Let There Be Light
@yerinmok
Lighting is an essential part of every space yet is consistently overlooked. Many of us spend our working lives subjected to bright, white clinical lighting in offices and workplaces, then get home and continue punishing our eyeballs. 2024 is saying no to that in multiple ways.
Vintage lighting – think Meditteranean-style ornamental lamps in cosy, warm hues – is helping to soften the glow. Biophilia and the recurring trend of ‘bringing the outside in’ encourage smarter thinking around natural light. Granted, not everyone can afford to punch a new window into the wall or skylight into the roof, but there are tricks to be played with mirrors and optimising those walls blessed with early evening sunlight.
Lastly, there’s a trend for bringing the light to you. A new generation of cordless, rechargeable LED lighting means dynamic lighting options for multi-use spaces.
