The Hottest Interiors Trends This Year

What’s driving interiors trends for 2023? The desire to create a home that makes us feel good, rather than a place that’s simply stylish. The Covid lockdowns showed us the importance of the spaces we inhabit to our wellbeing, and creating a home that makes us feel happy continues to be key. “We want our homes to be cosy retreats where we can relax with loved ones away from the outside world,” says Charlotte Hodges-Peck, a senior consultant for interior services at Savills. “At the same time, however, our home needs to be a place where we are proud to entertain guests and show off our sense of style.” Here are the trends to know for 2023.

Comforting colour
It’s all about moody blues – and greens and purples, warm neutrals and rich browns. Colour is getting rich and sophisticated, creating a cosy, cocooning vibe. These shades are excellent foils for artwork and furnishings: be brave and paint the walls, trim and ceiling in the same colour to make lighting, furniture and art pop. They also work well with jewel or bright tones such as fuchsia and jade, the accent colours for the year ahead.

Home entertaining
The new design buzzword is “conviviality” – which means that home is the place to get together with friends and family. Rounded seating brings a welcoming softness to a space and encourages conversation. Armchairs are cosy and comfortable (rather than the pretty but perch-like accent chair), while a cocktail cabinet must be a striking piece of furniture even before it is opened to reveal a bar for merrymaking within. Even the kitchen island has evolved to become central to entertaining, thanks to the “champagne sink” – a second sink ready to be filled with ice and chilled bottles of bubbly. Outside, a firepit and a seating area are the new must-haves.

Off the wall
With designers keen to include different levels of light throughout a room (a process called “layering”), wall lights, the lost child of lighting design, are finally back in focus. Softly washing an entire wall with light, the chicest pieces are large in scale, sculptural in shape and bold in texture. They can be works of art in their own right, so place them at eye level for maximum impact.

The personal touch
From handcrafted artisan work to heritage pieces that have been upcycled or bespoked, the trend for unique homewares looks set to grow and grow in 2023. It’s all about the search for high-quality products with provenance that are long-lasting and will add character to a room. Think mouth-blown glassware and hand-painted ceramics with one-off patterns or colour combinations, an heirloom sideboard transformed into a cocktail cabinet or chairs upholstered in multiple fabric patches.

Statement stone
Marble has long been the designer’s favourite for giving a kitchen or bathroom a sense of opulence. Subtle veining has given way to dramatic swirls, bookmatched marble slabs and tiles for large-scale installations. Next year, expect blue and green marble to take centre stage – in the kitchen, it is especially eye-catching when used on both worktops and splashbacks.

The new sustainable star
The drive for sustainable design, coupled with a desire for more natural elements in the home, has seen rattan, bamboo and cane throw off their unfashionable status to join wood as the materials of the moment. Now it’s the turn of cork. Biodegradable and easily recyclable, this natural plant tissue has been percolating through the interiors world for the past couple of years, and designers are increasingly using it to create beautiful sculptural pieces that add natural texture to a space. Look out for cork vases, lampshades and coffee tables.

Pictures from top: walls in Teal 03 76 Dean Street by Lick x Soho House; a strong colour palette and luxurious textiles add warmth to modern interiors (Getty); a dining room in bold colours – moody green walls dominate (Getty); Tom Dixon’s round cork tables and stools nod to the trend for sustainability in design; a firepit and seating area are the new must-haves for outdoor entertaining – styled by Simo Design (Getty)