Whilst the global pandemic may have stopped this year in its tracks, some AW2020 interior design trends have still emerged out of lockdown. As the autumn and winter months approach us, we’ve seen styles evolving and being finessed to suit our homes even more.
Hot on our radar, the key trends that the experts at Heal’s envisage seeing this season include timeless long-lasting furniture, sustainable fabrics and earthy tones. People are turning away from fast furniture and opting for more reliable and sustainable furniture that is more unique and durable.
Read on to find out the AW20 interior design styles that will flood our Instagram feeds and homes soon enough. Plus, discover expert advice from Accessories Buyer Emily Dunstan on how to incorporate each style into your home.
Living Lighter
This season will be captivated by the idea of living lighter. Conscious consumerism is driving people to buy less and buy better. Gone are the days of buying cheap flimsy furniture that will be thrown away when a new trend arrives. These key pieces will incorporate a perfect balance of solid wood, thick fabrics and muted colours.
Emily’s Top Tip: As well as being an interior design trend, living lighter can actually be a way of life, but it doesn’t mean that you have to throw all your belongings away. The key is for the space to feel clean and uncluttered without too many furnishings and accessories and investing in key pieces you won’t throw away. Touches of colour add texture and warmth whilst still feeling sophisticated and harmonious.
Multipurpose Homes
During the past few months our homes have been transformed into personal gyms, office spaces and classrooms. That’s why the experts at Heal’s predict that one of the AW20 design trends will be multipurpose furniture. Whether it is the unique and quirky craftsmanship of a shelf that transforms into a table or the simple but equally exciting universal chair, multipurpose furniture is helping transform homes into a minimalistic haven for living, working and relaxing.
Emily’s Top Tip: Small spaces need smart solutions and multifunctional furniture does all that and more. Keep your eye out for sofa beds and coffee tables with hidden drawers and lift-up storage. You won’t know that they are there, but they will keep your clutter out of sight.
AW20 Colour Schemes
Colour has always been a good way of brightening your home and just a few accents means you can get on board with a trend – whether that’s painting the walls or adding a few key accessories to a space. Everyone has different tastes but there appear to be two contrasting palettes, one bold and bright and the other incorporates muted and neutral tones.
Rich Earth Tones
Colours bursting with depth alongside light and airy materials are due to fill homes very soon. From terracotta to deep greens, your home will emulate nature. This style is timeless and loved across the world so you can count on it being relevant for years to come.
On Instagram 36,614 posts were accompanied with #neutralinteriors and 831,361 posts included #terracotta. Neutral interiors has seen a 4% increase in searches whereas terracotta has had an increase of 2%.
Emily’s Top Tip: Earth tones work for every season and can be incorporated into many different styles, from modern to rustic.
Colourful Accents
Vibrancy has been painted across our clothes and walls for some time now, often going through phases of popularity. The key to incorporating these bold and daring colours into your home is by accessorising, from cushions to ornaments, this low-effort, high-reward trend is very attainable.
The #colourfulinteriors has been used 48,953 times on Instagram and the trend has seen an increase of 44% in Google searches.
Emily’s Top Tip: Colourful accents can be anything, even coffee table books. If you want a low commitment option try vases, fruit or flowers. With colourful accents, nothing is off-limits. Feel free to mix colours or clash them for the ultimate maximalism fix.
Bright & Beautiful
Standout colours such as yellow, orange and hot pink are all the craze at the moment and are expected to continue into the coming year. Bold colours are a great way to brighten up your life and your living room.
Emily’s Top Tip: Bright colours add a youthful look to a room, a dramatically bright sofa is the perfect addition to the living room. Don’t be afraid to cross the boundaries of masculine and feminine colours, they are just colours after all.
AW20 Materials
Materials are a great way to create an all sensory experience within the home. There are many materials to choose from, but sustainable materials are predicted to be one of the biggest hits. These types of materials are often thick and durable, designed to last a lifetime.
Honest Materials
The best type of furniture is not temporary, by buying durable materials you can save money and the environment. Sustainability is not a compromise, you can still achieve everything you need within the home but with a green thumb. Whether it is recycled or upcycled fabrics, vintage hardwood or un-dyed yarns, there are many options.
#honestmaterials has been used 2,454 times on Instagram and it is filled with eco-friendly but beautiful designs. The popularity of honest materials has increased by 100% according to Google Trends data.
Emily’s Top Tip: Unbleached fabric is much better for the skin, when you touch bleached fabric traces of chemicals come in contact with your skin, this can cause irritation especially for those with sensitive skin.
Sustainability
Sustainability is a very important movement that has become the newest lifestyle switch and is not going to go away anytime soon. The use of natural and organic materials has increased vastly in recent years and it makes incredible furniture. For lighting, the increased use of LEDs does not seem to be slowing down any time soon. This type of lighting not only revolutionizes your room but is also low-energy.
Sustainable furniture is featured on Instagram 43,560 times with the hashtag #sustainablefurniture and has increased in search popularity by an astounding 70% since 2019.
Emily’s Top Tip: Just about any furniture item you find you can source a sustainable version of. Plus, there are so many beautifully sustainable items that are one of a kind.
Timeless Design
Timeless furniture is as much about the design as it is the material, the piece must stay relevant and be durable enough to last for many years. Furniture heirlooms have come back into style as peoples tastes have changed throughout the years.
The popularity of heritage pieces with stories to tell has risen quite dramatically and has given depth to our homes beyond the fast-furniture industry.
#timelessinterior has been used on Instagram 1,937 times and has seen an increase of 32% in google searches, this number is expected to skyrocket in the next year.
Emily’s Top Tip: Good quality furniture can stand the test of time. Furniture made from solid wood and stone are pieces that will always be in style. Out-there metal colours such as rose gold are quicker to go out of style.
Smart Homes & AI
This year has been the year for staying home and making our home lives as easy and enjoyable as possible, this has thrust the smart home and AI industry into immense popularity.
Smart technology covers everything from Amazon’s Alexa to washing machines that you control from an app. Being able to answer your door from the comfort of your sofa has given us back the control in our lives that we have very much needed throughout the last few months.
Emily’s Top Tip: Some people may find it hard to incorporate smart devices into their home without it looking out of place. If you do want them out-of-sight they are easily stored in cupboards, drawers and behind doors. Cable management is also extremely important, not only for organisation purposes but visually, cables can be unsightly.
Biophilia
People are discovering the many benefits of being surrounded by plants, from mental health to air-quality, plants have lots to offer outside of aesthetics. Everyone has been loving the green additions to their life, there are plants for everyone, whether you need low-or high-maintenance greenery.
The lockdown left many people confined to flats and away from green spaces resulting in our desire to incorporate the great outdoors into their interiors. As houseplants are a common feature in our homes, we are now turning to wallpaper, materials and colour to get our nature fix.
This trend is by far the most popular, with 4,518,849 posts on #houseplants and a 6% increase in searches, plants are going to become even more popular in the coming year.
Emily’s Top Tip: Try adding accent colours through plant pots as an easy way to style up a room. Dried plants and flowers are also a simple but classy way to add character to a room.
Chubby Furniture
Achieving both comfort and beautiful design, chubby chairs and sofas are the next big thing. This style is extremely modern and minimalistic, through the addition of this voluptuous furniture you can achieve interior bliss.
Emily’s Top Tip: Chubby furniture gives an artistic feel to the room, an art exhibit you can sit on. This type of design also has the hidden benefit of being family friendly.
