We spent a lot of time at home during the pandemic – they were our sanctuaries as well as our offices, schools and gyms. In 2023 it’s all about making them places we love to enjoy rather than functional spaces. It’s about embracing our vintage pieces, arranging our new larders and enjoying me-time in our spathrooms.

Dopamine décor

Dopamine dressing brightened up the 2022 catwalks, with fashion designers showing brightly coloured clothes aimed at uplifting the spirits and sparking joy. Dopamine dressing has now hit the interiors world. But what does it mean?

It’s quite simply all about using colours, patterns and furnishings in your home that make you feel happy. Zesty yellows, hot pinks, brilliant blues, fiery oranges – it’s all about filling your home with colours that give you a big mood boast. Start off small by introducing a colourful art print or some bright cushions and then, as you feel more confident, add a colourful geometric rug, a bold wallpaper print or a jewel colour coloured sofa. Using a joyous cocktail of colours is an easy way to add vibrancy and energy to your living space in 2023. 

Install a larder

Larders used to be cool dark places to store perishable products before the advent of fridges – every home had one. Nowadays, they are back in fashion as a practical and attractive way of adding storage to our kitchens. Kitchen storage can be a bugbear for almost everyone; no matter how big your kitchen actually is, stuff seems to expand to fill it. Many kitchen designers have now started incorporating freestanding or built-in larders into their schemes and they have become the most covetable kitchen accessory, taking over from the kitchen island. They’re the perfect way to store all your dry foods and they also provide handy places to keep small appliances like coffee-makers and food mixers.

You can recycle an old flea market find, have a larder cupboard made bespoke to fit into an alcove or recess, or buy one from a specialist kitchen company. Have fun with colour – your pantry doesn’t have to match the rest of your kitchen!  Make it super functional with lots of adjustable shelves, spice racks, baskets you can move around, a wine rack and plenty of hooks. Use lots of pull-out baskets and glass jars so you can see everything easily. Get some chalk paint labels or an old Dynamo machine to make fun labels for your storage containers and you’ll be able to find everything quickly. Larders may have been around for centuries, but it’s great to see them back in 2023.

Embrace the 1970s

Seventies decor and colours are having a revival. As well as seeing more  earthy ‘70s shades like terracotta, sage and mustard, you’ll see furniture made of teak, hanging chairs, macrame plant hangers, rattan tables and shag pile rugs in all the most stylish homes this year.

The popularity for mid-century modern furniture is beginning to wane but charity shops are still full of interesting vintage styles from the seventies.

Look for soft shapes and relaxed style seating with plump cushions and tactile fabrics to give a seventies vibe in your sitting room, traditional teak dining chairs for the kitchen, a 1970s style sideboard and String shelving units for the dining room.  Psychedelic prints on fabric and wallpaper or some classic album covers framed on the wall are an easy way to dip your toe into the trend if it feels a bit too retro for you. 

Wallpaper or painted borders

It’s hard to believe that wallpaper borders, so loved in the 80s and 90s, are back. This time they are much cooler than the Laura Ashley borders of my youth. Use them around door frames, between the walls and ceilings or to create a dado effect in a hallway.

If you don’t want to invest in wallpaper, painted borders are an inexpensive way to play with a room’s structure and perspective, and give you the chance to create interesting colour combinations. You can paint architectural features like cornicing, highlight bookshelves or alcoves, hide radiators or turn the ceiling into a fifth wall. Why not try painting the skirting boards in a contrasting colour or paint a border around an internal door? It can be a bold and interesting way to introduce a brighter colour into a muted scheme.

Make a Spathroom

The spathroom  – a spa-inspired bathroom – is a huge interior design trend for 2023, driven by the popularity of self-care.

In 2023, we are on a mission to transform our bathrooms into something much more decadent – a luxurious sanctuary where one can soak in the bath at the end of a hard day or even enjoy an at-home sauna.

Bathroom companies are now creating bathroom suites with huge walk-in waterfall showers, Hammams, saunas, Jacuzzi baths and hot tubs. Even small spaces can indulge in rainfall showers or claw foot baths. Sinks come in all shapes and sizes too, so you’re no longer limited to the practical but stylistically unimpressive pedestal basin.

Natural materials like slate and stone look fantastic in the bathroom; they’re style classics, ultra hardy and add an element of cool, spa-like Zen to the room. When you’re finally ready to sink into the bath the last thing you want is to be fighting for space with the kid’s bath toys. For items that need to be close at hand or are worthy of display consider little alcoves cut into the wall to provide a home for soaps and candles.

From spa-like bathrooms, to stylish green kitchens – next year’s interior trends are all about reimagining our spaces and enjoying our homes.

Will you be trying any of these trends for 2023?