The Hottest Interior Design Ideas - Part One

When it comes to good interior design, trends do, inevitably, play a huge role in getting it right, but it is only worth investing in these trends if they will work within the style of your home and the lifestyle you lead — basically good interior design should be liveable as well as fashionable.

To get this right, take your lead from the current trends in home design and then adapt them to suit you. The most stylish homes are those where the interiors look to have evolved to be a reflection of the people living there — the complete antithesis of developers’ show homes which reveal zero imagination and often look to be the result of a quick scoot around a DIY superstore.

Plaster Finishes

What are they? A contemporary approach to wall finishes, shunning paint or wallpaper in favour of a thin finishing coat of plaster given an interesting finish, such as limestone or ashlar style. The plaster comes in a huge range of colours too

Pros: The perfect partner for popular finishes, such as natural stone as well as composites

Cons: Can be expensive to create and at present there are only a handful of companies specialising in it

Implications: The thin plaster finish is applied over ordinary plaster and this base plaster coat must be allowed to dry and settle, otherwise the decorative finishing layer may crack. In addition, the plaster base must be squared off properly and given a good finish, as any faults will show up on the decorative layer. Before going ahead with this you should also check with the manufacturer that your substrate is suitable

What do they cost? Around £50-60/m² supplied and fitted

Feature Staircases

What are they? A stunning focal point for the home. Be it a gravity-defying ‘floating’ staircase, a grand helical design or a super-straight flight made entirely from glass, a feature staircase should have the power to wow

Pros: Installing a feature staircase will give a fantastic first impression on entering the house and is the ideal way to add character and dimension to a large open plan space

Cons: As they are usually bespoke, they can be expensive, particularly through a specialist staircase company. Costs can be controlled better by coming up with your own design and taking it to a local joiner

Implications You may well have seen a stunning floating staircase you love, but check that what you want complies with the Building Regulations. For example, spaces between risers and spindles must not be more that 100mm and you must have a handrail. Always check the Regulations before settling on a design. In addition, often feature staircases are one of the last items to be installed in a house, so you may find yourself using a lot of ladders throughout your build

What do they cost? Anything between £5,000 to £30,000 and beyond

Walk-in Showers

What are they? A cross between a wetroom and a shower enclosure, walkin showers are comprised of a showering area with a level threshold between shower tray and floor, and a frameless glass screen

Pros: No more claustrophobic showering experiences or awkward enclosure doors to tackle

Cons: Tend to be a little more expensive than your standard off-theshelf enclosure and are trickier to fit

Implications The showering area and beyond needs to be fully waterproofed to ensure moisture is not able to get behind the tiles. In addition, if you decide to use the bathroom floor itself as a ‘shower tray’, you will need to ensure the floor slopes towards the drain

What do they cost? From £1,500 up to £10,000

Simple Bathrooms

Continuing on the theme of practical yet stylish, the walk-in shower looks set to grow and grow in its popularity during 2008. The importance we have begun to place on our bathrooms has increased rapidly in recent years, and we are now a nation that expects much more than a dribbling shower within a rickety cubicle barely bigger than the averagesized human being.

Walk-in showers are usually designed to fit into the space available and the conventional shower tray is shunned in favour of a level threshold, where bathroom floor meets shower floor, meaning fewer nooks and crannies for mildew to gather and less chance of tripping up — plus, of course, a resulting look that is streamlined and elegant.

Modern Country Look

What is it? Not out and out traditional – there is no chintz here – but certainly not contemporary either. This is a clean, uncluttered classic look with references to country farmhouse living

Pros: Done well, this look should stand the test of time and continue to look good year after year. It also need not necessarily cost a fortune

Cons: Can be hard to create the ‘thrown together’ look that is required for this to work. May look out of place in some modern homes as it really works best in homes with plenty of character.

Implications Although this may be an interior scheme that looks as though it has been casually put together, getting the look right actually takes some real thought. It is imperative that all furniture is not bought new, or at least that you buy reconditioned pieces. You will need to develop an eye for mixing and matching, but ensure that the look remains clean and simple. The style should epitomise laid back, country living

What does it cost? There is no clear answer to this, but given that the most successful modern country looks incorporate plenty of reclaimed and second-hand finds, it should cost less than buying designer items from scratch

The Rise of 'Modern Country'

It may not sound particularly sexy, but many of the best interior looks in recent years are seemingly borne from a frustration with aiming for the impractical in our homes for so long. Take the typical contemporary look — stark, Modernist, all-white schemes. Not only are they child/pet/visitor unfriendly, but how much fun can they be to live with? Almost as a backlash against this, one of the most popular looks in terms of interior design in coming years is set to be the ‘modern country’ look. This look is family friendly, will stand the test of time, incorporates many natural materials and finishes as well as recycled or reclaimed items – so satisfying many homeowners’ wishes to do their bit in helping the environment – and, perhaps most importantly of all, is incredibly easy to live with.

The modern country look is all about using natural materials, such as wood and stone, combined with natural fabrics – for example, wool, jute and sisal – in place of synthetic carpets or floor coverings. Wall colours should be kept muted, but in no way stark, with popular choices being olive greens, greys, powdery blues and various shades of cream. Furnishings should look to have been lucky junk-shop finds that have been restored, with scrubbed and painted pieces being the ideal.

Read part two for tips on open plan layouts and storage solutions...

Further reading:

• A Guide to Internal Finishes
• Interiors: Getting a Coastal Look
• How to Achieve Instant Character