The blog’s 2021 interiors predictions drop today with a particularly optimistic spring in their step. The only slight hiccup is which title to give the post. A descriptive ‘Interior Design Directions for Spring 2021’ could work, as could ‘Sea Change’ or ‘Reset’ but that has already been taken. What hits the blog spot nicely though is the title for David Hockney’s forthcoming exhibition at The Royal Academy in London. Here then is the blog’s Arrival of Spring 2021.

Sleeping Beauties

As I write this in Tier 4 at the end of 2020, the days are getting longer and spring bulbs are peaking through the soil. What’s more, a vaccine has been found by the amazing creativity and collaboration between the world’s scientific communities. We just need to hold on to that thought until we get it. Back in April when I wrote the Sleeping Beauties post, I couldn’t have imagined that a vaccine could have been found quite as quickly as it has. 

What is also wonderful is that, like nature itself, the world of interiors has found ways to carry on communicating and creating beautiful products and interiors during this challenging year.

Reset

UK Vogue struck exactly the right note for these times with editor Edward Enninful’s August 2020 issue with the coverline ‘Reset’.  The issue looked at how this ‘pause’ has allowed us all an opportunity to reflect on every aspect of our lives.

Trends

We can be sure that the driving force behind every decision we make in 2021 will be guided by two things. The larger of the two being the climate crisis and the smaller – although it doesn’t look like it from here – the pandemic. The following look to me like the key inspirational styles for 2021:

Back to Nature

Interiors trends emerging are not surprisingly being emotionally driven. Colour palettes are moving towards the warmer and nurturing botanical colours of nature from pinks and corals to pastels and greens.

People are looking for the comfort of an affordable, healthy home that needs to be big enough for them to work in, one which can sustain them and their families with fresh air, outside space and homegrown produce.

The launch of the Queen Square collection in September 2020 by Morris & Co at The Sanderson Design Group with their collaboration with Ben Pentreath could not have been more timely with William Morris’ design ethos.

Cottagecore

According to ShareToBuy.com Cottagecore is an interior style which has exploded this year by some 4,000% for people searching online for ideas to furnish their homes with country motifs, materials and repurposed and sustainable furniture. Macrame hangings, crystals, along with mushroom motifs, dried flowers and hanging plants are all part of this look.

Although this style shares some of the same ingredients as Grandmillenial style (traditional floral prints etc), budget is the key word along with the ideas of slow living.

Healthy homes

It is a little depressing to characterise fresh air as a style choice but it is certainly becoming a lifestyle consideration for many.

There are several interior design practices who now not only specialise in biophilic design (bringing the outside in) but who also supply technology for controlling air quality for homes in areas more prone to the effects of air pollution.

Country living

Rightmove has seen an increase in interest of moving to the countryside partly for all of the above but also for the perceived sense of community. I say perceived, because many city suburbs are also seeing a resurgence in great community feeling too.

In the early part of lockdown in Spring and Summer, Savills estate agents had sold quite a few of their most expensive and harder to shift country estates to overseas buyers. 

Another group looking to buy a bit of space in the countryside are owners of small city flats, who are desperate for more room to work from home and to have outside space. It will be interesting to see this time next year how many organisations have changed their working from home cultures for good.

Working from home design options

With a little re-thinking, dining room anddressing tables, wall-hung fold-away table tops and understairs alcoves all make perfectly functional places to work from home.

Bespoke Garden Products is a small family-run business in Wales that caught my eye. They advertise the fact that their shepherd huts can be carried through the house to erect in a back garden or yard, offering another fully insulated and affordable place to separate work or crafts from home. A perfect and more affordable solution for those living in terrace houses. Huts can be made to any dimensions with prices starting from £6,000.

Sustainable interiors for 2021

There are so many wonderful antique and salvage shops and suppliers that it isn’t difficult to decorate both stylishly and sustainably. See Sustainable Interior Decorating for some inspiration.

A textile designer who works sustainably is Speronella Marsh of Hare’s Tail. Originally from Rome, she started block printing onto vintage French sheets partly out of necessity to furnish the large windows of her country house, as featured in House & Garden magazine.  Speronella has given her acorn design such elegant proportions and detail that they can be used for soft furnishings for both grand- and small-scale projects alike.

Buy better, buy less

In the days when we could travel, I came across the most beautiful lighting showroom and workshop, Paralumi Luigi at the Via dei Pianellari in Rome. The architectural frames they design are not ones which are easily found in the UK.

Occasionally you can often find quite interesting (and robust) vintage lampshade frames from charity shops. Frames from the 1930s to 1960s are perfect for creating bespoke lighting.

Spring light from a Roman holiday

Panelled hall

Simple broad-panelled perpendicular panelling, hung with lanterns, creates a calm and luxurious backdrop to all the knocks and bumps that a family hall and staircase take over the years. Occasional touching up and painting will be all that is required to keep this looking as fresh as the day it was decorated.

Spring 2021 moodboard

Investing in quality fabrics and wallpapers is money not lost as they will last you for decades or longer if you so desire. You only need to look at how silks which are hundreds of years old still exist in grand country houses.

Thank you

Thank you so much for reading this. If you would like to receive email alerts for future posts, then please just press the large blue ‘follow’ button either at the beginning or end of a post. In the meantime, I wish you and your families a healthy and happy 2021.

With best wishes from Charis x