In Partnership with G Plan
Scroll through Pinterest or Instagram and you’ll be inundated with images of picture-perfect rooms and endless decorating ideas. With new interior trends popping up faster than you can repaint your living room, it can be hard to keep up. But here’s how to quell that social media envy and think like a homes stylist, so your sitting room will look like it’s straight from the pages of a magazine for longer than five minutes – minus the expensive overhaul.
One of the most important decorating decisions any of us will make is the sofa we sink into at the end of every day. Timeless design, comfort and a good guarantee are the three most important things to consider. If you enjoy hunkering down in the luxury of a cushiony self-powered recliner, a stiff low-back Scandi-style sofa isn’t going to suit you – regardless of how much you adore its fabric or colour. If size is the issue, seek out a compact model without compromising on quality – with fabric and colour options that topple the hundreds, quality british upholsterer G Plan is a great place to start.
It might be tempting to plaster Pantone’s colour of the year across a statement wall the moment it sweeps the internet but step inside the mind of a professional stylist and you’ll discover it’s chicer and more cost effective to reserve bold shades for accessories, such as scatter cushions, throws, decorative objects or a jaunty footstool. Choose contemporary shades that will stand the test of time, such as grey, taupe, off white, sage green or soft pink (it’s rumoured to be the colour of choice for both the Cambridge’s and Prince Harry’s Kensington Palace apartment renovations).
Here comes the fun bit. Treat cushions, throws, rugs and curtains like your wardrobe and update seasonally (as the best interior enthusiasts do) because it’s the single simplest way to inject trend-focused touches of luxury that will instantly update your room. Switch those warm, fluffy, dense textures you piled high in winter for light and breezy alternatives in spring, such as sheer voiles, pale cushion covers, and silky throws in soft pastels or neutral shades. For an on-trend update that’s as popular in our homes as it is on the catwalks, add as many metallics as your heart desires – silver, gold and bronze – they’ll reflect light beautifully and rarely ever date.
