Decorating is all about freedom of expression and for 2024, there is so much to inspire. We're going to see maximalism décor with its standout patterns, bold colour combinations and textured layering all coming together for a power statement, while taking it back to basics with the simplest of palettes that showcase a sense of deserved quiet. We'll also pay a visit to the seventies with its kitsch touches and retro shades that look fab in every room. Click or scroll on to take a sneak peek at what lies ahead...

"2024 is the year to be fearless with your decorating schemes and go full out with colour," says Grazzie Wilson, head of creative at Ca' Pietra. Now is the time for drenching everything from walls and ceilings to cabinetry and furniture in a single block hue. It's important to pay attention to tone – muted colours will work best to avoid the scheme jarring. While you want to make an impact, you don't want it to look gaudy. Find ways to create harmony by choosing complementary accessories and fittings.

If you're not feeling confident enough to totally soak your room in a single shade, then think about using it as an accent colour alongside other tones. Shelley Cochrane, accessories buyer at Furniture Village explains: "Yellow is going to be big in 2024, and pairing this beautiful, rich sunshine shade with refreshing touches of whitewashed furniture is the perfect way to embrace the trend. For a bolder look, combine yellow tones with uplifting pops of green and a scattering of patterned cushions."

You heard it here first, chintz is cool. Thanks in part to the popularity of maximalist décor also trending, chintz is having a welcome resurgence, having previously fallen out of favour. Chinz, a Hindi word meaning spotted or speckled, is commonly seen as floral printed designs often incorporating animals and fruits. For 2024, you'll find chintz patterns feeling more contemporary, so nothing will look too old-fashioned and dated. Sofa.com has brought this gorgeous trend to its designs with heritage William Morris prints in luxurious velvets for a modern twist.

To avoid chintz feeling too fussy and overpowering, adopt a soft pastel palette of pinks, peaches and greens to create a more restful vibe. Choose accessories with extra detailing such as ruffles and frills, and embrace large-scale pieces that provide a focal point in a room. A statement wing-backed chair or ornate headboard will bring the impact.

Forget slick, clinical interiors – for 2024, moods are turning to create comfortable spaces that feel lived in. The trend is 'Quiet Luxury' and it’s all about layering fabrics and materials to create texture and depth. “To nail the quiet luxury look, carefully curate a timeless décor through a minimal colour palette of neutrals,” says interior design expert Melissa Denham from Hammonds Fitted Furniture. “Aim for colours such as white, cream, beige and browns, used together with good quality, unique furniture."

To get the quiet luxury look right you need to keep the design simple but layered. Pick textures that complement one another, from fabrics and wood to metallics and tiling, each oozing quality and uniqueness. When it comes to furniture, Melissa Denham at Hammonds Fitted Furniture thinks it’s best to look for individual pieces instead of matching sets. “The more personalised, the better,” she says. “Think uniquely when crafting the design of your room so that it doesn’t look like it’s straight out of a catalogue. Try vintage shopping or choose bespoke pieces with craftsmanship and quality.”

Pantone’s Colour of the Year, Peach Fuzz is a heartfelt hue bringing a feeling of kindness and tenderness, communicating a message of caring and sharing, community and collaboration – everything that we all need right now. At a time when the world is in turmoil with global economic worries, communities broken through war and the environment under threat from climate change, the hue reminds us of togetherness. In kitchens, it creates an inviting ambience for a space that you will want to welcome others into.

You cannot express Pantone’s Colour of the Year more clearly than by hanging paper with hand-drawn motifs of actual peaches on the walls. This gorgeously fruity wallpaper looks stunning when paired with fresh, crisp whites and the subtle warming tones of blonde wood. It's absolutely delightful in a baby’s room, awakening the senses and bringing a nurturing feeling.

You may be thinking that maximalism has had its moment, but this is maximalism take two. "Maximalism 2.0 will be on the map for 2024 with a resurgence of intricate patterns, bold colours and abundant textures," says Gisela Lancaster, head of buying for Sofology. "The maximalism makeover will approach clashes with a contemporary twist, with geometric scatter cushions, graphic curtains, bold wallpaper and bright furniture."

The time to play it safe with grey or beige is definitely over. Maximalism allows you to flex your creative muscles and add your personality to a space however you please. More really is more and for 2024, we’ll see a huge surge in patterned carpets. While the trend for maximalism means filling every inch of the room with colour and pattern, you can afford to keep the rest of your décor fairly neutral when choosing a bold carpet.

Avant Homes, who researched 12 months of TikTok hashtags, confirms that farmhouse style is the clear frontrunner for what's hot for homes – with over 46 million views on the social platform. For 2024, it's about making a contemporary twist. "Homeowners are seeking ways to embrace natural textures while staying current," say Sally and Sarah Wilkie, founders of Home Barn. "The artful combination of pairing different materials brings a fresh new perspective." Try farmhouse woods alongside marble, stone, tile and statement glazing. It's this juxtaposition that brings the look bang up to date.

When creating a farmhouse finish, wooden flooring is the obvious choice. It’s been a staple in homes for centuries and it’s no wonder it’s still so popular today. The twist for 2024 is to use wood-effect tiles – a more robust finish that is slip, scuff and stain resistant and achieves the look of wood without the upkeep that natural timber requires. For an authentic farmhouse look, choose a rustic design.

It’s said that everything goes in circles, and that couldn’t be truer for one of the hottest trends set to drop in 2024. We’re going back to the seventies for a revival that brings joy, style and a bold statement with colour. Rich tan with deep peach, mustard and avocado all work in harmony to create the perfect retro-inspired palette. Back then, seating centred around togetherness and conversation pits were hot-topic – group sofas and armchairs in a mix of textures to achieve a similar arrangement. Go for deep pile rugs, rattan accessories and don't forget the vinyl player.

In kitchens, plain and neutral is out, carving the way for bold and colourful. “Searches for ‘kitschy kitchen’ on Pinterest have increased by 75%,” says Tom Revill, interior designer and co-founder of Plank Hardware. “We’re going to see seventies colours on walls and cabinetry, including punchy orange, avocado green and even mustard yellow. Hardware will take a more playful approach, drawing inspiration from retro shapes." Get ready for tubular-shaped cabinet handles and lots of bobbin motifs.

Green has had a good run on the trend stakes, growing in popularity for kitchens. For 2024, we'll see the colour used more boldly in other rooms with cabinetry, wardrobes and flooring all adopting the much-loved hue. Designs will be more considered with natural finishes such as wood, rattan and wicker being used alongside – giving yet another nod to a bygone 70s era. Choose contemporary finishes and textures to avoid everything looking dated. Wooden slatted walls and handleless cabinets give this scheme the edge.

Laundry rooms used to be a place to shove all the ugly appliances and odd socks that would otherwise be cluttering up your kitchen. But now they're becoming just as much of a design focus as the rest of the home – these once-overlooked spaces have some serious style potential up for grabs. After all, luxe materials such as marble and brass add a touch of much-wanted glamour when doing the washing and ironing.

At the top end of the scale are ultra-bespoke utility spaces in which everything has its right place. Handmade cupboards hide away washing machines, cleaning products and any other unsightly reminders of daily chores. Footwear is stacked neatly on bespoke shoe racks. Any practical products on display have been carefully chosen to fit the premium aesthetic – think a vintage-style feather duster in a country scheme or a streamlined iron tastefully mounted on the wall in a modern laundry room.

Silver is hot on the fashion catwalks and for 2024 will be big news in our homes, too. Not long ago, stainless steel was only found in professional kitchens or the homes of the most committed industrial minimalists as its cold, blank surfaces are too sterile for most people to live with on a daily basis. That could be about to change thanks to a handful of forward-thinking kitchen companies who have begun embellishing their stainless steel units and worktops with patterns, from zigzags and stripes to wood effects and polka dots.

A variety of techniques are being used to create these steel effects, from classic circle brushing to the more futuristic laser etching used by Swedish brand, Stala. While the patterns add character and even playfulness to the metal, an all-over steel kitchen may still be a little too clinical for most. Throw some natural wood and organic curves into the scheme to soften steel’s hard lines and you’ll have a cutting-edge kitchen that’s both inventive and inviting.

A growing focus on sustainability has seen designers and scientists working together to come up with planet-friendly interiors products. Many of them have looked to the natural world for ideas and the result is a thrilling surge of unexpected and inspired homeware. Two leading materials are mycelium lampshades and furniture, which is grown in moulds from the ‘roots’ of fungi, and Solidwool – a composite material a bit like fibreglass but made with the wool of Herdwick sheep.

The leather industry is one of the most environmentally damaging on the planet so it’s perhaps unsurprising that eco-conscious designers have focused their attention on sustainable, vegan alternatives. Pineapple leather – or Piñatex – was first embraced by fashion and is now finding its way into home accessories and furniture. French designer Philippe Starck, meanwhile, has created a furniture collection upholstered in Apple Ten Lork, a vegan leather made from apple cores and skins.

Whether out of necessity or a desire to deliver more flexible ways of living, homes have to work harder today than ever before. Home offices have been squeezing into unexpected nooks since the pandemic, and home improvers are getting increasingly creative in their approach to multi-functional spaces. This could be using portable furniture on wheels that will work as a desk, a kitchen island or a dining table, or bathrooms that double as libraries.

If you’re short of a spare room but have an awkward alcove that you’ve always wondered what to do with, a sleeping nook could solve two problems in one. We expect to see these sneaking into the savviest design schemes in 2024. When you don’t have guests staying, cover it with an attractive throw and some scatter cushions so it can double up as a day bed or reading corner.

Supersized lighting looks set to take over our ceilings. And we’re not just talking chandeliers. Think classic pendant designs blown up on an extreme scale in spaces that you might not expect, such as above a kitchen island. This look may not be for the more traditionally inclined, but it’s certainly a way to create a talking point with your design scheme.

If an enormous pendant feels a bit overwhelming but you’d still like to give oversized lighting a try, go for an airier design that leaves open space between the solid elements but still takes up maximum space. That way you can make a bold statement without blocking sight lines or natural light – especially important if you’re working with a smaller room.

Interior design has become conspicuously more curvaceous over the past couple of years. Perhaps the comfort of soft, undulating lines holds extra appeal during times of uncertainty. Or perhaps a pent-up longing for glamour and excitement has us clamouring for the streamlined shapes of Art Deco – a huge recent style revival. Either way, it’s clear that curves are here to stay but this year we'll move into unexpected places such as round cut-outs in side tables and tubular forms.

Arches, in particular, are springing up all over the place. The arch is a timeless shape that can also look surprisingly modern depending on how you treat it – fill an arched alcove with bold paint or wallpaper and you’ll give a classic scheme instant contemporary flair. Architects are building arches into their designs in the form of doorways, windows and niches, but if remodelling isn’t on your agenda, you can create a similar effect using paint or arch-shaped wall stickers, as shown here.

Natural stone doesn’t have to be plain and neutral. Designers are turning to the rich colours and striking patterns of raw minerals for inspiration, whether it be on walls, floors, ornaments, worktops or even sanitary ware. It’s an opulent look that often comes with a price tag to match, but you can get the same effect for less with stone substitutes. The sink shown here, for example, may look as though it’s been hewn from agate but is actually made of porcelain. 

Several designers are giving nature a helping hand, transforming stone products with brilliant hues. Danish company Made a Mano are taking advantage of lava stone’s ability to be glazed and fired to create hard-working, aesthetically appealing worktops in more or less any colour you can imagine, such as this eye-popping green countertop. If a lava stone worktop is a bit much for your taste or budget, you can incorporate a little bit of the look using tiles instead.

Stained glass isn’t just for Victorian fanlights and churches. Artists are sharing their exciting new takes on coloured glass and shaking up this traditional craft by ditching fussy picture panels in favour of stripped-back, geometric designs. Look out for them in room dividers, shower screens and lighting, as well as in windows and doors. 

If a large stained glass installation is too big a statement or expense, you can still nod to the trend with smaller, decorative stained glass pieces. Mobiles are an obvious match for stained glass, as you can hang them in a spot where they will catch the light and cast a rainbow of abstract shapes around the room.

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