Styles come and go in the world of interior design, and you don’t want your home to be stuck firmly in last season. If you’re looking to upgrade your living space, here are the top trends of autumn 2017.

Warm materials

Cold, white subway tiles have been in fashion for a long time now – but finally, their days are numbered. As the weather cools down, it’s time to inject a little warmth back into our lives. And that means that warm materials like terracotta and cork are back on the menu. Terracotta tiles work well with a matte finish, and you can use them to make a statement by creating a feature wall or cladding your fireplace. But if you want to start small with this trend, just add a few design accessories. You can bring those rustic terracotta pots inside for your house plants, or else invest in one or two lamps with terracotta bases. Just be sure they don’t clash with the colours already in your home.

Meanwhile, cork is all about the texture – and it’s so versatile. Put it down as flooring, turn it into a tabletop, even install it as a wall. It looks great anywhere. Cork is also eco-friendly, and a highly functional material. You can pin all sorts of things to it, from shopping lists to posters, plus it’s great for sound insulation. If you’ve got a loud, open-plan home, a cork feature wall might be just what you need to absorb some of the noise.

Just remember that because these materials are both so warm, you need to balance them out with some cool colours in the rest of your space – especially cool whites and blacks. And because cork is so soft, pair it with some harder textures such as concrete, steel and glass. A cork coffee table base with a stone top would be perfect.

Looking for help with you terracotta tiling?

FIND TILING SERVICES NEAR YOU

Dark timbers

Dark timbers are very much in vogue as far as interior design goes, bringing a deliciously baroque elegance to rooms this year. Blonde woods are finding themselves replaced by darker cabinets, floorboards and kitchen surfaces, so don’t be afraid to indulge your more mysterious side.

If you don’t have the money to completely renovate your space with these dark, rich tones, you can still bring them in with a new side table, coffee table, cabinet, chair or TV unit. Oak wood tends to be quite dark, but you can achieve the look with a good stain. Just be careful about the way you use these items with your existing timbers, as a combination of varied timber finishes can be distracting to the eye and the space. Have a chat to a good interior designer, like Geelong’s Décor by Mira, for tips on how to incorporate your dark timbers into your home.

FIND TIMBER SUPPLIERS NEAR YOU

Green

Rising up like the very grass itself, Greenery was named Pantone’s official colour of 2017. This is being reflected in interior design, with dark green firmly replacing navy as the must-have colour in the home. You can incorporate it in your home by simply painting the walls, or investing in a few statement furniture pieces. It goes beautifully with the terracotta, cork and dark timbers we mentioned before, and creates a deep, cool feeling in any room. It is quite a deep, moody colour though, so ensure you balance it out with some bright whites and sparkling metallics.

If you’ve got a small area and don’t want to swamp it with too much dark colour, green cushions and chair covers are a good place to start. These accent items won’t overwhelm the space, but will still bring a touch of the outdoors in. And while we’re on the topic, the green invasion very much includes house plants too. Plants bring freshness and vitality into any home, and work well to counter the richness of the other materials.

Michelle Broussard of Colour Confidence Interiors has this to say on the subject:

“One of the trends continuing to gain momentum is for the use of greenery within Interior spaces, whether this be actual plants or décor and imagery of plants. This is further consolidated by Pantone Colour Institute’s announcement of their 2017 colour palate of the year: Pantone 15-0343 Greenery.”

You can check out Colour Confidence Interiors’ website here.

Fabric bedheads

Into the bedroom now, where a soft revolution is quietly taking place. Timber bed frames have been all the rage for a long time now, but 2017 is the year that fabric strikes back. It doesn’t have to be anything too extravagant, but a simple, well-designed upholstered bedhead adds a touch of luxury to any bedroom. You’ll feel like you’re staying in a fancy hotel without ever leaving your home!

When it comes to choosing colours and materials, make sure your bedhead matches your existing furniture. It may be tempting to all-in with plush red velvet and gold buttons, but you don’t want it sticking out like a sore thumb in your otherwise simply-styled bedroom. You also can’t have a fancy upholstered bedhead without styling your bed properly. That means saying goodbye to mismatched sheets and setting a colour palette for your bedding (one that matches your bedhead, obviously). Throw on at least four pillows, and a couple of accent cushions in a variety of textures. Then dress the end of your bed with a throw rug and you’re done!

Need help with your bedhead?

GET TIPS FROM AN EXPERT NEAR YOU

Artisanal products

When it comes to furniture and accessories in 2017, “handmade” and “sustainable” are very much the key terms. Think about entertainment units made from old timber sourced from a barn, or a coffee table carved out of the trunk of a single tree. These handmade products have so much more character than an item mass-produced in a factory, and their personal touch will make them a real talking point in your home. However, it’s best to stick to one or two statement pieces, and arrange the rest of your furniture around them. Too many items in too many different handmade styles will look disjointed and chaotic.

If you’re looking for these products, it’s generally best to go direct to the designer. However, independent furniture stores and second-hand shops can yield good results, and you never when you might find something unique and gorgeous for an excellent price. Woven baskets, terracotta pots (of course), embroidered rugs and quirky alternatives to the usual home staples are coming in strong, so don’t be afraid to break the mould (and save some money in the process) this year. An interior designer like DDK Consulting in Palmwoods can help you incorporate them into your existing décor.

If you liked this article, there’s plenty more like it in our home improvement blog. Give it a look!