Design trends for 2025
We can hardly believe it but 2025 is just around the corner.
Whilst staying true to our heritage is deeply ingrained in what we do and the natural world is a constant source of inspiration, we’re still here for a good trend.
Trends come and go so we always look for ones that we think have a bit of staying power and align to our own design values. Decorum stands for beautiful, thoughtfully created pieces that are always of the highest quality and bring real joy into the homes our customers. If we feel that an idea or design doesn’t live up to those ideals then it doesn’t pass the test.
With that in mind we’ve put together 6 trends for the year ahead that we think will add real pizzazz and happiness to any project or renovation you might be working on.
Soothing Minimalism
One trend that never seems to fade is minimalism. Some years that’s defined as strict, stripped back living with no frills, extras or adornments of any kind. Some years it softens into slow living with neutral palettes. This year’s interpretation is definitely at the mellower end of minimalism – we’ve seen it called ‘cosy minimalism’ or ‘soothing minimalism’. It’s about creating an oasis in your home, rather than a temple of perfection.
The emphasis here is on simple designs beautifully done, with texture rather than colour being the main event. Think cosy knitted blankets, smooth wooden floors, fine linen tableware and, of course, the perfect tactile tiles.
As all our tiles are hand decorated, they all have a unique finish. The colours on our Plain Sailing and Arc tiles are applied using a sponge, so have a very slightly bobbly, rough texture to them. Our plain tiles have a lovely, smooth uneven to them whilst you can feel the outline of the images on our painted designs.
Biophilic design
We had to look it up too. It means nature based or nature inspired design. “Direct” biophilic design using materials straight out of the natural world – trees, grass, fresh air – whilst “indirect” biophilic design uses natural colours, images of nature and organic shapes.
Homes and Gardens puts it perfectly when they say that “this trend centres around bringing the outdoors inside, creating spaces that foster a stronger connection with nature”. We’re all for that. Our homes might protect us from the elements, but fresh air, greenery and natural light are all proven to be essential to our wellbeing.
As we researched this trend we realised that much of what we do has been deeply biophilic all along – whether we knew it or not. Whether it’s our Delft motifs of the landscapes around us, our more detailed images of exotic leaves or our colourful Cornish meadow flowers, we’ve always sought to bring a breath of fresh air into our designs – and your home!
Black
This is one that has been developing for a while and seems to have found its feet as we come to the end of the year.
Paint brand Lick recently launched its collaboration with make up legends M◦A◦C - a jet black matt paint inspired by the 40th anniversary of M◦A◦C ‘s founding and its famously black branding. Bible of all things interior design Elle Décor has come up with no less than 37 ways to use black paint in your home and a further 15 ways to create a black ceiling.
It’s an aesthetic that certainly isn’t for the faint hearted – but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to have a bit of fun with. You might shy away from a completely black room (and we’re with you!) but adding black to your colour scheme with lighter touches is a gorgeous way to enjoy this darkest of shades.
Colour
Along with Black, colour more generally is set to be a thing. Gone are the days of magnolia walls with bright white ceilings and a cream dado rail.
Coined by the paint experts at Farrow and Ball, “drenching” and “double drenching” are now firmly established in the interior designers dictionary. Colour drenching is the process of painting an entire space in one colour (floors, walls, ceiling, woodwork – everything) whilst double drenching is also painting everything in sight, but this time in different colours within the same colour palette. Think teal with aquamarine, or sage green with a lighter grassy green.
Our geometric tiles are nothing if not colourful. We always love to receive an order of really punchy satsuma Arcs or deep blue midnight Signal. And our newly launched Plain Sailing collection is our first range of full colour tiles.
Whimsy
We love this one! We’ve seen it put a few ways – “eccentric”, “unexpected”, “individual” or “eclectic”, but we like “whimsy” best.
Our interpretation of this trend is of touches here and there that remind you to smile. That just lighten the day a little bit in a quirky or original way. Key to this is that a whimsical space evolves over time – it’s guided by the ornaments and trinkets you come across and fall in love with. It’s about adding to or rearranging things as they come along rather than any hard and fast rules about how it should look from day 1.
We think we’ve absolutely hit the mark here with our Bloom range. With its cheerful, not quite matching colours and free flowing paintwork, you really have no choice but to enjoy them.
Artisanal
Something we wrote about in our 2024 trends blog but luckily for us it’s here to stay! We’re artisanal everything.
The artisanal trend continues to focus on vintage sourced furniture and hand made, one of a kind pieces. The idea is to make your home a unique reflection of the things you love – rather than a cut and paste version of the latest interior design fashions. We have always hand decorated every tile we’re sold and will continue to make painting and decorating ‘the old fashioned’ way key to what we do.
It’s wonderful to see that slower, more thoughtful ways to produce and sell homeware (and anything else for that matter) is becoming more and more normalised rather than something a bit fringe or unusual.
