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Your choice of flooring sets the stage for your entire interior, impacting both the aesthetics and practicality of each room. From the cosy warmth of a carpeted living room to the sleek elegance of natural stone in a modern kitchen, the right flooring can improve your space in countless ways.

It’s important to consider the unique needs of each room when selecting your flooring. What works well in a living room may not be suitable for a high-traffic kitchen or a moisture-prone bathroom. And while style is important, it’s crucial to match the flooring to the overall look and feel you want to achieve. A flooring option that enhances a contemporary modern home may clash with the rustic charm of a farmhouse kitchen.

To help you navigate the vast array of options available, we’ve detailed a few popular choices below:

 

Whitehall Flagstones | Old Parlour

Natural Stone Flooring: Timeless and durable, natural stone flooring adds a touch of sophistication to any space. Its versatility allows it to complement both modern and traditional interiors, while its resilience makes it ideal for high-traffic areas.

 

Mandarin Stone | Berlin Collection

Porcelain Tiles: Porcelain tiles are a practical choice for those seeking durability and easy maintenance at a more affordable price point. With advancements in technology, modern porcelain tiles can convincingly replicate the beauty of natural materials.

 

Whitehall flagstone flooring | Engineered oak

Engineered Wood Flooring: Combining the warmth and charm of wood with enhanced stability, engineered wood flooring is a favourite among homeowners. Its compatibility with underfloor heating and lower susceptibility to warping makes it a practical option for various environments.

 

Carpet: Loved for its comfort and acoustic benefits, carpet remains a timeless choice for bedrooms, living rooms, and other cosy spaces. Despite the rise of hard surface flooring, the warmth and softness of carpet continue to appeal to many homeowners.

 

When selecting flooring for your home, consider not only its visual impact but also its practicality and longevity. By choosing the right flooring for each space, you can create a home that is both beautiful and functional, reflecting your unique style and personality. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the choices, we are here to help. Whether you are updating a single room or whole house, our designers know the best options in the market to ensure you have the best product to suit your budget.

If you find yourself inundated with options, rest assured, our team is here to assist you. Whether you’re revamping a single room or undertaking a full-house renovation, our experienced designers ensure you find the perfect product to fit your needs and budget.

Are you feeling both excited and overwhelmed at the prospect of embarking on a new renovation project? Or perhaps you’re eager to update your home but unsure of where to even begin. Fear not, because we understand the mix of emotions that can accompany such endeavours, and we’re here to help!

When you choose to collaborate with us, we take the stress out of your project. Whether you’re undertaking a full-scale renovation or simply refreshing a single room, the frequent questions from tradespeople and the vast array of product choices can quickly become overwhelming.

Many people dive headfirst into the process, focusing solely on paint colours and furnishings, only to realise that understanding the layout of a space is paramount. Fortunately, that’s where we excel. We’re here to streamline your home project, making the entire process enjoyable once again. From assisting with 2D plans to providing comprehensive project management, we’re with you every step of the way to ensure the end result aligns perfectly with your vision.

Here are just a few ways in which we can lend a helping hand:

1. Say goodbye to endless online scrolling—we’ll handle the heavy lifting for you. Simply share your inspiration and ideas, and we’ll create a detailed mood board complete with samples to help you refine the look and feel of your space. Upon request, we can even transform this into a stunning 3D visual, allowing you to see your space in photo-realistic quality.
2. Are you and your partner at odds with different design ideas and styles? Or perhaps you’re both feeling a bit lost and uncertain about where to begin. Rest assured, we specialise in bridging the gap between differing tastes, creating a cohesive design scheme that satisfies both parties.
3. We can produce detailed technical drawings for your own builders and contractors, ensuring every aspect meets your expectations. Whether it’s reviewing your electrical plan to confirm the placement of sockets, light switches, or pendant lights, we leave no stone unturned. Or we can appoint our own team of contractors and manage the whole project for you. This way we take responsibility for everything….minimising stress for you.
4. As construction commences, tradespeople will inevitably have questions and require prompt answers. Fear not—we’re here to assist and oversee the project, ensuring that the work progresses swiftly and to the highest standards.

 

If this sounds like the stress-free solution you’ve been seeking, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Your dream home awaits, and we’re here to make it a reality!

Before we embark on this style journey, we want to emphasise that we don’t suggest a complete overhaul of your space. Think of this roundup as a curated exploration of trends to draw inspiration for your future projects. 

 

Earthy Elegance

Jitney No.293, Farrow and Ball

For a calming, relaxed, and welcoming interior, earthy or nature-inspired tones are taking over. Tan, taupe, light pinks, and light greys are great options.

In previous years, everything was very grey, but now it’s much warmer. Beige and brown are on the up, along with muddy colours that have a calmness to them—think earthy colours with less vibrancy and more richness.

Farrow & Ball’s “Jitney,” reminiscent of a buttery taupe, emanates soulful charm. Soft dusty pinks are also making a notable appearance. Dulux have announced ‘Sweet Embrace’ as their colour of the year 2024. While being a beautiful standalone colour, it’s a hue that matches perfectly with many other shades.

 

Bouclé Is Here to Stay

Oliver sofa, Soho Home

Bouclé remains a timeless choice, although evolving with thicker piles and diverse colour palettes. It’s a classic and always adds a beautiful texture to a room—you don’t want to do an entire room in bouclé, but we’ll never get tired of it on a feature sofa. Discover this trend by exploring the statement Oliver sofa in Boucle, available at @sohohome

 

Texture trumps gloss

Old plaster pink, Bauwerkcolour

Plain white walls are still out of fashion, but bid farewell to high gloss walls. The trends are leaning towards textured finishes such as Roman clay, limewash, or hand-tooled plaster for a more tactile and artisanal feel. Dive into this earth-inspired approach and explore @bauwerkcolour. They manufacture paints by utilising a simple elemental cycle of earth, fire, water and air. Their paints work differently, as they are made with clay, minerals and beautiful natural pigments.

 

Chrome

Ledbury pendant, Fritz Fryer

Chrome is not a new material in the home – it has a near-permanent presence in bathrooms and kitchens – but this resurgence sees chrome softened and curved into fluid and organic shapes.

Brass and matt black lighting has dominated the shops for a while but stainless steel, aluminium, chrome and nickel are back in a big way. Silver suddenly feels very modern again, especially where lighting is concerned.

 

Curves and edges 

Lisbon Dining Table, Heal’s

In recent years, curves have become a dominant force in design, gracing everything from furniture to sculptures. This trend shows no signs of fading; instead, we see this trend evolving into new forms within the home, such as archways, hallways and furniture. While softer lines and organic shapes within architecture are popular, we anticipate the emergence of more blocky, squared, traditional shapes in furniture.

Having decided to undertake a renovation, uplift or improve your home, knowing where to start to can be a little daunting.

Some people who come to us, will pin hundreds of pictures on a Pinterest board and then lose sight of the direction that they originally wanted to go in.

The foundation for a successful scheme is creating a tight brief and clear vision for your rooms. Start your design project by asking yourself how you want the room to feel and function. Creating a mood board to help gather ideas and inspiration is a great way to do this.

Creating mood boards is much more than just choosing a look. You will need to source images that inspire, excite and actually tie down how you want the room to feel. Sometimes inspiration for this can be a fabric, artwork or something from nature.

Once you have your ‘hero images’, it’s time to start curating your individual scheme. You need to choose your ‘red threads’ : These are the colours, metals and accents that will make a varying appearance in each room. This is the foundation for creating a cohesive scheme where each room flows beautifully from one to the next and unites the overall scheme.

To create a colour palette, start with a single core colour that you love and then work your way through samples to see what else sits well with it. With the first core colour chosen, we recommend choosing 2 more core colours, which can be used in varying shades to sit alongside your neutrals. These core colours can be incorporated into each room with paint, fabrics or accessories

Then you can start adding in your metals, fabrics, flooring etc. Collecting samples and tester pots is vital to ensuring your interior turns out as you pictured it.

Monnow Interiors has years of experience working with clients to develop, curate and envision what their dream home could look like.  We help them move from that initial Pinterest Board, to a mood board and finally a stunning interior.

If you need help with your interior design project email us at hello@monnowinteriors.com

With the ability to access thousands of designs, inspiration and shops at the click of a button, it can be easy to get lost among the endless possibilities. The best interior design books, on the other hand, offer readers a portal to a refined and hand-picked selection of inspiration, advice and images from the best in the industry.

 

Matt Gibberd: A modern way to live

From his years of design experience, Matt realised that many spaces have been designed using similar principles: A focus on space, light, materials, nature and decoration. Including practical tips, such as how to bring more light into your home (buy a longer curtain pole than require so you can fully open the curtains and maximise the light). This book will have you rethinking and rearranging your space without spending a fortune.

Buy Matt’s book on Amazon here

Kate Watson-Smyth: Mad about the house, planner

If you’re wanting to revamp your home but are not sure where to start, this book will give you all the design tools used by experts. This book is a step-by-step guide, from sketching floor plans to choosing colour. Her other books are also great for helping you see through your ideas from conception to completion.

Find out more about Kate’s book here

Athena Calderone: Live Beautiful

In this book, Athena Calderone delves into a hand-picked selection of interiors, exploring how creative experts carefully craft their interiors and how they come together. She breaks down the details of the rooms, such as layered textures, and patterns, and offers helpful tips on how to bring these into your home.

Buy Athena’s book here

Abigail Ahern: Everything

If you are a “more is more” enthusiast, this book is for you. Otherwise known as Maximalism in the industry, Abigail Ahern reveals all when it comes to beautiful colour pallets, luxurious textures and embellishment. Breaking away from the outdated white, modern and simple interiors, this book is all about how to express your personality and make your home a place you never want to leave.

Find Abigail’s book on Amazon here

As trends come and go, there are some which we will be quietly quitting this year! However, if a particular design trend works for you and makes your house a home, stay true to your style.

As we move away from fast fashion, we suggest creating spaces that reflect our way of living and the things that we love. William Morris once said:  “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful”.  We do agree with this to an extent, but there are trends on their way out, and we hope they fade away.

Greige

The greige needs to go.  As we try to take better care of our health and well-being, perhaps give some thought to how your interior can affect your mood? Grey de-saturated spaces could be preventing you from putting your own stamp on your home, and spaces can feel uninspiring and cold. For inspiration, take a look at our Instagram to see how to start being bold and experimenting with colour @monnowinteriors.

Open plan living

We have been focused on knocking down walls to give us more space but sometimes the only thing we achieve is more floor space. Although we don’t see the open floor plan trend disappearing anytime soon, the functionality of a room can be lost when walls are taken down.

We would always recommend starting your project with a floor plan. This is the key tool to help visualize how people will move through the space and how it will be used. Not to mention, sometimes the smaller spaces are the coziest in a home.

Some of the other design crimes we see on our feed, are curtains that are a bit too short, and their detriment on the proportions of a room. Or radiators left in the stark standard factory white, or the shower curtain that sticks to you as you get out of the bath.

If you want to find out how to make a space unique, and avoid falling into the trap of hyper-obsessed trends, give us a call!

Starting from scratch on a new build or renovation can be scary. With so much to think about, lighting can easily get overlooked. Yet it’s vital as it controls the look, feel and atmosphere of your space. Not only this, but lighting can also play a part in the ease or frustration of your day-to-day life. Nothing is worse than trying to work in a room with poor light or the light switch being in the wrong place. A lighting plan helps solve these problems and ensures you make the most of your interior spaces.

When it comes to creating a lighting scheme, you need to think about the following:

• How do you use the room?
• Are the fittings and light switches in the right place?
• Do the fittings enhance the room or make an impact?
• What’s the best type of fitting to use in different areas?

Ceiling lights, wall-mounted lights, lamps, lamp shades, different types of lightbulbs and wattage can influence a room’s atmosphere and colour spectrum by giving out different intensities and angles of light. Consider creating ‘zones’ in your home by having lighting circuits switched separately so you can make the most of your different lights tailored to how and when you use the room. For instance, your overhead ceiling lights can be on a separate switch from your wall lights and lamps. You need your kitchen to be bright and practical when cooking, but when friends and family come round on an evening you want to create a more relaxing and homely feel.

An interior designer or lighting designer knowledgeable in creating lighting schemes can add interest and depth to each of your rooms as well as ensure your fittings and switches are in the best place for your use of the space.

Good lighting adds depth, creating cosy spots, illuminating task areas and drawing attention to the most impressive features of your room. All at the flick of a well-placed light switch!

 

Image featuring Hay Coolie pendant with white glass from Fritz Fryer

As we enter a new year it’s exciting to look at the colour forecasts and predict what we may see emerging throughout the year. Colour is one of the most effective, affordable and quickest ways to express yourself.

The most significant trends we have identified are reminiscent of nourishing sunset hues and reproducing colours we see in nature. We think it’s about time to say goodbye to the cold greys and start exploring hues that radiate warmth.

The colours of 2023 are deep green, rich reds, warm neutrals and plaster pinks.

We’ve seen a spike in the use of greens in interiors over the past few years and we don’t see this going away anytime soon. Jumping on this trend, Coat Paints have added a new green this year called Hello Vera, a pale and fresh green with grey undertones. It seems we are still craving the connection to the outdoors. Adding green to our interiors evokes a feeling of balance, calmness and being grounded.

Graham and Brown’s colour of the year, Alizarin, is a rich red that adds warmth and depth to your interior. We expect the deep reds to soar in popularity as people step out of their comfort zone and experiment with more expressive colour choices. Moody reds are ideal for creating an inviting interior, adding depth and a cocooning effect to smaller rooms or a feeling of luxury to larger rooms.

Neutrals with undertones of yellow and gold, add natural warmth. This is why we weren’t surprised when Dulux released ‘Wild Wonder’ as their colour of the year. They describe it as a ‘positive, glowing tone inspired by the natural world.’

We are also seeing an increase in the popularity of plaster pinks. With the release of Farrow and Ball’s 11 new colours, Templeton Pink in particular has become incredibly popular. As we step away from the greys, this neutral pink adds a historical feeling, versatility and playfulness to our homes. Soft pinks can be used as an accent to bolder colours or used on their own, creating a wonderful subdued backdrop.

The trends and forecasts of this year are a call to courage, an invitation to experiment and connect.

 

Image featuring Graham & Brown’s colour of the year, Alizarin.