Interior Design Trends 2024: Colour, Curves and a Retro Revival (2024)

Coco Chanel famously said that fashion changes, but style endures. As much as we’d like to believe that our wardrobe and our home’s interiors are timelessly (and effortlessly) chic, it’s very hard not to follow fashion. Interior decorating trends are constantly emerging and evolving, and most of us want our spaces to feel relatively ‘now’, not dated. What was good for the mid-noughties isn’t great for 2024.

But how do you keep up to date with interior design trends without being a slave to fashion? And how do you select furniture, finishes, fixtures, soft furnishings and so on without replacing them every few years? It’s a quandary!

“By keeping true to yourself — trust your own vision to deliver a space specifically for you and not everyone else,” advises interior architect Cassandra Walker. “Using natural materials wherever possible will also provide a far more timeless space than momentary human-made materials. We only need to look to Europe for its love of natural materials and timeless buildings.”

“Trends come and go,” says interior designer, Anna-Carin McNamara. “I feel we’ve had enough of the Nanna-chic maximalism, and we’re coming back to what I love — which is a bit more austere, minimal, clean and classic.”

The good news is, the key interior design trend we predicted in 2023 — ‘you do you’ — is here to stay. Whether your style is minimal, maximalist, eclectic or classic, your interiors don’t need to be perfect.

“The interior design trend of the ‘individual’ will become even stronger,” reckons Lauren Li, principal of Sisalla Interior Design. “This is a time when you can share what you love on TikTok or Instagram and there will be an audience that will love it. There is more room for a broad range of styles to be existing at once.”

In other words, anything goes. Buy what you love. And if you need any inspiration, here are five interior design trends that are sure to dominate your Pinterest feed in 2024.

What interior design ideas will be trending in 2024?

1. Colour drenching is key

Pick a colour, any colour… then add swathes of it to a room. Colour drenching — the art of covering every surface (or most surfaces if you’re gun-shy) with the same hue — emerged last year-ish and is expected to stick around in 2024.

In terms of which colours are likely to be trending, expect warm colours such as ruddy browns, mellow yellows, clay-type pinks (Pantone named Peach Fuzz the Colour of the Year for 2024) and every shade of blue. Olive green isn’t going anywhere. It’s nature-inspired but a little bit retro.

“I predict that we will see the popular ‘beige-fluencer’ earthy aesthetic merge with bright colours for a more relaxed and playful ‘lived-in’ look,” says Lauren.

If you’re brave enough to colour-drench, try mixing up the shades of your chosen hue in a room. While you can apply it anywhere, this trend works well in bedrooms and formal living or dining rooms — non-open-plan spaces that emerged as another trend during COVID-19 lockdowns, by the way.

Tip: bet on red

“I’m not sure if the world is ready for this, but tomato red is emerging as a colour we are going to see a lot more of,” says Lauren. “We’ve seen hints of red used in furniture, fabrics, artwork and rugs, from the classic red of the Red Carimate Carver Chair by Vico Magistretti to contemporary pieces by HAY in Denmark. Red gives a space a bolt of energy and it’s coming on strong.”

2. Curves continue to smooth over interiors

If the studio bathroom reveals on The Block 2023 are anything to go by, curves aren’t just a fleeting trend. Organic arches, waves and rounded edges are being increasingly applied to ceilings, walls, doorways, niches, kitchen benchtops and furniture. They take the edge off traditionally hard and square-set building materials… literally.

“Curves don’t seem to be going anywhere,” says Cassandra. “But I recommend being mindful of how they are included. Avoid just throwing curves in here and there for the sake of the trend.” Instead, she advises, looking at the architecture first to see if and how curves can be incorporated seamlessly into your interiors.

Lauren believes we’ll continue to see softer waved-shaped furniture, such as coffee tables in organic ‘blob’ shapes and irregular rugs — which loosen up a space — but that the wiggly line has expired. “The Ultrafragola mirror is a stunning piece, however, it has reached saturation point,” she explains. “It set off a ‘wiggly line’ trend that’s been applied to joinery, soft furnishings and (other) mirrors and is now overdone.”

3. Hellenistic revival is set to rock

‘Greece is the word’ predicted Pinterest, and we expect to see more interiors awash with the Hellenistic Revival aesthetic in 2024. It draws inspiration from Ancient Greek (and perhaps Roman) culture and the timeless architecture and interiors of the Mediterranean region that exist today.

An easy way to update your decor is to bring in rustic urns, bowls or platters with pedestal bases, classical busts, plinths or Corinthian columns. Fly the Greek flag and channel the vistas of Santorini with linen tablecloths and napkins in bright blue and white. (Spoiler alert: pops of blue are gonna be big.)

A less easy way to incorporate Hellenistic Revival into your home is with textured walls, Venetian plaster or neo-classical wallpapers, but the result is chic. Greek chic. “Gone are plain white walls and in are natural textured walls, be it matte or polished,” adds Cassandra.

Tip: warm up beige materials

“The earthy tones of a room finished with Venetian plaster, linen, warm wood and stone are still going strong, however, they can feel too serious and restrained,” warns Lauren. “The addition of colour through a yellow-striped vase or green cushion instantly lifts the mood.”

4. Sustainability is here to stay

Sustainability is a ‘trend’ we can all get behind, and this extends to the buy-cheap-buy-twice philosophy. Fast fashion is sooo 2019. “Everyone’s really concerned about longevity and for their materials to last,” explains Anna-Carin. “People increasingly don’t want things they have to maintain or replace later.”

Anna-Carin is a fan of future-proofing: consider how you’ll feel about your finishes or furniture in 10, or even 20, years. “Ask yourself, ‘Do I think I’m still going to love it?’,” she says. Or are you simply trying to be current and fashionable, regardless of whether you like that tile/table/tap?

“I also ask clients to recall how they felt about the items they already own when they bought them. Did they immediately regret it or are they still thankful that they bought those items?” Being thoughtful about your selections will help both your bank balance, in the long term, and the environment — since fewer pieces will wind up in landfill.

5. Retro mashup makes a mark

Torn between the mid-century modern aesthetic, the earthy but disco-infected 70s look and gloriously garish 80s flavour? Stop stressing because you can imbue them all in your interiors. We’re calling it ‘retro mashup’ and essentially this trend is about mixing various styles from the 60s to the 80s, an era that saw frequent and radical changes in design and architecture.

There are no hard-and-fast rules, and you can cherry-pick your favourite colours, vintage furniture and design elements from recent history. Imagine, a richly coloured sunken lounge or chubby sofa (70s), terrazzo floors (80s), a tulip side table (60s) with a mushroom lamp (70s) and a Memphis-style sculpture (80s).

Chrome underpins this look — the silvery metal finish that was prevalent from the post-war era until recent years, when brass, matte black and powder-coated steel shared the mantle. But it’s back, even in non-retro interiors. “There is a lot of chrome appearing in materiality in a unique and warm way,” says Cassandra.

Retro mashup isn’t for the faint of heart, but it will add warmth and colour to your space. Plus, it’ll give you an excuse to hit up second-hand furniture shops and online marketplaces. “Vintage is still going strong with 1970s pieces highly sought-after,” says Lauren. “We’ve moved away from mid-century vintage styles from the 1950s and are looking for more unusual finds. Anything vintage in travertine, chrome or a low-slung sofa from the 70s will continue to be popular.”