While fashions come and go, these foundation styles simply evolve from year to year. Invest in them and your home will never look out of date
Combine energising pattern with a mix of tactile materials for this eclectic look. Try it with mid-century furniture, add elegance with smooth, dark woods, or create a Wild-West feel with weathered wood and leather.
Add urban elements
Give a global look an urban edge with touches of reclaimed wood, metallic highlights and concrete grey accessories.
Patagonia wallpaper, £23 per roll; Flores tray-top side table in grey, £199; both John Lewis. LPU1622 Dominicano Oak Natural laminate flooring, £29.49 per sq m, Largo collection, Quick-Step. Coast three-seater sofa in Cloud Combination, £998; Coast armchair in Cloud Combination, £648; all French Connection range, DFS. Sunshine coffee table, £495, Loaf. Large Finn ladder bookcase, £395; Inti Design wall art, £225, Lombok. On sofa Cushions, from left: made in Zahira Caribou, £63 per m; made in Tremont Henna, £62.50 per m; made in Zahira Caribou, as before; made in Zahira Mango, £63 per m, Romo.
The perfect room recipe:
■ Woven and printed folk patterns
■ Simple upholstery
■ Non-matching, eclectic mix of furniture
■ Artisan art and ceramics
■ Splashes of bright, earthy colour
■ Wire and concrete pieces
An ocean colour scheme
Capture the spirit of a Greek island in a dining room with a tie-dye-effect wallpaper and a palette of ocean blues. Smarten up the look with walnut furniture and crisp white accessories.
Wallpaper, Demeter Stripe, £54 per roll, Harlequin range, Wallpaper Direct; for similar cushions try Indigo Shibori cushions, £64.95, Decorator’s Notebook or Bayac Ikat print cushion, £14, La Redoute; for similar sideboard try Mallini Spice Maker sideboard, £549, Myakka.
Take it to the Wild West
Go for an informal feel in a family room with mismatched furniture and a versatile, brick effect wallpaper rather than a traditional pattern on the walls
Wallpaper, Bricks 226706, £12, Albany range, Wallpaper Direct; Spitalfields shelving unit, £299.99, Dunelm; Kelim squares rug, £200, Smug; Caruso sofa, £1575, Barker & Stonehouse; Contemporary footstool with charcoal legs, £330, The Dormy House, covered in Mohawk fabric, £93 per m, Osborne & Little; cushions from left: Teal Arrows cushion, £35, Holly’s House; for similar pattern cushions try Kilim cushions from £24.95, Myakka; Tufted Arrow cushion, £15, George Home; Wall art Extra Large Cheveaux art print in Natural Ash frame, £119, King & McGaw.
