Interior design trends for 2022: Stylish ways to give your home a boost

*Lead image ©Dulux

Your home should be a space that is entirely tailored to you – a reflection of how you live your day-to-day life. This means choosing fittings and decor that match your personality and that you will find a pleasure to live with. But while personal taste and practicality are often key to styling your home, it’s also a good idea to keep up with the hottest trends in interior design to make your home a truly inspirational living space. 

New home trends are constantly emerging, they can be a brilliant source of ideas and might just send you in a decor direction you might not have considered before. Some interior trends that are currently cropping up are entirely new concepts, while others have been doing the rounds for a couple of years now but show no sign of dipping in the popularity stakes.  

Here, we round up the biggest interior styling trends as we approach 2022, from kitchen and bathroom design tips, to colour and flooring must-haves…

Top 5 interior design colour trends for 2022

It’s important to remember that when it comes to interior styling, colour trends do not have to be restricted to wall paint. If you like a colour but are not feeling brave enough to splash it all over your walls, consider introducing it in smaller doses – with decorative accessories or soft furnishings, for example. If you are looking to give your home a fresh lick of paint, then these are the on-trend colours to look out for in 2022: 

Top 10 kitchen trends for 2022

If you’re planning on fitting a new kitchen, be sure to include some of 2022’s top kitchen trends in your design: 

1. Kitchen units in bold colours such as charcoal, burgundy, forest green and navy. 

2. Second-hand kitchens or ex-display kitchens – cheaper and more eco-friendly than buying new. 

3. Marble worktops, splashbacks, upstands and end panels. 

4. Smart appliances, such as boiling water taps. 

5. Units with mesh-covered fronts. 

6. Brass fittings, including taps, unit handles and even splashbacks. 

7. Drawer appliances. 

8. A mix of fitted and freestanding kitchen units. 

9. Oversized pendant lighting. 

10. Larder-style units incorporating appliances and even workstations.  

The hottest flooring trend for 2022

One of the biggest home trends of 2022 is for parquet flooring. Parquet flooring is made up of blocks of solid timber and is often laid in a herringbone pattern. It can be expensive and is also time-consuming to lay – but it looks fantastic. Thankfully, there are other, more cost-effective and easy-to-install alternatives, including engineered parquet and panels of timber flooring that give the appearance of traditional parquet but are much simpler to lay. You could also consider luxury vinyl tiles (LVT) – many of the parquet effect tiles are highly realistic.

Top 10 bathroom trends for 2022

Pay attention to the interior scheme and your bathroom design has the power to transform this space from a purely functional room to one that can provide a restful retreat. Here are the hottest bathroom design trends for 2022: 

1. Natural materials, such as timber and stone. 

2. Plenty of green shades introduced through tiles, wall colour, accessories and plants. 

3. Marble finishes. 

4. Shower panels instead of tiles (no more grout lines to clean). 

5. Metal-framed shower enclosures (think Crittal-style windows). 

6. Tiles laid in a herringbone pattern on walls and floors. 

7. Pastel pinks and blues. 

8. Freestanding statement basins. 

9. Wall lights as opposed to one unflattering overhead light. 

10. Wallpaper – you heard it right, wallpaper in the bathroom. Just be sure to choose a moisture-resistant product recommended for use in wet areas. 

Interior spaces

For many, the way we use our homes and the layouts that are best suited to our needs has changed in the last year or so, and with more of us now working from home this is set to continue into 2022. People are increasingly looking to maximise space for home offices – making loft conversions and garage conversions hugely popular. By using the existing footprint of the house, they are both more cost effective than extensions.  

Another interior space trend showing no signs of going anywhere soon is for ‘broken plan’ spaces. These types of layouts differ from open plan spaces in that they use flexible room dividers, changes in floor level and internal bifold, sliding and French doors to break spaces up into zones without any walls blocking light or making the spaces feel smaller.