The Return of the Statement Home: Why Plain Interiors Are On The Way Out

For a while there, it felt as though everybody’s house was slowly turning the same colour.

 

Beige walls. Beige sofas. Cream boucle chairs. A carefully positioned vase containing three wispy branches. Perhaps a tasteful coffee-table book that nobody had actually read.

 

Thankfully, homes with personality are making a comeback – and at Skinny Pig, we are very much here for it.

 

Your home doesn’t have to look like everybody else’s

One of the biggest shifts we’re seeing in interiors is a move away from decorating purely to follow a particular aesthetic.

 

Instead, we’re filling our homes with things that actually say something about us.

 

Colour is returning. Pattern is returning. Interesting lighting, fabulous wall decorations, unusual ornaments and things that are simply there because they make us smile are returning too.

 

And perhaps most importantly, we’re becoming a little less worried about whether everything matches.

 

Because the most interesting homes rarely do.

 

Enter the statement piece

You don’t need to redecorate an entire room to give it personality.

 

Sometimes all it takes is one slightly unexpected thing.

 

A gloriously oversized wall decoration. An unusual lamp. A fabulous animal ornament sitting somewhere it probably shouldn’t. A quirky candle holder on an otherwise sensible mantelpiece.

 

These are the pieces that make somebody walk into a room and say:

“Oh, I LOVE that. Where did you get it?”

And frankly, those are our favourite sort of things.

 

Collected beats coordinated

There is something wonderfully comforting about a home that looks as though it has evolved over time.

 

The best rooms often contain a mixture of things: something new alongside something vintage, a treasured hand-me-down next to a slightly ridiculous ornament you bought because you couldn’t resist it.

 

Not everything needs to belong to the same range.

 

Your bedside tables don’t have to match. Your picture frames don’t need to be identical. Your cushions don’t need to have been purchased as a perfectly coordinated set.

 

In fact, a few things being slightly off can be exactly what gives a room character.

 

Think collected rather than coordinated.

 

Don’t be frightened of a bit of colour

After years of neutrals dominating our Instagram feeds, richer colours are finding their way back into our homes.

 

That doesn’t mean you need to immediately paint your living room bright orange.

 

Unless you want to, obviously. In which case, we salute you.

 

Colour can come from much smaller additions: a lamp, a picture, a candle, a colourful glass vase or an unexpected decorative object.

 

Even against a completely neutral backdrop, one bold piece can change the feel of a room.

 

Embrace the slightly ridiculous

This may be our favourite decorating rule - every home needs something that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

 

• Perhaps it’s an animal wearing a crown.
• A pair of hands sticking out of the wall.
• A wonderfully kitsch ornament.
• A candle holder that’s far more flamboyant than any candle holder reasonably needs to be.

 

These pieces aren’t necessarily practical. They don’t need to be. They have one job: to make your home more interesting. And if they make you smile every time you walk past them, even better.

 

Give people something to discover

Personality doesn’t always have to shout.

 

Some of the best quirky interiors reveal themselves slowly.

 

A tiny trinket dish on a bedside table. An unusual hook tucked into the hallway. A funny little ornament sitting amongst a pile of books. Something unexpected on the downstairs loo wall.

 

Those small details are often what make a house memorable.

 

They’re also a brilliant way to experiment if you’re not quite ready to embrace full-blown maximalism.

 

Start small.

 

You can always get weirder later.

 

The new maximalism isn’t about clutter

There is, of course, a fine line between a beautifully collected home and wondering whether you’ve accidentally opened a branch of a jumble sale.

 

The secret is editing.

 

Choose things you genuinely love. Give your favourite pieces enough room to be noticed. Mix heights, textures, colours and shapes rather than simply filling every available surface.

 

And every now and again, move things around.

 

It’s amazing how different an ornament can look when it moves from a crowded shelf to a little table where it gets to be the star of the show.

 

Ultimately, forget the rules

Trends can be brilliant for inspiration, but your home isn’t a showroom.

 

It doesn’t need to appeal to everyone. It needs to appeal to you. 

 

So hang the strange thing on the wall. Buy the ridiculous ornament.

 

Mix old with new. Put pink with red. Hang three different mirrors together. Display something that has absolutely no purpose whatsoever other than the fact that you love looking at it.

 

Because the homes we remember aren’t necessarily the most perfectly designed ones.

 

They’re the ones that tell us something about the people who live there.

 

And if your house makes somebody raise an eyebrow occasionally?

 

We’d say you’re probably doing it right.

 

Love a home with a little more personality? Have a browse through Skinny Pig Interiors for quirky home accessories, statement pieces and wonderfully unexpected finds to make your home feel like yours.