The Interior Designer's New Year's Resolutions We Could Live By

The Interior Designer's New Year's Resolutions We Could Live By

At Penny Morrison, we’re not one for the trends. A little like fast fashion, ‘fast interior design’ is gradually changing the way we look at our spaces, and how we make these four walls feel like home.

Instead, we’re advocates for individuality – a unique sense of style that allows you to curate the pieces you love, whether they all fit with a defining theme or not. When your home feels like an ode to your own creativity – that’s when things really start to look incredible.

For this reason, we tend to avoid the big ‘revelations’ of interior design. After all, we survived the ‘greyscale everything’ trend of the early 20s, the ‘no big prints’ rule of the 2010s, and the boho renaissance of the 00s. While we’re happy to gather inspiration along the way, our hearts lie with beautiful craftsmanship, high-quality materials, and sustainable, slow production methods – and, ultimately, with never purging our home’s design.

Then again, there are some ‘resolutions’ we can embrace in 2023.

Shop for spaces

We know how it goes. You’re browsing the shelves or your favourite sites, come across something you can’t possibly walk away from, then get it home only to find yourself wandering from room to room, looking for the right space to house it.

That is, after all, part of having a beautiful home – those little collections of pieces chosen purely for their beauty.

But, as a rule of thumb, shopping for the little gaps on your shelves (or, for furniture, on the floor) is very useful. That doesn’t mean you can’t be overcome by love for a little curio, but that, in 2023, giving the shopping sprees as much structure as possible is a great, low-effort way to get (and keep) the house organised.

Keep things light

No, this isn’t us embracing minimalism. Instead, we’re talking about the lighting in your space – or, specifically, the power it has to transform a quiet corner, a forgotten feature, or a space for which you’ve run out of ideas and inspiration.

We write about ways to illuminate your space a lot, and how important it is to suffuse the house with decorative lighting pieces. Not only do they create plenty of focal points, but they also help you to avoid that flat, one-note vibe of a room lit only by the overheads.

If a space or corner of the room is looking low on intrigue then, before you start reorganising the room or filling it with décor, try introducing a lamp – play around with the brightness and warmth of the bulb you use – and see how big of a difference it can make.

Don’t put down, put away

You’ve likely heard this one before – and had it ringing in your ears every time you think about putting something down rather than tidying it away.

The premise is very simple, even if it’s tricky to master: if you’re holding something (a piece of paper, your keys, a book, a mug) then, instead of putting it down (which we’re all prone to sometimes), make yourself put it away instead.

While it may sound obvious, embracing the ‘don’t put it down, put it away rule’ is actually a great way to cut down on clutter, and avoid those mess-prone spots (the kitchen table, the coffee table, the bottom stair on the staircase) from accumulating random stuff throughout a busy week.

This rule is also known as the One Touch Rule, and, while it’s not an interior design trick per se, it’s a great way to make your rooms feel more organised and better styled without making any big changes to the space.

Be inspired, not influenced

Creativity always depends on a certain amount of inspiration. Whether you’re decorating one room of your house, or you’re a professional interior designer with an entire hotel’s worth of rooms to put together, no ideas are formed in a vacuum.

There is, however, a world of difference between feeling inspired and feeling influenced. The latter has grown in prevalence significantly over the past few years and, right now, it’s reaching a boiling point. From social media to sites like Pinterest, what used to be a source of inspiration is gradually turning into something a lot more powerful, and anyone could be forgiven for falling into this trap.

The great news is there’s always a way out – a way to embrace timeless interior design rather than trends. Online influence drives us to buy and throw-away things in a fast-moving cycle, but that cycle can stop any time. The key is to get back to you – to focus on what you love, and what you want to surround yourself with, rather than what is staged and photographed well enough to nab your heart for a few months.