Fun novelty interior design is a 2023 trend

A design style in 2023 does not take the home seriously by focusing on fun and novelty.

More people are working from home these days. Therefore, they want the room they work in to lift their mood through bright design.

Fun décor that features bright colours and some oversized pieces is the opposite of the minimal design style popular over the last few years. Fun décor replaces the cool neutral colours of minimal design, with vivid hues and bold patterns.

The fun trend is being influenced by social media with some videos featuring fun décor being watched over a million times. A TikTok video depicting a room with an oversized pencil by influencer called Daniklaric has been seen over eight million times.

To bring the fun style to your home, start with the floor by installing bright coloured carpets. In the Chester and North Wales region, carpet retailers stock bright hued carpets such as those manufactured by Penthouse Carpets. If you don’t want to replace an existing carpet, add one or two brightly coloured rugs instead.

Next, add wall art that features an abundance of colours and patterns. Designer Sophie Collé recommends taking inspiration from surrealist artists like Magritte by adding oversized objects that make no sense in a room. She says:

“There’s something to be said about childhood, how things are larger when you are physically smaller, so keeping that larger-scale ratio when you’re an adult puts you back into that playing-pretend relationship.”

Bear these tips in mind when making important interior design changes in your home.

Making a grand entrance with a luxurious hallway

The hallway is often the first impression of a home, but it is an area that is often overlooked. In a recent article, Salon Privé Magazine urges property owners to transform their hallways and make an impressive statement:

"Giving a home or business a luxurious finish and feel."

A luxurious hallway creates an atmosphere of sophisticated style with features that captivate visitors upon entering. Stunning chandeliers and bold carpets add a sense of opulence and grandeur to the entranceway.

A stylish hall is a combination of lighting, colour and flooring. Carpets and laminate flooring in Chester and North Wales are popular hall floor coverings. Carpets provide a softer surface, but laminate flooring is more practical, especially on wet days when people entering a building drip water on the floor. Laminate flooring is easy to clean, and spills are quickly wiped up. Rugs can be placed on laminate flooring to add a touch of warmth.

Colour is important to the atmosphere of a hallway. Darker, richer tones add a touch of elegance. On the other hand, light oak laminate flooring with white or cream walls produces a sense of space, making narrow hallways appear roomier. Another way to add a feeling of space is through wall mirrors.

Lighting is another key element of a luxury hallway. A well-lit hallway is inviting, whether the light source is wall sconces, ceiling lights or natural light sources. Installing smart technology helps to automatically turn on welcoming lights as soon as someone enters the hallway.

The development of CO2 neutral carpets

Dutch carpet maker Intercarpet has invested a large amount of finance into developing carbon-neutral carpets that are also recyclable. As well as being environmentally friendly, they are creating carpets that are easy to maintain, feel comfortable, are easy to install and last a long time.

Brϋckner Textile Technologies, a specialist in textile dry finishing, is a partner in the project. They have produced an oven, used in the production of tufted carpets, that operates on green electricity and uses energy efficient motors.

Intercarpet demonstrates that it is possible to produce CO2-neutral carpets, which is a key step to a greener future.

Intercarpet is not the only carpet manufacturer concerned about its carbon footprint. Condor Carpets holds several sustainable certificates awarded for their commitment to environmentally related principles. These include the Eurofins Gold given to products that meet low-emission standards and the German Der Bauer Engel label for products that have a low environmental impact. Condor Carpets also has the GUT, CRI Geren Label Plus, REACH Certificate and the TÜV Proficert that recognises the health and environmental properties of their carpets.

Penthouse Carpets is also committed to reducing its impact on the environment. They minimise waste, use a high percentage of sustainable natural materials and are committed to energy efficiency.

Residents concerned about the environmental impact of new carpets in their Chester or North Wales home should speak to their local carpet supplier. They can advise on environmentally friendly carpets and recycling schemes that turn old carpet textiles into useful products.

Should carpet be lighter or darker than your walls?

The choice of carpeting and wall colouring within a room can have a significant effect on what it feels like, as well as what it looks like. The decisions that you make can help the room in question appear either more spacious than it actually is, or smaller than the real size.

However, the question of whether the carpet colour should be lighter or darker than that of the walls is one that many homeowners are unsure of the answer to. It is this issue that we will be going into in detail in this blog.

Should you choose a lighter or darker carpet?

Selecting the correct colour of carpets for rooms in your home is a major decision, because you will be living with them from day to day. The same is true of the wall colouring. Therefore, the two must provide a good blend of hues that do not clash. As it pertains to whether a carpet should be lighter in shade or darker, there is no absolute right or wrong answer. It will depend on the effect that you are striving for.

Let’s look at the effects of both.

Darker carpet than walls

If you pick carpeting that is darker in shade than the walls, it will create the illusion that the room is more spacious and sizeable than it is in reality. That can make it the best choice if you have a room that is not quite as large as you would like and you want to mitigate that to create a feeling of lots of space.

Lighter carpet than walls

On the other hand, choosing a carpet that is a lighter colour than that of the walls can make a room seem smaller in size than it actually is. You might think that no one would ever want that, but that is where you would be wrong.

This illusion of reduced size can actually make a room feel cosier and more comfortable for those using it. Therefore, if a room in your house is a size that seems a little too large and cold, darker walls and a lighter carpet will counteract that and add a sense of warmth.

That is a basic guide to the effects that are produced by the two different choices, but there is, of course, more to consider than just this.

The level of footfall

Some rooms within a house have people walking through them far more frequently than others. For example, the living room and hallways will be walked on regularly in shoes or boots, whereas this is less likely to occur in the bedrooms. That is an important consideration when deciding on a lighter or darker carpet than the walls.

Lighter carpets will be far more liable to show dirt that has been brought in via shoes or boots. That will make the job of keeping them clean a lot more arduous than it would be if you had a darker carpet that concealed these marks.

That is a big reason why a lot of homeowners choose to have carpets in their living rooms and hallways that are darker than the walls. On the other hand, some people prioritise the greater warmth and comfort created by a lighter carpet and dark walls.

In smaller rooms where the floors are less likely to be walked on in boots or shoes – for example bedrooms – light carpets and dark walls are still usually favoured for their warmth. The fact that they have fewer people walking on them renders it an easier choice to make.

Are there any rules for this issue?

There are no rules that are set in stone regarding either carpet or wall colouring, but there are some guidelines that people generally prefer to follow. The most important of those is the idea that there should always be two shades of difference between the colour of the carpet and the walls.

That can mean two shades lighter or darker; the key thing is the level of contrast. The reason for this is that it makes the room more visually dynamic and interesting, avoiding an overly bland feel where the walls and floor merge into each other. As well as being comfortable to inhabit, you will want the floors and the walls of your home to create a pleasing effect on the eye.

It is also wise to remember that if you have a patterned carpet, then the walls should be a single colour. Equally, if you have chosen patterned wallpaper, it will be better to pick a single-coloured carpet. That is to prevent the patterns from clashing with each other and producing a busy, headache-inducing effect for those who are in the room.

Getting advice from flooring pros with a five-star customer reputation will help you make the best carpet selections.

Where to install waterproof laminate flooring

Laminate, like wood flooring, does not like water. This is not an issue in living areas as long as spills are cleaned up before the moisture has a chance to penetrate beyond the surface of the floor.

Sometimes, residents who want to install laminate flooring in their North Wales homes ask if it is suitable for wet areas such as bathrooms, kitchens, and utility areas. The answer is yes, if waterproof or water-resistant laminate flooring is used.

Waterproof laminate is made the same way as standard laminate flooring, but the top surface is treated to make it highly resistant to liquids so that water does not penetrate beyond the surface of the floor It is still recommended that spills are cleaned up, but if this cannot be done quickly, the floor will not be damaged. If water is left on the floor, it may eventually soak in. If the home suffers from a flood, it’s unlikely that the floor will remain undamaged.

Waterproof laminate flooring has a backing layer that touches the subfloor. The bottom layer is not usually waterproof. This is not an issue in most areas of the home as the subfloor is dry, Basements usually have concrete subfloors which can be damp. Provided that the floor is not too moist, laminate flooring with a waterproof backing layer is recommended. The concrete subfloor can be treated with a waterproof coating.

If there are questions about where to install laminate flooring, consult a local laminate flooring installer.