Home interiors becoming more personalised and daring

Not so long ago, Britons were only too happy to stick with what they knew in terms of interior designs.

Millions of homes right across the country, for example, would boast the same flat pack furniture items, the same rugs and even the same colour schemes.

And, while the boom in TV home makeover shows certainly encouraged people to think outside of the box, in some cases this simply left neighbours all over the UK carrying out the same DIY projects and the
same 'unique' projects that they had seen on the small screen one weekday night.

However, with the decade-long boom in house prices having come to an end and many would-be movers having opted to settle down and renovate their existing places rather than think about selling up, experts have noticed a growing fondness for the personal touch in home upgrades.

What's more, rather than simply relying on the same old furniture catalogues or re-runs of the usual property shows, many homeowners are taking advantage of the stall in the UK housing market to get creative and give their places the personal spin they may have always wanted but were too afraid to follow through with due to the nagging fear it could affect a re-sale value.

Julia Goodwin, editor at House Beautiful magazine, explained: "People are being much more inventive and personalising their home. The days of actually chucking out everything, totally redecorating your sitting room
and getting all new furniture to match are also gone.

"There is a much more mix and match approach. There is a lot more colour and patterns going on in people's homes, but people are actually keeping pieces of furniture that they have already bought or lived with and [are] using rugs, cushions and flooring to actually give their home colour, energy and life."

Thankfully, it would appear that, just as with the vogue for minimalism, the trend for 80s designs has been and gone, with the 60s stylings of Mad Men homes now very much in-demand.

Rather than plain beige carpets and walls, a quick glimpse into a chic home owned by up-to-date consumers with their fingers on the fashion pulse would reveal striped carpets or rugs on the floors and even
citrusy or zingy patterned wallpapers brightening up living spaces.

Furthermore, while it may be chic, the look going into the new decade is hardly in the designer price-range as homeowners look to makeover their new pads on the cheap, whether it's by getting the sewing machine out,
or rummaging through the thrift shops in search of that missing piece for a bargain price.

As Ms Goodwin says, if a home move is not on the horizon, people shouldn't be afraid to experiment, and, rather than feeling stuck in their own homes, celebrate the fact that they have almost a blank canvas on which they can project the property of their dreams without breaking the bank.