Animals, obelisks and bare plaster: Country Life predicts what will be hot in interior design this year

Cocktail larders and bobbin fenders. Much of what lies ahead comes from the past.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)
Giles Kime
By
published
in Features

The cocktail larder

(Image credit: Paul Craig)

As if it wasn’t enough for an all-singing, all-dancing, multifunctioning kitchen to double as a dining room, television room and office, some can now be found masquerading as an occasional cocktail bar, such as with this delightful design from Humphrey Munson.

The obelisk

(Image credit: Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler)

Not since the days of the interior designer David Hicks has the obelisk — a diminutive version of Cleopatra’s Needle — been so in demand. They work best in pairs, adding a touch of symmetry (as well as neo-Classical glamour) to a tablescape. Additionally, together with plaster casts and pedimented joinery, the profile is well-suited to display cabinets and bookshelves, such as this piece from Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler.

The bobbin fender

Who’d have thought a time-honoured classic such as the club fender could be reinvented? This Bobbin design by interior designer Rosanna Bossom is a folksy take on an old favourite.

The pot filler

(Image credit: STHPhoto.com)

One benefit of a kitchen rehash is the logistical nirvana of a pot filler that lets you fill your pots above your stove, rather than in your sink, such as this Regulator pot filler by Waterworks.

Animals

It’s been said interior design is never more dreary than when it takes itself too seriously, something Kit Kemp knows well, having made a career out of creating hotel spaces that both entertain and put guests at their ease.

Bold stripes

They’re back and they’re bold; this classic ingredient of English country-house style is being used by designers such as Flora Soames to create an eye-catching focus in a room.

Bare plaster

Sarah Corbett-Winder's London home — 'impossibly chic'.
(Image credit: Sarah Corbett Winder)

Pink paint might have been riding high for the past few years, but raw plaster has a brownish-pink hue and an agreeably rustic texture that is increasingly finding favour among a new generation, as demonstrated so eloquently in the London home of Sarah Corbett-Winder. Practical? Possibly not… but impossibly chic nevertheless.

Giles Kime is the interiors editor of Country Life

The authentic cook’s table is the forerunner to the modern-day kitchen island; this Artichoke design is topped with sycamore.
(Image credit: Artichoke Builders)

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Giles Kime
Giles Kime
Giles Kime is Country Life's Executive and Interiors Editor, an expert in interior design with decades of experience since starting his career at The World of Interiors magazine. Giles joined Country Life in 2016, introducing new weekly interiors features, bridging the gap between our coverage of architecture and gardening. He previously launched a design section in The Telegraph and spent over a decade at Homes & Gardens magazine (launched by Country Life's founder Edward Hudson in 1919). A regular host of events at London Craft Week, Focus, Decorex and the V&A, he has interviewed leading design figures, including Kit Kemp, Tricia Guild, Mary Fox Linton, Chester Jones, Barbara Barry and Lord Snowdon. He has written a number of books on interior design, property and wine, the most recent of which is on the legendary interior designer Nina Campbell who last year celebrated her fiftieth year in business. This Autumn sees the publication of his book on the work of the interior designer, Emma Sims-Hilditch. He has also written widely on wine and at 26, was the youngest ever editor of Decanter Magazine. Having spent ten years restoring an Arts & Crafts house on the banks of the Itchen, he and his wife, Kate, are breathing life into a 16th-century cottage near Alresford that has remained untouched for almost half a century.
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