It is now three years since I last wrote an article on wallpaper. As usual, fashion has moved along, and there are lots of fabulous new wallpapers in the new collections for Autumn 2009.

In 2006, wallpaper was just regaining popularity after many years in the fashion wilderness. Now, it is considered a normal part of home decorating and available in all styles and price ranges. Personally, I have always loved it and incorporate it into as many schemes as possible for my clients.

From extravagant accent wallpapers, which are ideal for one-wall impact, to softer wrap-around papers for the whole room, there is a wallpaper for every occasion. It can transform a boring, bland room into one of drama and personality.

Think: dramatic reds and silver-hued wallpapers for the dining room; colourful prints for the bathroom; soft floral patterns for the bedrooms and sweet nursery characters for the children’s rooms. Let your imagination run riot.

As there are now many painter-decorators able to hang wallpaper properly, there is less risk involved in getting the work done professionally.

The top wallpapers are designed and manufactured by companies such as Cole & Sons, Zoffany, Colefax & Fowler, Jane Churchill and Designers Guild. Many of their papers are heavy duty and are washable, so suitable for kitchens and bathrooms. There are also many cheap, tissue-thin wallpapers on the market, so make an informed decision before you purchase. Remember; where wallpaper is concerned, you usually get what you pay for and what looks good in a magazine or brochure doesn’t always look so good in reality.

Hot off the press: having just seen many of the new wallpaper collections, just released this month and about to hit the shops, I can tell you that dramatic paisley and delicate floral patterns with silver backgrounds are very popular this year. Black, grey, aubergine, deep purple and lime green are still very much in evidence, but this year they are joined by lemon yellow. You read it here first!

First impressions count!  As we all know, that first sight over the threshold of an

unfamiliar house can create a lasting impression. Just imagine arriving in a cold

and messy hallway: the subsequent impact created by entering an immaculately

furnished and decorated sitting room could just be lost!

Many people spend a great deal of time and money decorating their main living areas stylishly and expensively. The hallway is often ignored and can unintentionally create a cold and unfriendly atmosphere. The starting block for the style you wish to create in your home begins here. A real and lasting impact can be made on those who arrive at your front door. Light and airy or dark and mysterious, fabulously luxurious and sophisticated, or cool and casual—the choice is yours. It can set the mood and even build whatever image you want to portray. This is the best area in the home to incorporate dramatic design elements. How about a wonderful wallpaper to create an air of glamour the moment you open the front door!

Hallways need to be welcoming and warm: good lighting; a wall mirror to check lipstick and hair; a handy table or console; a place for coats and umbrellas, and a convenient loo and washbasin are all essential.

Nowadays, with the price of building so exorbitant, the hall, stairs, and landing are usually designed in a way to maximise space. Cupboards and shelves are built in under staircases. Bookshelves and cupboards are incorporated into landing areas. Hallways are often kept to the minimum size necessary to walk through.

As the entrance hall says so much about the rest of the house, it is a most important area and one that is often forgotten when designing the rooms leading off it. Halls and corridors are the areas which link these rooms together and are as much a part of the final picture as any room in the house. In fact, these areas are the linchpin—the whole knitting together of the interior design of the home.

The hall, stairs and landing areas must be decorated as part of the whole house, not as a separate and neglected part of it, deemed to be an unnecessary extra in the scheme of things. These areas are not just blank, soulless corridors to be ignored as you pass through, like hurrying through the area from an aeroplane to the baggage hall in an airport!

If your hall is large and square, it is most attractive to place a round table in the centre, with a big vase of flowers.  This will create a very luxurious feeling to the home from the moment the front door is opened.

If you place furniture in your hall, look at it from the stairs and at all angles to ensure that the proportion is correct when viewed from all angles. Your hall, landings and corridors are excellent places for bookcases. It is important to light them well. Don’t forget the beauty of an Oriental rug can be used to wonderful effect if wood or tiles are the flooring of choice. It will help to improve acoustics and add a splash of colour to an otherwise bare floor.

A mirror could be placed over a radiator cover and your hall is furnished with very little effort! In addition, your hall is an excellent place to hang pictures. The same applies to landings and corridors.

Lighting your hall correctly is essential. Recessed downlighters are the best bet for this purpose, as they provide an excellent general light.  If your hall is large enough, you might like to hang a chandelier in the stairwell.  Don’t forget that nothing looks worse than a tiny pendant fitting in a large stairwell.  

Hall flooring needs to be hard wearing and practical. Most people use either tiles or a wooden floor and carpet the stairs because of the noise factor.

Seven important questions before you begin to decorate your hall:

 (1) In what style is the rest of the house decorated?

(2) What colours do you wish to paint the rooms leading directly off it?

(3) Can it accommodate storage?

(4) Is it large enough to furnish?

(6) Where will visitors leave their coats?

(7) What flooring will you use that will give a warm feel, yet be practical?    

I can still remember the bedroom in which I spent most of my childhood years. I can imagine that most people reading this can immediately bring to mind vivid details of this special room. Every nook and cranny becomes etched indelibly on one’s brain. Even after all these years, I still have dreams that are set in that bedroom – I wonder if its current occupants have ever noticed!

If you are about to decorate your child’s bedroom, stop and think. You will realise that this will also be a bedroom to be remembered in the distant future. It is up to you to make it a haven where your child will grow and develop. As such, it must be decorated with imagination and care.

Let’s start with a baby’s bedroom. Begin by planning the practicalities and you will find that everything else will fall into place. Imagine the two most important words: tranquillity and comfort. Keep things simple. A new baby ideally needs his or her own bedroom to house nappy changing facilities, toys and clothes. And a low, comfortable armchair for feeding.

As your baby grows, you will find the most practical storage is open-shelving for easy-access storage. For the window, colourful curtains with block-out lining or a roman blind in a block-out fabric will ensure that you are not awoken at dawn on bright summer mornings. For the wall colours, white or pale pastel colours work best with the lively, primary colours provided by children’s toys and accessories. Duck-egg blue makes a great back-drop for brightly coloured accessories, though if you feel in need of some bold colour, you can always paint one wall a bright cherry red.  For the cot, use cotton sheets and blankets with a quilted padded bumper.

Don’t forget about the ceilings when you are decorating. When small children and babies are tucked up in bed, it is wonderful for them to have something to look up at. I have painted ceilings for children which look like a cloudy sky, complete with moons and stars! Mobiles provide great stimuli too, as does a simple view of trees and clouds from a Velux window. Painted walls are the most practical finish, but there are some wonderful washable wallpapers available now, especially for children.

Safety is the most important element in a small child’s room.   Make sure that there are no dangerous or sharp corners or surfaces on which they can injure themselves. Windows must be secure and light fittings and sockets protected from tiny fingers. All surfaces should be hard wearing, waterproof, and scuff proof.

Remember that what children love today, they will tire of with amazing speed.  Choose a washable cotton or poly-cotton for your curtains and duvet covers. Floor coverings should be splinter free.  Linoleum or a laminated floor is ideal for a baby’s room with a cosy rug to play on.

Girls’ bedrooms should be spaces where your daughters can stamp their own personalities. No matter how small she is, she will have already begun to develop her very own style. Try to figure out what that might be – observe her choice of colours when she is using her crayons, and  then decide whether she is “girlie” or a tomboy. My three daughters had very different styles indeed: from My Little Pony to a dried-flower collection hung on strings – which was, quite frankly, a bit of a nightmare!

Bedlinen for a girl’s bedroom should, ideally, be a mix of white with brightly coloured checks, plains and florals. This will give a crisp look.  For teenage girls, silver and muted lilac colours look wonderful.. 

Boys’ bedrooms need to be fuss free. Use strong furniture and surfaces in primary colours. Remember that furniture will be climbed on, jumped off and probably even knocked over. As most boys usually have lorry loads of toys, and have absolutely no interest in putting their clothes away – a fact that I can verify through first-hand experience - they need plenty of easily accessible drawers and cupboards.  I find bunk beds quite a good idea for boys’ rooms, as long as they have a decent guard rail. They have more scope for adventure and can, later on, house a desk underneath. As regards colour, most boys are not particularly interested in the subject at all. I mostly find that teenage boys want charcoal or navy curtains and accessories, so it can be quite a challenge to make their rooms look interesting. I like to do a set of display shelves to inject a bit of colour, which allows them to house whatever collection may be current.

                   Special Report: Back to the Drawing Board. Interior Design Forecast 2009

Being deeply involved in the Interior Design world involves me in meeting many top designers on a regular basis. Last year saw a lot of very worried faces at trade shows and seminars I attended between September and December 2008.

January saw great relief as the calendar turned to 2009, with most of us happy to see the end of 2008 with the continuing global economic collapse, which has everyone in professions allied to the building industry – interior designers and decorators included — worrying about the coming year.

I feel that the outlook may not be as bleak as some think. One thing is certain: in difficult economic times, two seemingly opposing things will happen: one, people will spend less money, and two, people will spend more time in their homes. Without the cash to spend on evenings out, there will be more attention paid to staying at home and enjoying the pleasures to be found in one’s own living room.

And that’s good news for designers. In hard times, people are looking at what they have and are investing in sprucing up their homes, redesigning their kitchens and adding on sun-rooms rather than risking selling up and risking a whopping loss on their capital.

We are all aware that the housing market has taken a big hit this past year. Homeowners who had been planning to sell their homes are now re-examining their options. Many people, who absolutely have to sell and move, are wondering what they can do to increase their chances of a getting a decent price for their homes. Others are looking at refurbishing what they have and holding fast until the economy improves. Either way, the interior designer wins in these difficult times

I have found that I have literally gone “back to the drawing board” in its truest form. I am designing extensions and kitchens like never before. It is hard work, but thank goodness I have the qualifications and experience to be able to take on such demanding work. Anyone can sell fabrics and wallpaper; that is what sales-people do. During the good times, it was easy to take this highly profitable route. But now in these difficult times, it is wonderful to be able to produce new and innovative designs for clients who do not have as much money to spend as previously and who want to enjoy their homes without breaking the bank.

Personally, I am optimistic about the future of hard-working interior designers during these difficult and challenging times.

Orna O’Reilly

Kinvara. February 2009