With a very mixed year (in all sorts of ways) lying behind us, opening up a new calendar is an opportunity for a little optimism and a spirit of positive exploration so why not reflect that in the mood of your surroundings. Here’s a quick rundown of predictions on the ‘next big thing’ in interior design in 2012.

Channel 4

Hedging their bets a little, Channel 4 seem to have identified a wide range of trends from 60s geometric to industrial urban chic to hand-stitched crafts to the still-popular ‘mid-century modern’ (which looks suspiciously like 1950s furniture dressed up in bold colours) and even predicts a mania for foxes – yes, according to Channel 4, in 2012 we’ll all have a fox cushion on the sofa or a framed fox picture in the downstairs loo. To be fair to Channel 4, aspiring to ‘something for everyone’ is no bad thing and in that, they’ve succeeded.

Laurence Llewelyn Bowen

Unsurprisingly, LLB is a little more willing to pin his colours to the mast. Taking a cue from the world of fashion, he predicts bold choices in people’s decorating theme: “Black and gold is very commercially fashionable at the moment in interior decoration. I think it says a lot about people’s psychology, that they want things to be much more rich, much more opulent, much more expressive then they have been before.” Certainly Llewelyn Bowen’s roomsets at the Interiors UK 2012 exhibition demonstrated his usual full-on style; particularly a bedroom with black furniture, a black ceiling and wall-to-wall pink panelling (with gold highlights, naturally).

Trend Bible

The design consultants started working up their 2012 predictions back in 2010, which means they’ll either be way off target or astonishingly far-sighted (considering this is how they make their living, probably the latter). In brief, Trend Bible foresee four key looks: Visionaire (almost child-like colours and combinations of sharp angles, rough textiles and natural materials); Natural Selection (simplicity with a touch of elegant quirk); Palm Springs (West Coast Bohemian with a hint of Art Deco); and Sentiment (classic print textiles, a touch of retro and even maybe a wallpapered patio).

The Year of the Dragon

Drawing inspiration from another source – the Chinese calendar rather than the Gregorian – this year’s Dragon symbolises force and power. In the living environment, strong colours are recommended: black, dark blues and rich blue-greens. Ever a creature of opulence, the Dragon enjoys golden highlights in the form of wallpapers, textiles and fixtures for a balanced feng shui this year.

There’s more than a touch of ‘clashing is the new matching’ in many of these directions – sharp and soft, dark and bright, old and new, even indoors and outdoors – and that perhaps is the one area of agreement between the various pundits (except of course, for Laurence Llewelyn Bowen and the Chinese zodiac both fancying more gold and black this year!) So in your New Year home, don’t shy away from combining the uncombinable and create your own 2012.

Moroccan Inspired Interior Design

On the Road to Morocco

It’s time to add a little exotic ambience to your home. Let your decor brag about your travelling, show that you’ve immersed yourself in alien cultures, broadened your mindbeyond these chilly shores… and made your living room more interesting in the process.

But when the world is truly your interior design oyster, where to go? Well, today spin the globe and stop it at North Africa – latitude 32º North and longitude 5º West: the Kingdom of Morocco. Think of Tangier, Marrakesh and – most evocative of all, if you’re a movie buff Casablanca. A different climate, a different continent, and most certainly a different décor in which you can dabble.

Colouring

Traditional décor (in any country) is probably dating from a time before air-conditioning. Which is why if you were to take a peek in a few houses around Rabat, you’d probably find a lot of plain whitewashed walls, with the colours and contrasts coming from fabrics,  rugs, hangings, screens, etc. But in the UK, we remember the 70s and we’re so far north we’re practically in Scandinavia so white walls don’t really feel that special. So if you’re lookingfor a Moroccan colour palette, be drawn to the fact that it was and is a major trading centre (the meeting point between Africa and Europe, half of the gateway to the Mediterranean) and think spices. Allow saffron, cinnamon, turmeric and ginger to be your inspiration and start picking out deep golds, heavy reds and rich browns for your walls and ceiling. One final thought: blue doors are apparently seen as good luck – what colour is your front door?

Furnishing

To date, Ikea has yet to open a branch in Fes, so forget cool, pale pine and birch. What you’re looking for are dark woods. Whether it’s tables, dressers, washstands, chairs, the darker the better. Intricate carving, decorative metalwork, tile inlays? Now you’re talking. A nice low coffee table with some tilework on which to serve your sweetened mint tea would be perfect. Or maybe a heavy chest for the bedroom at the foot of your mosquito-net covered bed?

Morocco is a predominantly (and historically) Islamic country so the typical decorative shapes are geometric in appearance, no representations of the human figure. These patterns can be incredibly involved and busy but in a totally different (and less fussy) fashion to English chintz. So when you’re searching out your casbah cushions, look for tessellated hexagons, dodecahedrons and other many-sided shapes mapped together in a delicate geometric fusion.

Lighting

Not too bright is the idea here. And not too few. Instead of a single Western central ceiling light, illuminating the entire room at the flick of a switch, try a number of lamps, both electric and candles. Multiple lamps hanging at different heights, with different coloured glass – or maybe just metal with geometric (of course!) holes and patterns punched through – will give an appropriately intimate, low-level and just-the-right-side-of-seedy feel. Imagine a few dark shadows at the edges of the room and then imagine what might be lurking in them.

Dining

Finally, if you’re going to have the atmosphere, you should put it to good use. Why not an authentic, slow-cooked lamb tagine with apricots, dates, almonds and sultanas (and spices)? After all, after you’ve done the washing up, the tagine – the cone-shaped earthenware pot after which the dish is named – could sit ornamentally in the kitchen, spreading the Moroccan theme a little further through the house.

Now that you’ve got the global decorating bug, where else could your travels take you?

Interior designer is a somewhat devalued job title these days. Switch on your TV and you could be forgiven for thinking that anybody with a loud shirt, annoying voice and a B&Q card can call themselves a designer. They’re ten a penny, so it seems.

But interior designer has long been a respected (and respectable) profession and certainly predates the idiot box. Let’s take a look at a few from the last hundred years or so.

William Morris

Nineteenth century artist, writer, designer and early socialist, one of Morris’s passions throughout his life was the rejection of cheaply-manufactured decoration and a return to quality, treating craftsmanship as artistry. He wanted to raise design to the level of the fine arts. Well over a century later his modern-medieval designs are still available to hang, either as tapestries or wallpaper.

Antoni Gaudí

Half the landmarks in Barcelona – La Pedrera, the Sagrada Familia (still under construction), Parc Guëll – were designed by Gaudí but his creativity also extended indoors. Just take a look at the plasterwork in the Casa Batlló, great swirls moulded into the ceilings that complement the queasy lines of the exterior, then notice that the same swirls are reflected in the shape of the furniture. An interior designer with a unique eye.

Salvador Dali

Another Catalonian, the famous surrealist painter extended his wonderfully skewed vision to pretty much whatever he could get his hands on. As for interior design, who could forget his Mae West’s lips sofa? Dalí created the interiors of his own house in Port Lligat (with outdoor furniture) and his wife Gala’s castle in Pubol, both down the last detail. The pleasure he took from the castle must have been limited however as he was only allowed to visit on receipt of a written invitation from Gala.

Laura Ashley

Only slightly more recent but a lot closer to home, Laura Ashley is a name that will be familiar to many from the chain of interior design shops, selling everything from furniture to clothing to candlesticks. Ashley’s first and final love was printed fabric (it was her Victorian scarves that first brought her to widespread attention) and her designs have become synonymous with a certain classic Englishness.

Terence Conran

In 1964, Terence Conran opened the first Habitat household goods and furniture shop in Chelsea. The rest, as they say, has been history. Son, Jasper, although rooted in the fashion world has also ‘dabbled’, creating fabrics and wallpaper for Designers Guild. Terence is probably as well-known these days for his writings on design (and his restaurants) as the designs themselves.

Linda Barker

Having studied fine arts, Linda Barker was working as a television set designer when the BBC asked her to be a guest designer on Changing Rooms, the original interior design programme that brought her fame in the 90s. Since leaving the programme, she has designed cabins for cruise ships, sofas for DFS and brought out her own range of wallpapers. Oh, and a yoga video.

Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen

A co-presenter with Linda Barker on Changing Rooms, Llewelyn-Bowen had a signature flamboyant and foppish personal look that extended into his room designs, making him a viewer favourite. Still very much in the media, LLB – like his ex-colleague – has his own range of wallpaper with Graham & Brown; he also devotes a lot of time to charity work.

You want more names? How about Nina Campbell, famous for her accessories and (you guessed it, wallpaper)? Or Mauro Lipparini for a little Italian ‘less-is-more’? Or Rachel Ashwell, the originator of ‘shabby chic’?

Despite all the bandwagon-hopping TV companies, desperate to find a new presenter for their latest home makeover programme, the tradition of innovative and expert interior design is set to continue for a while yet.