What interiors trends look like this autumn

There’s a moment every year, right around now, when the light starts to change, the questions in the shop start to shift with it. Fewer people are after something crisp and breezy for a spare room, and more are asking what’s going to make a space feel warm when the early evenings draw in. So we went straight to the people who’d know best, our own team, and asked what they’re actually seeing customers reach for as the weather turns.

The honest answer is: it’s varied. There’s no single fabric or colour that’s swept the board this year. But there are patterns underneath the variety, and once you know what to look for, they’re everywhere.

If there’s one theme running through autumn, it’s warmth. Not just in feel, but in colour. Greens, terracottas, navy blues…all of the earthy tones that give you that glowing feeling. These colours are the ones customers keep coming back to, and it tracks with what’s happening more broadly in interiors right now: a real pull towards rich, earthy tones. This is also the time of year where people start choosing heavier fabrics generally. Not just in colour, but in weight and texture, too. Think proper weave, natural fibres, something with a bit of substance to it. A curtain that looked lovely and light in June can feel a bit thin come November, so this is the point in the year we steer customers towards fabrics that’ll actually hold their own against the cold. It’s a practical shift as much as an aesthetic one: heavier fabric genuinely keeps a room warmer, and there’s something satisfying about a curtain that does its job as well as looking good while doing it.

Texture matters just as much as colour here. Natural textures are doing a lot of the work in making a room feel autumnal without you having to touch the colour scheme at all (though colours give a massive boost!). If you’re not ready to commit to terracotta or dark greens, a change in texture alone can shift a whole room from summer to autumn.

Stripes are, as ever, a strong performer. They’re one of those patterns that never really goes out of favour, no matter the season. The genuine surprise this year has been gingham. It’s turned up in a big way, particularly as a checked lining fabric. It’s a good reminder that trend pieces don’t always announce themselves loudly. Sometimes it’s a lining fabric quietly outselling everything else on the shelf.

If you want to lean further into the season, contrast is the tool to reach for. Pairing a rich, dark base fabric with a lighter pattern (or vice versa) is an easy way to make a room feel considered rather than flat, and it works particularly well in those slightly awkward corners of a house that are easy to ignore (a window seat, an alcove, an oddly shaped nook). 

As for Halloween-specific prints, they’ve never really been a big seller for interiors, and this year’s no different. That’s not to say you can’t have fun with it if it’s your thing, just that it’s more of a personal flourish than a genuine trend worth building a room around.

Being on the coast shapes this more than you might expect. Autumn here isn’t confined to hedgerows and woodland the way it might be inland. It’s in the changing light on the water, the shift in the weather rolling in off the sea, the way a coastal cottage needs fabric that can stand up to damp and salt air as much as it needs to look good. We’re not limited to sourcing or thinking about autumn purely through a Cornish lens, but there’s no denying it colours how we approach the season. Autumn in Cornwall feels like it’s everywhere at once, not just tucked into a few rooms with the right cushions.

Fabric isn’t the only place autumn shows up. We also stock Little Greene paint, and this is exactly the time of year their richer, more grounded shades come into their own. The kind of colours that pair naturally with the terracottas and navies customers are already reaching for in fabric. We’ve pulled some on-trend recommendations for autumn paint jobs, all available to pick up in-store:

Our advice is always the same, and it’s honestly the easiest way in: find a fabric you love, and build the room around it. Not a colour scheme, not a moodboard, not a Pinterest folder. Once you’ve got that one fabric, the rest tends to follow. It tells you your palette, it tells you your texture, and it usually tells you what needs to change elsewhere in the room to make it all sit right together.

If you’re not sure where to start with any of this, including fabric, paint or both, we’re here to help. Autumn doesn’t have to mean redoing everything. Sometimes it’s one good fabric, one changed texture, or one wall of the right colour that does the job.