Update your home for the new year

Treat yourself this January, says Anya Cooklin-Lofting, and carry the decorative spirit of Christmas into 2019

A Smeg and Dolce & Gabana toaster. Never before has a collection of kitchen appliances ignited such excitement

As our homes shed their Christmas spirits, decorations are retired to attic-bound boxes and wizened pines are propped miserably against suburban kerbs. For so many, much of the joy of Christmas can be found in the adornment of the home: decking the halls, as it were. I know I’m not alone when I say I feel a tangible sense of loss around this time of year, a festering unfestiveness. Home simply doesn’t feel as special, as decorated or as welcoming in the glaring absence of a large spruce, garnished with trinkets from Christmases past. However, this year, I have taken it upon myself to maintain that sense of playful decoration around my flat. Little flourishes in each room to catch the eye, inexpensive and joyful. So now the baubles have served their time, ‘tis the season for more evergreen accessorising.

Bathroom

It seems only right and fitting to start with some home updates in 2019’s most wanted colour, Pantone’s Living Coral. Add a hit of the vibrant, optimistic and warm shade in your bathroom with a new set of towels. Sheridan Australia’s Living Textures collection is available in aptly named colourway, Coral.

Featuring a ribbed pattern, these 100 per cent cotton towels are ultra-absorbent and irresistibly plush. The collection also includes decadent jewel tones and minimalist neutrals depending on your style. As the trend for open shelving rages on, why not display your new Christmas beauty gifts in your bathroom, rather than stowing them away in a dusty medicine cabinet?

That way, they may actually be used. Nadia McCowan Hill, resident style advisor at Wayfair.co.uk, suggests styling your pampering goodies, candles and any bath time reads on a cocktail trolley, adding that “golden accents like the serving drink trolley by Vical Home on Wayfair.co.uk, will help to create a spa-worthy space.”

Living textures towel collection, Coral from Sheridan

Kitchen

Polishing off all the Christmas treats in the pantry is the primary objective of everyone’s January, so why not do it in style? Spread your leftover strawberry conserve from the Christmas hamper on thick-cut toast, fresh from a Smeg X Dolce & Gabana toaster. Never before has a collection of kitchen appliances ignited such excitement, each piece complete with painterly, Italianate motifs and circusiana charm. The highly decorative collection includes kitchen essentials such as a blender, a juicer, and so on. It is poetically named, Sicily is My Love, and while toast is mine, perhaps these pieces can join me in my kitchen too.

All those aboard the Dry January wagon, look away now. Carry the decadence of the Christmas cocktail party into the New Year with a bar accessories set, such as this marble and copper set by Oliver Bonas. As we speed towards the 100th anniversary of the Roaring Twenties, don’t for a minute believe that F Scott Fitzgerald wasn’t knocking back mint juleps in 1919. Turn a corner of your kitchen into a flair bar for year-round festivity. And remember, good booze isn’t just for Christmas.

Bedroom

It goes without saying that the quickest and easiest update you can make to a bedroom is switching up the bedding. Whether you prefer plain white linen or something colourful, the look and feel of your bedroom can be instantly elevated with a bedding update. New homewares brands with an eco-focus are taking over the market, with brands like Urban Collective and Aizome demonstrating new ways that design can be environmentally conscious.

Urban Collective uses recycled materials and bamboo to create its linens, combining Scandi-style and forward thinking manufacturing techniques. Aizome is another new brand operating out of Japan, named after the ancient process of indigo dyeing. Using only organic cotton and natural indigo dye, the linens are certified toxin-free and skin soothing.

One final bedding suggestion is Rise & Fall, the new project from two New Zealand born, UK-based entrepreneurs, Jed Coleman, founder of Caravan Restaurants and Caravan Coffee Roasters and Will Coulton.

The collection of classic white cotton sheets are available in two weaves created using the world’s finest 100% long staple cotton, gossypium barbandense. The best part is, you can sleep even more easily knowing that £3 from each sale goes to Centrepoint, a youth homeless charity that helps people who are sleeping rough.

Musky florals and woody citruses from Ashley & Co (Ashley and Co)

Another New Zealand brand is Ashley & Co, a home fragrance company fit for any room in the house. Fragrancing your home is one of the best ways to make your space feel more special. Ashley & Co’s collection of fragrances includes home perfume (diffusers) and waxed perfume (candles) in eight signature scents ranging from musky florals to woody citruses. The architectural layering of the notes in the fragrances is designed with the same attention to detail as the shape and style of the elegant glass vessels themselves – the perfect flourish for an empty corner or shelf.

So treat yourself this January, and carry the decorative spirit of Christmas into the New Year.