This year, it's all about new takes on old favourites, a continuing delight in personalising our interiors and the rise of the crafts refusenik. We're thrilled by the revival of some of the iconic looks of the 1980s, but that 1950s housewife flavour of recent years, and the unaccountable devotion to rose-printed fabrics, feels too Stepford for 2010.
Pattern is still our passion, but the increased popularity of subtle cutout motifs may mark the beginning of a move away from Noughties shouty wallpaper. And the latest steel furnishings in primary colours indicate that we are finally happy saying no to neutrals.
SHABBY CHIC ENCORE
Few of us can pull off fierce shoulder pads and new-romantic hair, but one 1980s revival we can all live with is the remix of Shabby Chic. Rachel Ashwell, who launched the seminal label in 1989, has reinvented the look for the new decade. Her laid-back, romantic style - squashy sofas, mismatched china, antique chandeliers - never really disappeared. Laura Ashley embraced it in the Noughties; Cath Kidston took up a similar theme; vintage-style prints from Cabbages and Roses are another successful spin. Now Ashwell, who has spent the past two decades in America, is back to challenge these pretenders, with a new book (Shabby Chic Interiors; Cico Books £25) and her first London boutique, which opens this week.
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Ashwell's devotion to the "beauty of imperfection" remains at the heart of her style, but the latest twist features smarter antiques and custom-made pieces. Her new "grown-up" palette also has a darker mood: purples, smokier hues and splashes of gold for glamour, alongside the pastels. Why the encore? Ashwell says she was forced to rethink her offering to beat the recession, and found that her customers were ready to buy "fewer but better" - which meant the business took off all over again (shabbychic.com).
NEW METAL
If the cosy, country feel isn't your bag, try this harder-edged, more urban alternative. Steel furniture has come a long way since the battleship-grey office filing cabinet. The new designs are elegant statement pieces, combining sleek silhouettes with eye-popping colour. There are playful products, such as Ben Huggins's Annie Get Your Coat (You've Pulled), a coat stand made from four rifle shapes in primary-coloured powder-coated steel (H229cm, £185; newbritishdesign.com). Susan Bradley's steel shelving, Branch Shelf, comes with wall stickers in blue, yellow, green and black so you can add leaves, birds and butterflies to the trees (L50cm, £55; 07905 484542, susanbradley.co.uk).
The Lancashire-based designer Lee Walsh creates latticework steel tables and pretty, powder-coated occasional tables (pedestal table, H42cm, £375; leewalsh.co.uk). For the dining room, Tom Lovegrove's Two Tables are a pair of parallelogram-shaped steel tables, with glossy MDF tops (H35cm, £680; tomlovegrove.com). Some of the most enticing designs are both furniture and art. Anthony Leyland, an artist and mathematician, has launched a range of sculptural coffee tables, created from a single square sheet of cut or bent metal (H37cm, £729; anthonyleyland.com).
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CRAFTS FOR THE DIGITAL AGE
Last year, I lost count of the coffee-table books by crafty types who decorated their homes with their own patchwork quilts and crocheted potholders - and don't get me started on Kirstie Allsopp. As someone who would no more take up quilting than recreational plumbing, I am looking forward, in 2010, to an anti-handicrafts backlash. But that needn't rule out creativity. Instead of making homewares, we will be customising like crazy. Digital images can be applied to many surfaces, from fabrics and papers to tiles, slate and Formica worktops.
On living-room and bedroom walls, amateur photographers are choosing moody cityscapes or deserted landscapes.
Nkuli Zikalala, of Digitile (020 7241 7494, digitile.co.uk), says: "A lot of our clients are bringing the outdoors in, with, for instance, rainforests in their bathrooms." Digetex offers a similar service for bespoke blinds and digital wallpapers (from £99 per metre; 0161 873 8891, digetex.com). Fancy featuring your kittens on a cushion? The Fabric Press runs a "design your own" service that allows clients to order cotton tea towels, cushions, napkins and deckchair slings printed with their own images (30cm square cushions from £18; 01242 701107, thefabricpress.com).
REVAMP
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Every year, regular as Dracula from his crypt at sunset, monochrome rises again. In 2010, black and white is back, in a shadowy, gothic reprise of its former self. After feasting on Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books, we're all hungering for a dash of vampire chic, so try a wallcovering such as the spooky Branch Out, a black gloss print on black paper (£75 per roll, 020 7833 5010, timorousbeasties.com). On the table, dripping candles are the lighting of choice for Twihard decorators, with glittering black glass chandeliers overhead (try a 53cm-drop French chandelier, £196; 01772 722344, blackorchidinteriors.co.uk).
Ideal for an above-the-bed (or coffin) flourish is the intricately curlicued Baroque headboard wall sticker - try it in white on a black wall (£140; 020 8350 5450, rockettstgeorge.co.uk).
CUTTING-EDGE PATTERN
Bold, colourful patterns were the big story of 2009, but this year it may be the turn of the cutout to take centre stage.
Selina Rose's felt rugs, coasters, throws, cushions and wall hangings feature butterfly and flower motifs (07803 147898, selinarose.co.uk). See also Michelle Mason (notonthehighstreet.com).
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Check out Nadia Sheltawy's laser-cut acrylic homewares, too, such as the Bouquet clock, with a silhouette of flowers (£34.95; nadiasheltawy.co.uk). The Cloud series of light shades in cut paper, by Yu Jordy Fu, is a charming, delicate take on the trend (from £115; jordyfu.co.uk).