Why Staying In Makes Home Décor More Important

It’s around this time every year that some of the most nerdish stats of all come out relating to rail travel, but this year they are very relevant for those who have been spending more time at home in the pandemic.

A large proportion of people living in parts of London like Croydon will have been working from home more, or all the time, and will not be surprised to read that passenger numbers are down in the capital and across the UK.

The 2020-21 passenger number figures produced by the Office for Rail and Road did still identify London as having the UK’s busiest station - although Stratford has taken this title away from Waterloo - but showed that across the UK passenger entries to stations dropped by 78 per cent. In Waterloo the decline was from 86.9 million in 2019-20 to 12.2 million.

Since people are spending less time commuting and more working from home, décor matters more than ever. What better reason for cornice restoration in London than wanting to live and work in a more pleasant and well-maintained home environment, with the plasterwork in the best condition?

Restoring and maintaining classic features of an older home might seem at odds with redecorating or redesigning the interior. But those forecasting interiors trends for 2022 might suggest otherwise, with the focus not on ditching tradition but on using the floor space better.

For example, Architecture Lab suggests establishing a clear workspace will be a common feature of homes in 2022 as home working becomes the ‘new normal’, whatever the course of the pandemic over the coming year.

Kate Wiltshire Design offered a slightly different idea, predicting more open-plan living, which could make the exact location where work takes place the subject of more flexibility and choice.

Whatever turns out to be the dominant trends of interiors next year, however, it is likely that people will be paying more attention to it, as they continue to spend a lot more time in their home than on the train.