uFurnish.com Founder Deirdre Mc Gettrick sat down with Avalana Simpson - 2025 uFurnish.com Home Awards Finalist to talk all things interiors inspiration, advice for those on their own interiors journey and her beautiful business Avalana Design.
Name: Avalana Simpson
Instagram handle: @avalana_design
Website: www.avalanadesign.co.uk
Location: Cheshire
Sum up your home interior style in 3 words or less: Artful, immersive, vibrant
What's your favourite item in your home: I have a wee cupboard where I keep my wallpaper sketchbooks and original watercolours. I absolutely love looking through these and reminding myself of how all my products started life as these sketches and individual paintings. If I am ever feeling creative block I get these out to remind me how I started each design. It’s a lovely thing to have in my house.
If your home had a theme song what would it be: Oooooh - I think every room in my home would have its own theme song, but if I had to choose one for overall, probably Golden by Jill Scott.
Toilet roll over or under on the holder: OVER!!! Who is putting it under?!
Do you place your cups and glasses facing up or down in your cupboard: Up. I like an aesthetically pleasing presentation.
What inspired your home's interior style and how did you bring that vision to life?
My home has become my creative laboratory. As an artist, I am deeply inspired by nature, travel and decorative & heritage interiors. Spaces that feel immersive and emotionally rich rather than minimal or trend-led.
I wanted each room to feel like stepping into a different story. Layered, expressive and full of personality. I brought that vision to life by treating the walls and ceilings as canvases, designing bespoke wallpapers from my original paintings and then building the interiors around them. Texture, lighting and contrasting finishes are just as important as pattern, it’s about creating atmosphere, not just decoration.
What has been your biggest challenge designing your home and how have you overcome it?
The biggest challenge was knowing when to stop!
As a maximalist designer, it’s very easy to keep adding. I’ve learnt that balance is what makes bold design feel sophisticated. I often anchor dramatic wallpapers with strong architectural elements, dark woodwork or tailored upholstery so the space feels curated rather than chaotic.
Confidence is also key. If you love an idea try it! It’s about having fun and trusting your vision and creative instinct.
If you could give one piece of advice to someone starting their own home interiors journey what would it be?
Design for feeling, not for trends.
Your home should reflect your personality and how you want to feel when you walk through the door. Don’t be afraid of colour or pattern if you love it, the most memorable interiors are the ones that feel full of character.
Start with one bold focal point you absolutely adore and then build around that.
Is there a particular space in your home that you're most proud of and why?
My home office.
It’s a completely transportive space where the walls and ceiling are wrapped in one of my botanical murals from my latest collection. It feels escapist, almost like stepping into another world, and that’s exactly the environment I needed to design for my creative studio. It reminds me daily that interiors can be experiential, not just functional.
Where do you find your inspiration? Are there designers, Instagram accounts or brands that influence your style?
Much of my inspiration comes from travel, botanical gardens and historic decorative schemes. From grand European interiors to vibrant contemporary commercial spaces.
I’ve always admired designers who embrace bold storytelling within interiors and aren’t afraid of colour, pattern and a sense of drama. Ultimately though, every collection begins with painting. That artistic process sits at the heart of my work and guides each design from initial concept through to the finished space.
I’m continually inspired by extraordinary interiors around the world. The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, for example, has influenced my new silver metallic wallpapers and will form the basis of my upcoming master bedroom scheme. Equally, the colour-drenched Villa Palladio in Jaipur, with its fearless use of pattern and saturated hues, perfectly reflects the kind of immersive, expressive interiors I love to create.
Tell us about your business Avalana Design
Avalana Design is an independent, artist-led wallpaper and interiors brand built around original hand-painted artwork. Each design begins as a watercolour painting in my studio which I then develop into immersive wallpapers, textiles and collectible home décor.
Working as a one-woman studio allows me to remain deeply hands-on and intentional with every collection. From the first brushstroke through to final production, each design is personally created and curated, ensuring a distinctive artistic point of view.
The brand is founded on the belief that walls should be art, created for homeowners, designers and commercial spaces seeking interiors with depth, drama and individuality.
And you just recently launched a new collection?
My newest collection, Majorelle Reverie, was born from two recent research trips and a deep fascination with the sensory richness of North African interiors and gardens.
Rather than referencing Morocco in a literal way, the collection explores ‘atmosphere’.
The inky blues of Majorelle gardens, sun-warmed terracotta, layered botanicals and the cinematic quality of traditional riads. I wanted to capture that feeling of stepping into a space that is both serene and dramatic, where colour, pattern and architecture work together.
Every design began as a hand-painted artwork in my studio before being translated into wallpapers intended for statement residential and high-end commercial interiors. The collection has been created with interior designers in mind, offering bold focal pieces as well as more tonal, textural designs that can anchor an entire scheme.
Ultimately, Majorelle Reverie is about transporting the viewer. It’s less about place and more about mood. Creating interiors that feel layered, escapist and unapologetically luxurious.
What's the next interiors project you want to work on?
I’d love to collaborate on more boutique hospitality spaces. Restaurants, hotels and members’ clubs, where immersive wallpaper can truly transform the atmosphere.
There’s something incredibly exciting about creating environments that people step into and immediately feel transported.
Any other information you'd like to share about your home interiors journey?
My home has evolved alongside my business. It’s not a finished project, it’s an ever-evolving reflection of my creative growth.
It’s so important that we create a home environment that makes us feel how we want to feel. Our homes are where we unwind, where we celebrate, and where we move through the different seasons of life. They have an incredibly important role to play, yet it’s often underestimated how deeply our surroundings influence our mood and wellbeing.
It’s the bedroom we wake up in each morning. What do you see when you open your eyes? It’s the hallway you step into, setting the tone for the day. It’s the kitchen, the true heart of the home, where conversations happen and memories are made. What colours are you choosing to surround yourself with?
It’s the living room where you relax and entertain. What atmosphere are you creating? Calm and cocooning, bold and expressive, dramatic and immersive?
For me, interiors are never just about decoration. They are about emotion, identity and intention. When you design with feeling at the centre, your home becomes more than a space, it becomes a reflection of who you are and how you want to live.
I truly believe our homes shape the way we experience our lives. They influence our energy, our confidence, our creativity and our sense of comfort. Yet we often make design decisions cautiously, worrying about what others might think rather than how a space makes us feel.
Our homes quietly share the way we experience our lives. Far more than we realise, and that is important to remember.
Each month we'll be interviewing one of our uFurnish.com Home Awards finalists asking them all about their home renovation journey, their inspiration and more so be sure to come back each month to learn more. Find out more about our Home Awards here, follow us on Instagram here for more inspiration and updates and subscribe to our emails here for weekly offers and more.
