Much like fashion and expressing yourself with accessories and signature pieces, autumn is the perfect time to show your true colours through interiors, especially when you want a cosy aesthetic.

“What a lot people forget is fashion leads interiors. It’s a fact… always has done, always will do.

“And what goes around with the timelines, how we wear our wardrobe, wanting cosy wear, our cashmeres, our lovely big cardigans, and they’re oversized – we think of interiors exactly the same,” highlights Nicky Emlick, creative director for Sofa.com, and founder of NM Design, a luxury interior, architecture and design studio.

And with this, the desire to create cocoon-like spaces, which feel especially inviting in the evening; a shift towards deeper tones, interiors which feel layered, ambient lighting and decor which welcomes you with open arms.

“The nocturnal niche trend is kind of my style in general, it always has been. I lean into this trend, and have done for many years because it suits my nature,” says Emlick, with a background in interiors spanning 30 years, both at home and internationally.

“I feel living in the UK, we have so many dark months a year we want that cosiness… come autumn, don’t we all just want to get our boots back on?”

“We’ve had the most amazing summer, but we all yearn for the boots and sweaters because we like that feeling of the build-up to bonfire night, to Christmas, and it’s kind of what our country is all about.

“So it’s a trend [nocturnal] that really suits every furniture brand in the industry in the UK.”

But she says what we also have to remember with this trend, “for us as a design team in a furniture brand, it’s about choosing the right fabrics.

“So really leaning into the possibilities with the right colour pantones… the nice espresso chocolates, the really nice dark olive greens, the ink blues, the aubergines, the deep reds.”

“All these sexy autumnal shades that really tantalise that kind of synergy into it being those darker months, but warmer homes, so that cosy impact.

“And with furniture, that’s something that’s always on our mind… comfort, cosy, how long is someone going to spend their time on that sofa; on that dining chair, occasional chair, in their bed.”

Indeed, she says all these kind of things come to the forefront of their mind when you’re spending a considered amount of time at home during the colder months.

Moreover, Emlick says the nocturnal niche trend isn’t missing out on some of the harder fabrics and materials. “The smoky glass, the tantalising, beautiful, deep-veined toned marble finishes.”

She continues: “Daring to be a little bit different with some of these nice surfaces that really bring some of these materials, wools and felts, to the forefront.”

It’s moving away from the linens, the cooler aspects and embracing those warm, opulent, really cosy feelings, highlights the designer, who describes her style as “eclectic.”

“And I think design in general, what we should look at with nocturnal niche is to never lose sight that to get the depth of a dark room, we really need to enhance it by having some light in there as well.”

The best laid dark room we’ll ever see has got a good 10 to 20% of a nice caramel, or soft creams in there suggests Emlick, “so it kind of enlightens you more to the darker space.”

“It brings it out a little bit more. And the best analogy I can give is, we don’t want to take the daylight out of our lounges because we still need that… for our wellbeing and our health.

“But if we do it very cleverly, if it’s a window-facing wall, with that I would try and put some sort of light reflective material on there, even if it’s a smoked mirror.

“Or even if you want to keep those dark elements, but add some sort of a surface that’s going to have light reflective balance to it, that helps.

“But anchoring a cream wall against everything else that’s really, really dark and moody, quite colourful, it can look fantastic – and work really well on the eye.”

Layered lighting can also help get the look, improve how you feel and create the ambience, with Emlick suggesting we shouldn’t just rely on LED lights.

With shorter days and longer nights, she says “it’s really nice to go back to old-fashioned bulbs in a lamp. You don’t have to change all your LEDs, but to have a couple of nice lamps or some nice kinetic candle light in the room.

“Again, you’re just creating that gorgeous, sumptuous nocturnal niche feeling and encapsulating it. It’s an emotion. It’s part of our senses.”

“You walk into a room.. it’s your sense of smell, sense of ambiance, it’s the mood that it brings together.

“And I think that’s what this trend is really talking about. How we move from this very warm summer into this lovely nocturnal niche autumnal feel,” underlines Emlick.

To nail the look with the finer details, the designer says “layering, layering, layering… more is more,” and it’s good to have a few extra things in your room to give it some dimension.

She says some nice old books, for example, is always a really quick win; scented candles, beautiful, thick, voluptuous kind of textures – ones that give you the feeling you can sit down on the floor; or cosy up in the corner of your sofa with your throw, and feel really comfy.

Think a really good thick rug on a wooden floor, luxe carpeting, and lovely canvases on walls to absorb some of the echo in the space cements that feeling as well, suggests Emlick.

“So rich velvets, integrating wool throws, cushions with different size variations, something unique… some can be more velvety to match in with the sofa, sheepskins and things like that.

“You can have a really dark, moody espresso sofa, but then bring in a couple of nice, warm, biscuity-coloured sheepskin smaller cushions or larger pieces, and it really brings it out in a different way.”

“A quiet luxury of opulence, but it’s not shouty,” highlights Emlick. “It’s got an eclectic mood to it… something old, something new, warm, cosy, exciting.”