Rekindle Your Childhood With The Dolled Up Trend
2025’s appetite for maximalism continues to grow as colour, scale and pattern dominate fashionable interior design. Embracing a potent mixture of colours, whimsy and playfulness, the dolled up trend – also known as cutecore – has youth and joy at its core. In this blog, we’ll be taking a closer look at this nostalgic trend, while providing you with some tips for how to embrace your inner child and enjoy a peaceful aesthetic in your own home.
Diving into the dolled up trend
As the name suggests, the dolled up interior design trend captures the creativity, imagination and fun of classic dolls houses before increasing the scale to our home’s sizes and proportions. This is a very stylised trend for lovers of a jolly, slightly quirky aesthetic and when done well, can bring an impressively beautiful finish to rooms including bedrooms, living rooms and even kitchens. Let’s start with the colours…
Leisurely light greens
Light green colours offer plenty of whimsical inspiration. What’s more, you can mix different shades of green very easily to add a touch of the natural world to your decor. Where green is the dominant shade for a room, lean toward lighter, pastel shades but if green is your secondary shade, go for juicer, more fruity shades of apple and lime. Green can also be used to great effect as part of a patterned fabric but we’ll cover that more shortly.
Wholesome whites
White might seem like an odd colour to reference, but it’s a very important colour to include in a Dolled Up decor. It’s important because white shades are perfect foundational colours. Helping all of the aforementioned colours pop and stand out, shades of brilliant white also contribute to the youthful component of today’s topic. From flowing Illusion blinds, to chunky shutters, bright white should play at least a minor role in your dolled up space.
Perfect colours for a dolled up home
As with many interior design trends, one of the most important things to get right is the colour palette. As we’ve said, the dolled up trend is all about joyful whimsy so finding juicy and pastel colours that suit that brief should be your first priority. When planning your dolled up space, consider a colour drenched approach for maximum fun!
Playful pinks
Few colours capture the excitement of childhood better than pink. Pink is a colour filled with positivity and when in the right tone, can be the epitome of whimsy. Shades of bubblegum pink that are a little more punchy than others are ideal for smaller eye-catching statement pieces such as cushions and lamp shades while softer, duskier pinks are better for larger items such as curtains, blinds and comfy furniture.
Youthful yellows
For a very long time, yellow has been synonymous with energy, optimism and happiness. These are ideal characteristics to introduce into a dolled up space. As with pink, use bold, dynamic shades for your accessories while embracing the creamier shades of yellow for the larger surfaces in the room. Yellow always looks its best when near light, so ensure any room with plenty of yellow is suitably illuminated.
Pattern ideas for dolled up decor
Candy cane stripes
Candy cane stripes perfectly balance elegance and playfulness adding a fun yet stylish statement to a room. They can be found featuring our dolled up decor colours and added using wall paper, cushions, lamp shades and window furnishings. To test the style, add smaller ornaments and details including sculptural lamps, cushions or lamp shades
Fun fruits and veggies
At its core, the dolled up trend doesn’t take itself overly seriously. As a result, replacing traditional floral patterns with more light hearted fruit and vegetable patterns will reinforce the whimsical nature of this trend. There is an exciting collection of fruit and vegetable inspired patterns that perfectly suit this trend. You can learn more about how these joyful patterns in our Trend Focus: Fruit & Vegetables In Interior Design blog.
Further fun patterns
Chintzy florals, seaside styles and picnic style gingham checks are equally beautiful and suitable. Whatever style you choose, make sure it’s fun and will improve the overarching whimsy of your decor. If you’re ever in doubt about a fabric from Blinds Direct, don’t forget to order up to eight free samples so you can see your options in the flesh.
The dolled up aesthetic isn’t about strict rules, it’s about fun, whimsy and personality. By embracing this style in a room – or even your whole house – you can channel your inner child and relax knowing not everything in life has to be taken super seriously all the time! For more dolled up inspiration, take a look at our dedicated Pinterest board.
Shop our favourite products for dolled up decor!
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