THE YEAR ahead will reveal how householders reconcile conflicting impulses: the need to economise against the possibility of further interest rate rises, and the growing desire for seasonal domestic titivation. For many, high street homewares departments will provide the answer to this dilemma.

Bhs is among the stores positioning itself to benefit from consumers’ belt-tightening with a new furniture and accessories collection from Kelly Hoppen, the interior designer, available from this weekend.

This will be the second KHome range that Ms Hoppen has designed for the chain. But it also represents a first: Hoppen, a name usually synonymous with an utter commitment to neutrals, is introducing colour into the selection. A teal (which, for the uninitiated, is a bluey-green) bedspread costs £75. There are no fewer than six different styles of blue cushions, including a blue velvet oblong number with big buttons (£15). The oblong shape is also a departure: the average high street cushion is a boring square, according to Ms Hoppen.

But if you see such headlines as Midnight Blue is the New Taupe, these will be misleading, as Ms Hoppen is still loyal to stone and brown in all their permutations. Her paints range, which will go on sale in Bhs in a fortnight’s time, runs the gamut from tusk, an ivory shade, to pebble, an earthy tone.

She remains convinced that, although a shock of colour will refresh a tired interior, “neutrals are a great environment to live in”. This belief is borne out in the £849 three-seater sofa (ecru) in the Bhs range — and her own painstakingly madeover South London home (where ecru and the rest of the beige and brown palette reign supreme). The long, low sofas in the main area of this glass-roofed loft space are covered in suede of a latte shade; the cord stair carpet is the colour of the cinnamon on top of the coffee and the shelving is 80 per cent cocoa dark chocolate. The tulips, arranged in a perfectly disordered way in a simple glass vase, are, however, bright orange. These tonal reminders of food make it very difficult not to fall into a coffee shop as soon you leave the flat.

A certain public fascination surrounds the twice-divorced Hoppen, thanks to a recent romance with Sol Campbell, the Arsenal footballer, which turned her, briefly, into the only Wag who was both an entrepreneur and a published author; she has written five design books. Her interest in the general public is equally keen, but focused on their developing tastes and purchasing habits.

Before her link with Bhs, which began last winter — her first connection with the high street and mass manufacturing — Hoppen’s interior decor clientele was exclusively wealthy. An oligarch on a spree in her Fulham Road flagship store will blow £40,000 in an hour. A Bhs customer may have spent £1,000 in one throw on Hoppen products, and the designer herself observed expensively dressed customers, who were clutching the catalogues of Belgravia decor firms, buying pieces from her winter collection. But the success of the Hoppen brand at Bhs will depend on appealing to Middle Britons, most of modest means.

This income range may change, however. Sir Philip Green, Bhs’s owner, plans to offer the merchandise online later this year, making it visible for the first time to younger, urbanite customers who are currently not minded to patronise Bhs.

Ms Hoppen refuses to categorise any of these potential shoppers: 28 highly successful years in her profession dealing with private and commercial clients have taught her that preconceived notions can lead to failure. She says: “Whenever I have tried to understand the customer when designing, it’s not gone well.”

When Bhs executives — who do believe that they are in tune with their shopper — declare that a particular set of items will not sell, she yields to their view. The response to her first collection showed a distinct preference for more adornment: accordingly, the new range contains a beige cushion with slightly paler pearl-embroidered flowers (£15) and an oblong satin cushion, with bands of seed pearls (£15). A waiting list formed last year for a diamond-drop chandelier with either a gold or cream shade (£100). This means it is making a reappearance in the new range. For some, reading the words “waiting list” and “Bhs” in one sentence may come as a far greater shock than the juxtaposition of “colour” and “Kelly Hoppen”.

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