Do you know your contemporary from your country? The world of home furnishings might not be as glamorous -- nor as fast-moving - as the world of high fashion but whether you're shopping for low-cost budget pieces or high-style designer pieces, there's plenty to inspire. And with the mass-market retailers increasingly fleet-footed in following the design trends evident at the pricey end of the market, the choice has never been greater.

So what is the big story in home furnishings in 2004? With so many different styles and trends it's sometimes hard to get the big picture but one man who does that for a living is John Cook, the director of trend forecasting agency Trend Hub.

His company specialists in crystal ball-gazing in sectors such as interior design and furniture design, and clients in the furniture retail business rely on him to let them know what's going to be big in 12 or even 18 months time. And when he says that 'diversity' is the key at the moment, furniture buyers sit up and listen.

"If anything, the trend for the last four to five years has been contemporary, pioneered by IKEA with boxy, geometric shapes," he says. "But now, the trend is more towards mixing and matching of styles so maybe you'd have a boxy sofa, but a more curved, organic armchair to add contrast and interest. "This is certainly how the big retailers are styling their roomsets at the moment," he adds, " which is pretty much a reflection of what people are doing in their own homes where mixing and matching has taken off in a big way."

But as tastes change over time, John says that we can expect to see a trend towards a more opulent, even decadent feel, with the 1930s art movement Art Deco apparently providing inspiration for many. "Art Deco is a big influence at the moment," he says. "We're seeing a lot of influence with laminates, veneers and perspex, all of which are particularly important in cabinet furniture. "Deco is just starting to come through in products," he adds, "with mirrored finishes and geometric shapes also evident."

But how about materials? One of the big stories of recent years, at least as far as items such as sofas and armchairs are concerned, has been leather and John says that this trend is set to continue, albeit in a slightly different form.

"We're expecting to see a trend toward mixing leather with woven fabrics," he explains, "with an ethnic feel in cushions for example. But the leathers used in upholstery are also changing - there's a move to add interest and texture to leathers with embossing, punching and so on."

Colour is always a hot topic, and John says that we can expect to see three main themes emerging in colour schemes.

First,there's the Art Deco-inspired 'contemporary' look, with black and white to the fore, accented with primary colours for items such as scatter cushions. "It's a bit of a more stylish interpretation of the 1980s look," says John.

Meanwhile, there's also the 'country' style with earthy tones, and dark fabric colours such as aubergines and dark purples: "The rich, vegetable dye look," says John.

Finally, we can still expect to see more of the popular 'classic' colour schemes, with pale, duckegg blues and washed greens - a more baroque, traditional style.