The great thing about setting up your real estate space is the impressive range of options that you have. In this article, we are exploring more than 40 of the most exquisite and functionally-effective interior design styles available. You can pick the styles depending on the nature of use that you have in store for your space. You can even decide to blend the styles, but they work just fine as standalone themes. In the following explanations and descriptions we’ll be considering walls, paintwork and texture, furniture, and other aesthetics connected with every style.
- Art Deco
- Arts and Crafts (William Morris)
- Asian (or Asian Zen)
- Baroque
- Bohemian
- Classical
- Coastal (Hamptons, Nautical or Cottage)
- Colonial
- Contemporary
- Country
- Craftsman
- Eclectic
- Edwardian
- English Country
- Farmhouse
- Federal
- Feng Shui
- French Country
- French Provincial
- Gothic
- Hollywood Glam (Hollywood Regency)
- Industrial
- Mediterranean
- Memphis
- Mid-Century Modern
- Minimalist
- Modern
- Modern Country
- Modern Farmhouse
- Moroccan
- Nautical
- Queen Anne
- Rococo
- Rustic
- Scandinavian
- Shabby Chic
- Steam Punk
- Traditional
- Transitional
- Tropical
- Urban Modern
- Victorian
Art Deco
This is a European interior design style that dates way back from the early 1900s. It enjoys the bijou accent and taste of fine and elegant Paris. This design style features some of the best artistic features of the Art Noveau style.
It requires lavish furnishing and accessories for a complete impression because it is regarded as an art form of high social status. The original items that enrich an art deco interior design are costly and rare, but the market has high-quality replicas to offer.
The use of bold colors defines this style. Some designers and property owners may prefer the clean and sterilized effect of beige and off-white shades.
However, the most used colors in this style include silver, red, chrome, and black. They can be blended creatively depending on the designers’ skill and owners’ preferences.
The funny thing is that French designers borrowed the rich accent of the Art Deco style from lavish Egyptian tombs. That’s why the style is almost antique in its artistic impressions and sculpting.
Read More: Art Deco Design Guide
This style emphasizes the presence of big paintings, prints, and pictures.
You can curate the pictures and paintings on your walls as long as they coordinate with other furnishings in color and portrait styling
In the Art Deco style, floors are supposed to be wooden. Carpets and tiles don’t really fit with this look.
Arts and Crafts (William Morris)
This style came into prominence during the late period of the English Victorian Era. This style was meant to bring a focus from cheap products to simple, beautiful, functional, and durable house appliances. It presents to us the allure of stained glass, ceramics, textile arts, and wallpapers. This style favors high quality and simplified production over convoluted designs. That is why it features medieval art prominently.
The arts and crafts interior design furniture was beautiful, simple, and functional. As opposed to earlier Victorian artwork and furniture, this style cuts down on heavy ornamentation. Furniture includes heavy, hand-carved, and dark woodwork. Back then there were no electrical or heating systems. Therefore, windows were dressed in brocades and velvet to minimise heat loss. The walls were also covered with framed stitch art, paintings, and brackets. Also, the floors were padded with rugs, and most houses featured a fireplace. As technology advanced, the need for numerous floor rugs was replaced by the occasional and ornamental floor rug. Fireplaces are still installed in William Morris interior designs.
In the Arts and Crafts interior design style, patterns on furniture, stitch art, rugs, velvet, and brocades feature elements of natural imagery such as flowers, birds, vines, and leaves.
Asian (or Asian Zen)
The Asian Zen interior design style elevates simplicity into a superior form of art. Zen is a way of life that compels people to seek meaning in their lives. The style is engraved in a minimalist philosophy; it seeks to make the most use of natural resources such as sunlight and space to cast out all clutter and unnecessary excesses. In interior design, the Zen style makes a home balanced, appealing, and contemplative.
The Zen design is unique because of its lighting demands. It’s all about enlightenment and the free flow of energy. That is why the walls are mostly painted to either matte white or other neutral colors. Ceilings are also meant to be white and seemingly fading into the walls. Any color shades that bring about a relaxing symmetry of illumination and ambiance can do. Art and other galleries like to install Zen styles for displaying colored and uniquely branded products that contrast with the setting.
The Zen design must have flow. Every spatial matter within the home must seem to flow into the other. Designers avoid making any sharp contrasts in color and polish. Doorways and windows must blend in with the walls such that they may appear to be invisible passages to more space. Most importantly, the Zen design cannot have wall paintings, ornamentation, or wallpapers. If you’d like to install the Asian Zen style into your home, prepare to host the biggest garage sale of your life.
Baroque
This interior design style spans from the 17 century when it rose to prominence among European elites. It is cast upon elegance, pomp, and opulence. Even today, the baroque style of interior design is meant to highlight the high social status of a property owner. The style did have its origin in Italy, but almost all Western and Arab cultures developed their baroque cultural sub-styles.
Towards making and interior seem palatial, the baroque style of interior design lines furniture and accessories with fine and luxurious linen. Windows are dressed in the smoothest and finest brocade, velvet, and silk cloths. The finishing on doors, bulbs, ceilings, taps, and faucets are richly finished. Such spaces will feature tapestries and stucco on walls and ceilings.
The decoration cast upon ceilings and walls is always captivating and picturesque. Baroque wall and ceiling paintings are popular. They accentuate the artistic nature of a space, especially if accessorized by lively and exaggerated sculptures of different baroque themes. Baroque furniture, however, steals the show. The furniture must be luxuriously hardwood, ornamentally carved and finished with precious metals and gems. Such furniture often includes mosaics of engraved gold, bronze, or silver molds. It is also comfortable due to the high quality linen used to dress it.
The best colors to go with this style are royal colors such as gold, silver, purple, red, beige, and burgundy. The floors are also heavily ornamented and made of expensive marble.
Bohemian
This interior design is avant-garde, but it captures that adventurous and carefree spirit. It utilizes vibrant and provocative colors that exude passion like red, yellow, and purple. However, it is best if you can base such colors on a canvas of neutral colors. The Bohemian interior design may seem messy, but guests can tell that everything is functionally organized.
The best way to achieve the Bohemian style in your design is to furnish and accessorize spaces with cultural products.
Additionally, exploit the simplicity, affordability, and natural essence of botanicals when executing Bohemian interior designs.
Read More: Bohemian Interior Design Guide
Plants are beautiful, and they seldom distract the eye from the rest of the aesthetic curations.
The Bohemian interior design benefits from splashing about striking patterns. The walls and floors can be furnished with shelves, woodwork, cushions, animal hide, and rugs.
Classical
This interior design was for European people of high social status during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was based on the tradition of antiquity, and it originated from the dignified French way of living for aristocrats. Classical interior design puts the emphasis on simplicity, clarity, and splendor. It featured clear outlines for doors and windows, and the walls were mainly of a light pastel shade.
The fireplaces of classic houses were marble, and most furnishings were rectangular. The ornamentation of furniture and frames featured symmetrical patterns of leaves from oak or laurel. The walls also featured stucco, columns, and half-columns.
You cannot use cheap finishing when implementing classic interior design. Fireplaces, columns, and arches must be made from high quality marble or other precious stones. Patterns and engravings must be orderly, predictable, and respectably solid. The walls must be covered with polished hardwood or fine linen. Flooring is usually made of expensive parquet for all reception areas.
The classical interior design style prefers dark colors, but the ceiling is usually supposed to be white. The interior is supposed to look soothing and relaxing. The base colors often include beige, light green, olive, and cream. , finishing materials can be colored gold or purple to make the colors a bit livelier.
Classical furniture is often varnished and features expensive upholstery fabrics. The furniture doesn’t feature too much unnecessary furnishing since it is meant to be functional. Pictures must be framed exquisitely, and paintings must be from the Classical Era.
Coastal (Hamptons, Nautical or Cottage)
The sea inspires this style, but it is premised on opulence. Real estate property rates on the Hamptons are investments for the wealthy, and Hampton’s style-based furniture or furnishings are expensive. You should purpose for a modern, airy, and sophisticated space when gong for this style. Light is especially a key factor in this style, and you should always go for neutral colors. The walls should be white, and the floors should be wooden. Since the style is sea-inspired, you can variate wall and floor colors between color themes such as sand, navy blue, and ivory.
You don’t have to execute the nautical theme of sailors exclusively for Hampton’s design. You can swivel the sailing theme with a contemporary one of minimalism and functionality.
It is about inviting the outdoors into your indoors as well as entertaining esteemed guests. That’s why you should always incorporate natural textures in your cottages.
Prefer sisal rugs, unbleached linen, and paneled walls.
Read More: Coastal Interior Design Guide
For Hampton’s furniture, guests must sink right into your sofas. The furniture must be dressed and furnished with neutral-colored linen. You can have rattan chairs and a dark wood coffee table.
Finally, furnish your cottage with woven baskets, seashells, and cashmere throws.
Colonial
The most popular aspect of colonial interior designs is the grand entrance halls and polished wood floors. This interior design style is associated with the rich Western aristocrats who reigned after the First World War. The style includes accentuating any antique objects and eliminating all forms of clutter. The colonial designers used uniform wall paint color and fabric patterns throughout the spaces for simplicity. Most wallpaper patterns were of floral nature and featured light colors. They also arranged paintings and pictures symmetrically on the walls while leaving ceilings unornamented.
The colonial white is a defining mark of this interior design style. The color is often what finishes high wainscotings that characterize colonial designs. Another significant feature of colonial house interiors includes grand and elliptically curved staircases.
Furniture used for executing colonial designs is commonly in the styles of Chippendale, William and Mary, Queen Anne, Hepplewhite, and Sheraton. They are mostly un-ornamented and painted with white enamel. When Americans implement the colonial interior design style, they honor the stylish, simple feel of high ceilings, grey interiors, and hardy clapboard siding.
Contemporary
This is the style for the people who like keeping up with modern times. These types of interior designs must be welcoming and comfortable. They must also be space-efficient, clutter-free (minimalist), and functional. The design must also cast out darkness through efficient lighting, curtains, and big windows. Furthermore, the execution must be precise with clean lines, texture, and simplicity. The ideal is focusing on space rather than furnishing.
Most designers use the color black to ground contemporary rooms. The walls also employ neutral colors that are accented by bright colors in exquisite lighting contrasts. Mostly, the walls are colored neutrally, and brightly colored accessories are hanged for the contrast. Lines in a contemporary room must also be visible regardless of their shapes.
Furniture in this style should be upholstered and without curves or ornamentation. The furniture should epitomize simplicity and elegance without any clutter. For texture, such furniture should be finished with jute, cotton, silk, or linen.
Have a read of our more detailed study of this style when we ponder on what is contemporary style in interior design?
Country
This interior design is for rustic settings. You can execute the style through repurposing objects and exploiting natural materials. The intention is to achieve functionality, coziness, and warm comfort. Additionally, this style is simplistic with a rustic character like stenciling or vintage signage. Wood is quite prominent in country decors.
Furniture is often simple, with clear lines and durable practicality. The furniture, like most of rustic nature, may be clear, natural wood effect or feature neutral colors just like the barn doors. It should be waxed for durability and resistance to the elements.
Craftsman
This style of interior design is mostly American and spans from the late 1800s at the time of the Arts and Crafts movement. That period saw people shunning eccentrics over practicality. You are most likely to find overhanging eaves and tapered columns in this style of interior design. Additionally, the designs include low-pitched roofs, patterned windows, and covered front porches. This style is mostly associated with bungalows.
Furniture built in this style features simplicity, local materials, and honest handiwork. The windows and doors feature thick trims around them. The design style also features built-in shelves for books and utensils. The windows have seats, and the living area features a prominent fireplace.
Eclectic
This is the style for those who like mixing up different themes and textures in balanced blending.
In fact, it mixes historical eras thematically as well as colors, trends, and styles – you can see this especially well in Eli’s incredible Home Tour.
Designers must find the base motifs or other unifying elements for the different elements used.
Whatever collections of furniture you use in eclectic designs must match and coordinate in color, size, and linear shapes.
Read More: Eclectic Interior Design Guide
The furniture must also match with different wall and fabric colors. The best way is to ground carefully considered color themes with neutral colors for the floor.
The same goes for textures and furnishing: coordinated and balanced blending is recommended.
Edwardian
The Edwardian Era came immediately after the Victorian Era. The transition ushered in drastic changes in the popular interior design styles of the time. Unlike the dark Victorian colors, Edwardian colors were more vibrant and cheerful. Edwardian furniture was also more adventurous, and carpenters even used bamboo and wicker. The furniture featured various styles, including baroque and empire.
However, the styles were modernized, simplifying them without eradicating the elegance which is clear to see in Lucy’s Edwardian Home Tour she did with Rooms Solutions.
Edwardian floors were wooden and highly polished for a grandiose feel. Designers placed oriental rugs on floors for warmth. The walls were also decorated with floral wallpapers and brightly colored themes. The pastel colors were the most popular. The curtains were also floral and hung on laces. The fireplaces shrank, as compared to Victorian fireplaces, and they had copper or iron hoods for enhanced aesthetics.
Why not read a further article on Edwardian Interior Design style and see if it may be for you.
English Country
This is a popular style in English country homes that emphasize nature and comfort. This style of interior décor focuses on functionality as opposed to aesthetics. The English Country style of interior design features bright colors that depict love and exude warmth.
The furniture style is often Victorian, Queen Ann, or other traditional English styles. The chairs are often upholstered, and the fabric is patterned. Such designs include cabinets, display racks, and bookshelves. The setting allows for homeowners to display family trophies and treasured items such as swords, tea sets, or inherited paintings. The furniture should be made from wood and preferably rustic from distressing or stenciling. The accents should also be made of brass.
This style of interior design calls for natural and bright hues. The most common colors include yellow and pink from flowers or green and purple from leaves.
Farmhouse
This style is for the people endeared to the private and laid back country life. It is based on simplicity and practicality. You should look towards a natural feel and soothing textures. The most exquisite and romantic farmhouse has neural colors painted on walls. Dark and bright colors simply don’t cut it with this style of interior design; neither does differentiating paintwork in different rooms. White may come off as bright; therefore, prefer such colors as beige, grey, or cream.
The living area should be embellished with planked walls, and the dining area can look superb when fitted with wainscoting. A farmhouse is a great place to collect some vintage furniture, furnishings, and accessories.
Read More: Farmhouse VS Rustic Styles
However, it’d look great if you blended vintage elements with modern utilities like fashionable bowls, flower vases, and repurposed objects.
Use wire baskets to set up plants on the walls of your farmhouse. Also, incorporate wood on the walls by fixing utilities such as signs, spindles, and washboards. Such installations go really well with distressed furniture.
Federal
This is one of the most elegant American-based interior design styles in history. This Neo-Classical design style was meat to assert political statements. It features colors and wallpapers that are curated for specific periods. It is very formal in nature and is characterized by popular motifs. The furniture and accessories feature portraits of popular and iconic federal leaders such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Other symbolism used to adorn federal furniture and accessories include the American bald eagle, stars and stripes, some Roman portraits, and urns.
The federal style of interior design is characterized by curved surfaces over rectangular or square-shaped surfaces such as doorways, windows, and walls. The furniture is often simple, light, and curved. Some prominent aspects of federal style furniture include tapered legs, veneered contrasts, and brass handles.
Feng Shui
Possibly not so much a separate style rather than a way of life. This style is based on an Ancient Philosophy that emphasizes balance and harmony. It is suitable for health enthusiasts with a focus on positive mentality. The trick is to place different elements for optimized energy flow. The interior design tenet of the philosophy incorporates and balances earth, wood (growth), metal (logic), water (serenity), and fire (energy.) According to this style, you know what to place wherein a home depending on the activities of every room.
The biggest sofas should be placed against the furthest walls facing doorways. Place other sofas in distances that can allow conversations without cramping the space. Avoid harsh angling when setting up coffee and study tables. To keep light streaming in and energy from leaving, use sheer curtains. Incorporate some red elements subtly for invigoration. Always have a plant or two within the living space.
French Country
Definitely, this style is ornate and lavish. Still, the French Country style of interior design is elegant but simple and functional.
For starters, the style features warm and inviting bright colors.
It strives for relaxation as opposed to sharp color contrasts of ostentation. Make sure that your dominant colors in all rooms are neutral, and throw in the subtle shades of warm colors such as yellow, cream, or any tan.
Home Tour: French Country
Preferably, you can also employ the traditional white tone for walls.
This style is very rustic, and it includes furniture with flowing lines. Upholster the furniture generously and purchase enough plush for comfort in your seats. Finally, this style is best aesthetically when finished with a weathered texture.
French Provincial
This is another rustic style with a French setting. Its most defining characteristics is the uniqueness of its furniture that creates a country and relaxed feel. It includes surfaces that are whitewashed, and the furniture is often imperfect with distressed textures. Deep wooden grooves and fading paint serve as decorations that are welcoming. This look can’t be complete without the occasional imperfections on the furniture and ceramics.
Arrange your living space by placing a center table that is flanked by a three seater sofa. Of course, the furniture features curved cabriole legs, and the center table is just as upholstered as the chairs and sofas. This style is gaining popularity after its prominence, back in the 18th Century, among wealthy people in Provence, Normandy, and Bordeaux.
Gothic
This style includes decors that are decorated ornately and with light. This style is dramatic because, despite its ornamental nature, it exudes very somber moods. The style rose to prominence in the 12th Century when it was used in decorating mega cathedrals. It was characterized by elements of light, grandeur, and ostentation.
Such opulence was achieved through pointed porches, stained glass, and heavily decorated surfaces. The color schemes were rich and dark, with preferences on navy blue, dark brown, and burgundy. The furniture was robust and heavy from hardwood construction. It was also intricately carved and sculpted.
Hollywood Glam (Hollywood Regency)
Lights, cameras, action! In the film world, lighting, glitters, and glamour are the ultimate ingredients to fame and stardom. In the Hollywood glam interior design style, luxury and opulence are the capital virtues as well as vices. An interior design set must simply dazzle an audience and cast with elaborate elegance. The style is an excellent choice for hospitable people, celebrities and powerful men, entertainment setups, and anyone who is doing well in life.
Hollywood regency décor typically includes glitzy lighting and painting. It often offers mirrored furniture, and plenty of ornately framed mirrors to help people in watching their looks. It is often accessorized with extravagant and soft fabric that is complemented with metal accents. A well done Hollywood glam set will undoubtedly invigorate the senses and invoke the smiles and the blushes.
The accessories of this interior design style are further enhanced with aesthetic functionality such as genuine or luxurious faux furs, and tufted furniture. Carpets are often thick, soft, and regally colored. Red carpets are usually placed on white or cream padding. In fact, white and cream are popular base colors for wall and cabinet surfaces. They create a sharp contrast with the desired color and ornamentation themes. Gold and silver are prominent embellishments on all the metallic and furniture accents.
Of course, a set doesn’t fit the Hollywood glam standards until it ostentatious displays some form of sculpted art. Such sculpture often entails precious metals and rocks as well as embellishments. Most accomplished actors, actresses, producers, directors, singers, and writers in Hollywood have their various awards as the sculpture adorning their Hollywood glam decors.
You can easily accomplish an interior design set by getting:
- Heavy and expensive curtains
- Soft and expensive linen
- Tufted Upholstery
- Precious, polished, and impeccable metals
- Impressive and high-quality sculptures
- Curved Profiles
Industrial
This is a style that is embedded in efficiency and functionality. It is also inspired by increasing demand for folks to enjoy the bliss of countryside living. The industrial style of interior design insists on rooting the décor with natural allure and organic essence. For durability and utmost efficiency, it employs modern trends with old charms and accents. To achieve this style, you just need to design a décor that is fuss-free and no-nonsense.
The industrial style utilizes raw bricks and recycled material, and it uses wood to create a natural allure. The designs are the most unique and characterized home personifications. The furniture is fitted and improvised, especially for utility within the space.
This style emphasizes comfort without opulence; it is minimalist. Therefore, the furniture should be well-cushioned and fitted with solid upholstery. However, it shouldn’t be crowded with ornamentation, and it should feature natural textures.
Read More: Industrial Interior Design Guide
Most industrial colors are neutral for a calming effect of focus. The décor is designed for optimum flexibility during redesigns and re-purposing of space.
It is also a friendly living setup for the environment as opposed to the damaging nature of other styles to the environment.
Even its decorative accessories are often abstract concepts.
If you are in a standard urban situation with little chance of living in a loft space you should read our further article. Modern industrial design styles can look good wherever you are if you do it right.
Mediterranean
This interior design style is embedded in Romance and European heritage. It offers warmth and freshness in one clean sweep; the color pallet is typically warm and light. For a natural feel and environmentally-friendly effect, it features cotton, wood, and ceramics. The style strives for simplicity in design, efficiency in function, and convenience in utility. It is classy in apartments and lavish in houses because it features boldness. Its accents include Moroccan spices, Greek oceanic calm, and Italian elegance.
Mediterranean furniture is often sturdy and light. Its color pallets are often designed to accent sunlight. Mediterranean designers understand that they need to strike a brilliant balance when selecting colors for furniture, floors, walls, and accessories like rugs, fabrics, and paintings. The perfect color shades should allude to blue skies, clear or naturally colored seawater, coastal sand, or lush ad brightly colored Mediterranean flowers.
This interior design style is for rooms with high ceilings. The walls are preferred with course textures and warm-color wall paint. However, the ceilings can be decorated with wood. The ceramic floors need warm and plain mats of natural colors and texture. For aesthetic enhancement, furniture, wall texture, and ceramics can feature mosaic patterns and elements.
An exquisite Mediterranean interior design décor should feature a spacious dining room with a robust dining table. It should feature cabinets constructed with natural wood and finished with natural textures. The kitchen also requires a wooden cupboard. Furthermore, it should feature open and wooden shelves for displaying shiny and ostentatious kitchen utensils.
Memphis
We can call that the creatively-colored and patterned plastics style. It yields a 1980s feel of creativity, jubilation, and intellectual growth. Why is it making a comeback? Well, mostly because the world wants to recycle plastic and create abstract beauty from the bio-non-degradable elements. It features colored shapes with varying lines and curves. The truth is that this style has over one million downloadable themes and templates. The other truth is that some critics think this design is outrageous, but it is a fine acquired taste. The funny thing is that it id Italian in descent.
The Memphis interior design style is a rebellious one, and a rejection of the status quo inspired it. The designers wanted to create creative, appealing, expressive, and cheap décor while looking out for efficiency, durability, and Mother Nature. The geometric figures in the style help in achieving abstract moods and symmetric designs.
The floors are mostly laminated and made from terrazzo. The materials are even infused in tables, chairs, and lamps. Furniture and utility are made from irregular and unorthodox shapes, e.g., triangular tables. The color finishes are often of bacterio print or bright multicolor patterns.
Mid-Century Modern
This style dominated interior design trends from early 1930 to the late 1960s.
It had a durable and timeless touch, which is why it is back with a bang. It is minimalistic and often features clean cuts and clear curves. It is a classic look with an obsession for clarity, functionality, and order.
Instead of clutter, this design emphasizes on sleek lines. It should exude a natural feel from organic elements that create contrast for aesthetic performance.
That is why it is heavily accented with wooden floors and furniture and accessorized with plywood, glass, vinyl, and metal. This style features a wide range of contrasting colors, such as black and white or silver and gold.
This style goes well with vintage touch on furniture, accessories, paintings, and furnishings. It dwells on simplicity, and designers should shun convoluted patterns.
Always go for colors that blend well with the different shades of wooden colors characterizing your floor, ceiling, and wall surfaces. This is especially crucial for a continuous feel in the open plan mid-century modern interior design styles. The fireplace should be ornamental and centrally placed in the living space of such décor.
Marble is simply indispensable in this interior design style. It is an elegant material that ensures longstanding service and durability.
It is often installed on kitchen counters and functionally aesthetic splash-backs. It looks ornately beautiful, especially when coupled with the aesthetic and clinical appeal of laminate flooring. It is affordable, durable, and exudes a touch of class.
The base colors of this style should be neutral. The walls should be pale or white. They set up a calming feel and create contrast for bold accessories or finishes on the wall. The color palate, therefore, should be calming and capable of highlighting any luxurious elements.
Apart from brightly colored accessories, you can also include elements with catchy patterns and bright graphics.
This style doesn’t emphasize on seats matching with each other. They just need to be wooden, bearing clean lines, and have comfortable fabrics featuring simple graphic patterns.
Read More: Mid-Century Modern Interior Design Guide
Prefer the 1960’s style of egg chairs for sophistication. This style can’t be complete without large canvas paintings that are ornately framed with straight-lined wood.
It’s further enhanced with the inclusion of light shades and lamps that accentuate hanging lights.
Most folks of the time liked expensive liquor wheeled on wooden bar carts.
Minimalist
The fundamental guiding principles of this style are brevity, simplicity, efficient functionality, and austerity. It also emphasizes on laconic decoration and ornamentation.
It can be executed through miniaturization, elimination of clutter, and the use of geometric shapes. Furthermore, this style doesn’t mix more than two basic colors. The use of geometric shapes helps to divide the available space for optimal usage.
Minimalist interior designs call for large windows because of the emphasis on ample lighting. During the night, this design functions best when the lights in use are neon lamps and fluorescent bulbs.
It employs half tones, and the color white is often contrasted with close tones such as cream, light blue, grey, or silver. Textured wood blends in well with such colors, and ceramic floors only accentuate the elegance of simplicity.
As for the furniture, sturdy and straightforward design is always in order. The same goes for functional accessories such as lampshades and chandeliers; they must feature simplified geometry. The walls shouldn’t be cluttered with too many accessories save for very few minimalist paintings.
Wall and floor surfaces should be somewhat reflective. Straight-lined blinds replace curtains because of their extra details.
Modern
The modern interior design style is based on simplicity, but it drapes itself in comfort and coziness. It is a product of the late 1800s. It reached its hegemony just before the First World War.
Even when other trending styles of interior design replaced it, its simplicity endured and was incorporated in Post-Modernism and different trending styles.
This style is function-centered and, therefore, minimalist. It was inspired by rapid urbanization that put people in apartments that were relatively smaller than countryside houses.
This interior design style requires large windows that feature different shapes depending on owners’ tastes. The roofs feature flat and low ceilings.
The walls are often adorned with Modernist art that is expressive in nature. Most of the artwork features bright colors, abstract concepts, unorthodox imagery, and cubism. It is also often huge and framed thinly and translucently.
The expressiveness of Modernist art shouldn’t clutter walls. It should be expressive enough to be scarce and to allow the walls to exude stillness. The walls should be painted with neutral colors of one shade throughout.
This style focuses on clear lines. The clear-lined wall, window, ceiling, and door lines should be complement by clear-lined furniture. To wrap it up, it should be finished with industrial accents such as polished textures, and steel, concrete, and iron elements.
Modern Country
The modern country interior design is a blend of Modern and Country styles of interior design. Therefore, this style balances intricately between minimalism and functional exuberance. This modernized country style isn’t as dated and cluttered as the country style. It features a broader range of color palettes and simplified furniture. This style is for those who desire to hold onto the lush perks of country living but have to lose extra stuff that doesn’t offer much efficiency and precision.
The surest way to execute this style is through wooden construction, accessorizing, and accenting. Some popular methods of increasing the wood element in your modern country interior design include paneling and exposing wooden beams. The floor also provides an excellent surface to accenting the wooden finish. Prefer wooden floorboards for exquisite delivery. If you don’t have access to large amounts of wood, you can use wooden-themed wallpapers to deliver the same effect.
Exposed bricks blend in very well with the natural allure of wooden elements. For kitchens, install wooden shelves and cupboards. Install barn doors for further styling, and have wooden furniture as well. The upholstery should less tufted and more wood. Finally, baskets with natural-element construction accessorize modern country interior designs phenomenally. To contrast with such natural elements, paint the walls with neutral colors such as white, cream, or beige.
This style has some signature elements, including simplicity and mismatching. It should exude longevity and a long history. Therefore, it should feature unique items, considered family heirlooms, including paintings, antique furniture and pottery, and linen. Eliminate any items with new and minty feel if you want to achieve the antiqueness of this style. Mismatch metal accents on doorknobs, cupboard handles, sink faucets, and wall sockets and switches. Finally, allow the décor to have scratches, dents, coarse textures, and other imperfections.
Modern Farmhouse
This interior design style is for the folk living in the countryside but desiring a modern home setting. It was propelled into popularity for about a decade before the new Millennium. Unlike the majority of modern housing premises, farmhouses by the countryside are spacious, natural, and very woody. Inside a farmhouse, the ideal aesthetics implore a rustic, cozy, and warm décor. Naturally, it will also exude a shabby accent. However, it will feature modernized aspects as well. Modern aspects implore functionality, durability, and high-quality material construction.
Thus, the modern farmhouse interior design style utilizes the sleekness and functionality of clean lines. The clean lines couple well with natural textures to exude a warm and simple ambiance. To that effect, it features a lot of wood and polished steel accents. The walls are painted in neutral colors or bold hues. The trick is to include furniture or other accessories with dark and lush colors such as scarlet, royal purple, or silky black to contrast with the neutral palette on the walls.
The modern farmhouse design is a rustic style. It is perfect for appreciators of all that is vintage, relic, epic, long-used, or inherited. That is why homeowners who keep to this style of interior design soften most surfaces. They pad windows with vintage curtains, hand-knit quilts for furniture, and plush rugs over carpeted wooden floors for warmth.
Moroccan
Fluid lines: fluid lines: seductive texture: lush color. This interior design style is a rich blend of historical and geographical cultures. Enamel chips characterize it in plaster as well as tiles and terracotta for floors and wet surfaces, and very distinct Arabic designs. This style features very unique floors, doors, furniture, and color palettes. For households preferred with lush flower gardens, Moroccan interior design is nothing short of bold, generous, warm, inviting, and woody.
The Moorish heritage of this style is apparent in its mosaic and ceramics. The tiles feature bright colors, and they are utilized heavily in framing surfaces such as terrazzo, windows, doors, and tabletops. In fact, Moroccan art is framed in expensive and polished ceramics. They are excellent for accenting the extravagance and elegance of the style. Colors that blend well with the ceramics are vibrant and bold.
Moroccan décor features eccentric doors and other structural elements. The structures are supported with massive and visible wooden beams. The walls are plastered with stucco, and the surfaces rarely make any sharp edges or corners. Doors and windows are also arched like typical Islamic architecture.
Nautical
This is the style for the people who like keeping up with modern times. These types of interior designs must be welcoming and comfortable. They must also be space-efficient, clutter-free (minimalist), and functional. The design must also cast out darkness through efficient lighting, curtains, and big windows. Furthermore, the execution must be precise with clean lines, texture, and simplicity. The ideal is focusing on space rather than furnishing.
Most designers use the color black to ground contemporary rooms. The walls also employ neutral colors that are accented by bright colors in exquisite lighting contrasts. Mostly, the walls are colored neutrally, and brightly colored accessories are hanged for the contrast. Lines in a contemporary room must also be visible regardless of their shapes.
Furniture in this style should be upholstered and without curves or ornamentation. The furniture should epitomize simplicity and elegance without any clutter. For texture, such furniture should be finished with jute, cotton, silk, or linen.
Queen Anne
This is an ancient English interior design style that originated from the reign of Queen Anne in 1698. Robustly spacious decors inspired it with the demand to host numerous guests. Queen Anne’s reign reinforced a culture of casual friendliness. It had less focus on ornamentation, and it was inspired by Asian elegance and simplicity. It rose to popularity about 40 years later, and it trended among European and American elites for close to a century.
This style emphasizes elegance and bright lighting. The furniture is the origin of cushioned chairs with winged backs for comfort and maximum back support. It also requires lavish wood construction from hardwood, such as maple or pine. The furniture, as opposed to clean lines, features curved wings for enhancing aesthetics. The wall surfaces are broken numerously with stone and shingles for a rustic feel.
This interior design style includes heavy Anglo-Japanese accents. The interior should also be minimalist in nature, and all materials must offer important functionality. This style, thus, shunned floral carpets, carved furniture, and ornamented mirror frames. Instead, it favors abstract and flat ornamentation, dark-colored dining rooms, neutral-colored middle grounds, a wall segment for art and crafts. This style emphasizes nature, and you can use plants to improve the aesthetics and air conditioning of your décor. Despite its insistence on simplicity, this style is ornately woody.
Rococo
The Rococo interior design style was inspired by the Rococo era of the 18th Century. It emphasizes on ornamentation and ostentatious styling of walls, surfaces, and furnishing. This style was as a result of revolutionary attitudes to the Baroque style of interior design. Some designers think that this style is opulent, convoluted, and extravagant. This is because the style is defined by intricate, asymmetrical patterns and excessive ornamentation.
One of the most intriguing aspects of this style is the fascination with serpentine creatures. The French obsession with Gargoyles and serpentine creatures featured significantly in popular sculptures, embellishments, Knitting, and pottery. It is attributed to bold and regal colors such as gold and royal purple. This style featured wall frescos, mahogany furniture and roofing, ceiling decoration, metallic and steel accents, and intricate asymmetry.
Rustic
This style is entrenched in rugged looks and natural beauty. It is, by nature, very beautiful, coarse, and simple. It entails plenty of natural accents and elements that dominate its striking aesthetics. It is quite the calming décor style that features rough textures, plenty of raw wood, earthy colors, unpolished metal and stone accents, and organic warmth of coziness and hospitality. The rustic style originates from traditional accents, but it has been modernized for the contemporary interior design styles of today. Therefore, it can blend the dark wood colors with the light effect of lively interiors.
This style isn’t just natural but also environmentally friendly. It employs a lot of wooden material, and you can use plenty of reclaimed wood to set up your rustic décor design. The wood exudes an earthy and natural effect in the décor, and also provides more warmth than cold ceramics. Lavish setups utilize the best hardwood like pine, oak, and cherry: all of which release exotic and calming aromas. You can use wide wooden planks for flooring, protruding beams, lush kitchen boards and shelves, and elaborate staircases. For even more wood accents, have a huge roller filled with firewood for your exotic and rugged-stone fireplace
Most of the wood is brought together by wrought metal joints. The rustic interior isn’t complete without metal accents that are delivered by bolts, nail tops, and hanging pots and pans. You need to be creative when selecting the proper accessories for the rustic design, and to keep the wrought iron aspects in mind. Metal knobs and handles, and copper aluminum lamp holders offer excellent accessorizing options to go with the exposed wood accents. Take advantage of sink faucets and install matching rings for hanging towels for bathrooms and kitchens. To balance the wood and iron, make sure that you expose natural and unpolished stone accents in rustic decors.
Since your rustic décor should feature domineering natural accents, couple them with a natural color palette when painting. With so much wood in the setting, most designers go for lighter shades of brown to complement the look. However, that may bring about some unsettling monotony and sterile mood. Some bold hues and shades of red are better since they blend in naturally and with a mild degree of contrast.
As long as your color palette selection exudes warmth and hospitality, it can do depending on your tastes. Where you have wooden or stone accents on your wall, do not paint. The rustic style calls for the feel of rugged and unfinished furnishing. Rustic furniture, rugs, and other fabrics are just as rugged and mismatched as those preferred for the Bohemian interior design style.
Find out more with our guide to creating Rustic and Farmhouse styles
Scandinavian
This is one of the most popular minimalist and functional interior design styles in history. It emphasizes on reduced clutter and optimized functionality. It has been around for about 70 years, and it drapes with emphasized simplicity. The Modernist movement inspired the Scandinavian interior design style, but its proponents were from the Scandinavian regions. You cannot accomplish this style without integrating natural accents on its décor and furnishing. Therefore, it should feature leather, wood, and metal aspects.
When implementing this style of interior design, never go for carpets covering the entire floor space. In fact, carpets aren’t a thing in this style, and rugs are seldom used for warmth. The popular option is to use wooden floorboards for flooring. For softening, designers often prefer sheepskins over other rugs. The wood accents on floors are often uninterrupted and thus demand complementary wall painting colors. Therefore, the Scandinavian interior design style heavily utilizes light and muted colors for walls. It has something to do with the cold and long winters that require designers to create natural warmth within the décor. Therefore, the color white is widely used as well as cream and other light hues.
Apart from just floors, this style emphasizes on the use of wood on walls, cupboards, and furniture. The wood used is often light and painted white. The wood and other aspects of painting and furnishing are supposed to form clean lines. This style, again, is minimalist in nature and opposed to ornate or intricate detailing. Decorative accents should be simplified, and there shouldn’t be any clutter within a Scandinavian décor. You can prefer eccentric and functional pottery to hold natural plants and flowers. Also, have plain and furry throws on your couches for extra warmth and comfort. Also, don’t treat your windows too much that they fail to invite ample light inside of your space.
What’s not to like about Scandinavian style? Find out more with our suggestions
Shabby Chic
This is an interior design that appreciates age, use, tear, and wear. It features heavily distressed and rugged accents. It aims at achieving antiquity, and it emphasizes on vintage finishing, accessorizing, and furnishing. The Shabby Chic interior design style is perfect for cottage dwellers with a taste for opulence and soft décor. It encompasses phenomenal comfort, coziness, and romance. This style has been around for decades, and it is quickly regaining its popularity. The following are some tricks on implementing this interior design style.
First and foremost, make sure that you inspire a purposefully messy look. Make sure that you complete the look with items that have been in use for years and had to be repainted. The items can feature distressed looks and numerous layers of paint. The items have to. However, they still have seamless and uncompromised functionality despite the long history of utility. Furniture, especially, must look distressed to attain the vintage feel.
Shabby Chic fabric should be mostly natural. Cotton and linen fabric should have an ancient feel and have such colors as white and beige. You can imitate an antique accent on such fabric through bleaching and fading. Go for linen that features floral patterns and natural hues. Make sure that you use such linen to cover the aged wood cupboards and safes. Also, complement the accent with wall paneling and matching lighting fixtures.
For furnishing and accessorizing, prefer items that are romantic and cozy. Go for rustic furniture accented by unpainted and unpolished woo. Also, go for furniture that’s painted in denim and burlap accents. Color your walls with neutral colors to complement and contrast the styling. Also, mix and match all the furniture, dressing clothes, throws, and pillows. This is because antique items are rare and seldom come in complete sets.
Shabby chic, if done well, can improve the quality of your surroundings immeasurably. Why not read more in our article on defining the shabby chic style of interior design and broaden your horizons?
Steam Punk
This style is great because it is attractive and unusual. It can help your interior design décor to stand out a great deal from other high-end décor styles. It responds to specialized architecture, and that is why its accents costume plays eccentrically. This is a theatrical style that is quickly taking over interior design décor. It combines elegance and functional machinery exquisitely. It also merges accents from the Gothic and Victorian styles of interior design. In fact, some designers consider it to be an industrialized version of the Gothic interior design style.
This style is so new that designers are still experimenting with it. They replicate Victorian art, furniture, and accessories by incorporating wire, steel, and other technological elements in them. The mechanical aspects of the style emphasize functionality and precision. In fact, they bring about a minimalist essence to the heavy accents of ornamentation and opulence.
The color schemes utilized in this style are bold and sharply contrasting. It is a theatrical style, of course, and the color palette must be dramatic and inviting at the same time. A SteamPunk interior design style cannot be complete without heavy and polished metallic tones that are accented some with bronze, copper, silver, and gold tones. For further eccentricity, designers should summon a touch of dark wood and leather for furniture and other furnishings.
For accessories, you should mount old and dated maps on the walls. They exude a mural feel of antiquity and functionality. Have various electronic gadgets mounted on the walls like lamps and home-theatre surround systems. A vintage video projector can sum up the aesthetics brilliantly.
Traditional
This interior design style is European in descent and was popular between the 1800s and 1900s. It is elegant, comfortable, and durable; it’s been popular for over three centuries. This style appreciates antiquity and adores vintage accessories. It also emphasizes on exquisite aesthetics brought about by classical art and historical artifacts.
This is an ostentatious style that is characterized by rich and dark colors. The walls and background spaces for this style should be neutrally colored to create sharp contrasts with the dark and rich colors used in furnishing and accessorizing. The contrast should be created in an orderly manner for the harmonization of accents and moods. Symmetrical lines are pivotal in achieving such harmony. They help to blend the warm feel of dark-colored woods with the friendliness of neutrally-colored walls. The walls should be further adorned with wallpaper, murals, or paintings that feature stripes, paisleys, and floral motifs.
Traditional furniture should be colorfully upholstered and dressed. Some friendly and popular color options include red, dark brown, leafy green, or royal purple. The colors are excellent in solidifying the regal accent of the furniture. The furniture should match with the flooring for warmth and sophistication. Therefore, it should be constructed from high quality hardwood such as oak, mahogany, cherry, and maple.
Transitional
This interior design style is a blend of traditional and contemporary styles. It seeks to achieve timelessness for decors inspired by it. Because of its two different inspirations, the transitional style of interior design is diversified and flexible. Furniture lines are simplified but still elegant in their toned-down sophistication. Straight lines are as common as rounded and curved profiles for furniture, windows, and doorways.
Furniture should be woody and heavy, but functional in design. The furniture can be upholstered in simplicity and dressed in different fabrics. It should also be curved but featuring straight lines for a unisex effect. The fabric, on the other hand, is also diversified and can feature graphic patterns. Wooden frames should also feature embellishments such as chenille for imposed sleek accents. They should feature rich and dark colors to competent the abstract feel on walls.
The contemporary minimalist approach dominates this style for accessorizing. Use naturally accented pottery to adorn your décor with flowers and lush green plants. Also, you can soften the floor with neutrally-colored mats. Frame your paintings and photographs with simple silver and black frames.
Tropical
When you go for tropical interior designs, make sure that you end up with timeless décor. Trends come and go, but the timeless taste remains relevant all through. Just make sure that the décor is warm, hospitable, and comfortable. This style is inspired by sandy beaches, blue seas, and tropical plantations. Of course, your tropical interior design will never be complete without the natural accent of bamboo, rattan, and wildly colored orchids.
Your tropical interior design should feature entryways and windows that have the floral architectural motifs of a tropical accent. It should hit your guests with the mood of relaxation and rest at the entrance. You can achieve the effect by placing huge and potted tropical plants by the sides of doors and windows. They should usher you into a décor that is painted crisp blue or with white stripes on the wall. You can adorn the walls with framed palm leaves, and woven or bamboo artwork.
For your floor, install bamboo or wooden floorboards. They really compliment the look and set up the warmth. Soften your floor with animal and fur rugs or carpets with tropical accents. For furniture, don’t lack any bamboo items like stools, tables, and beds.
Read our slightly longer article on how you might achieve a modern tropical decor style.
Urban Modern
This style is a rich amalgam of minimalism, contemporary philosophy, and industrial utility. The urban lifestyle of modern-day living inspires this style. It requires making the most use of congested city apartments. Still, this style infuses practicality and simplified aesthetics to enrich such spaces. The modern urban design infuses edgy designs and elegance in functional minimalism impressively.
This style offers enlarged furniture that is of simplified design and clean straight lines. It creates a dramatic effect by contrasting large items with matching smaller items like countertops, tables and stools, and artwork and mirrors. The windows and doorways are also oversized for effective lighting during the day.
This style emphasizes color continuity. Having a common color for walls, furniture, and flooring creates some elegance that drapes with simplicity. It also creates a continuous flow of positivity. This is because the preferred background colors should be blue, grey, cream, or white for inspiring warmth and calmness. To break the monotony of color, accessorize the décor with polished steel knobs, faucets, stair rails, and brackets.
Victorian
This is the most popular and flamboyant style of interior design that ever existed. It is deeply based on opulence, extravagance, softening, dressing, and ornamentation. It originates from the Hegemony of Queen Victoria at a time when William Shakespeare was at the height of his artistic and lyrical career.
This style features dazzling beauty and elaborate detailing. It employs vibrant and beautiful colors as well as skilled sculpting. This style is exuberant, royal, and fitting for spacious decors. Nonetheless, the typical homeowner can infuse some elements of the Victorian interior design style to flaunt expensive tastes and remarkable financial achievements.
One of the inexpensive ways to achieve this style is through candle lighting. Get intricately engraved candle-holders with impeccably polished finishes and precious metal coating. Also, accessorize your walls with prestigious lamps. Paint your walls with dark and rich colors such as dark brown, scarlet, and crimson. Use floral wallpaper prominently on your walls and place ostentatious artwork on the bare parts of the wall. To crown the softened and decorated walls, use lush, soft, thick, and royal fabric to adorn your windows. This style requires opulent curtains to execute.
You can use different ornate and pricey flooring methods such as matting, parqueting, and carpeting. Make sure that your floor cloths match with the color palette of your furniture. The furniture used determines whether your Victorian interior design succeeds or flops. It must have ornately carved edges and pompous upholstery. The furniture must also be generously staffed and dressed in soft and expensive linen for comfort and eccentricity.
All images used in this article are for illustrative purposes.
Clint Retterath says
Farmhouse Love that style!