When it comes to interior design, think of your home as the blank canvas on which you can pour out your personality. This individual expression can be accomplished in any number of ways. You could take inspiration from the home you grew up in, emulate appealing styles you’ve seen online, concentrate on statement pieces you love and build around them — or anything in between.
There are seemingly countless interior design style types, each with its own slight variations, and it can be difficult to tell the difference between them — like contemporary and modern styles, for example. It also gets tricky to put a finger on just what you like about a staged room in a magazine. This interior design style guide will break down some of the most popular and recognizable design styles into their basic elements, teach you how to replicate them in your own home and even share a bit of the history behind the look.
Our first design style we’re going to look at is traditional.
Origin and Inspiration
The traditional style is quite the mash-up, drawing from 18th-century English, 19th-century neoclassical, French country and British Colonial influences. It also aligns with the classic style in its preference for symmetry.
Defining Elements
The pillars of the traditional style are consistency, order and attention to detail. Far from stuffy, a traditional home is meant to feel calm and comfortable. Any edges are soft and curved, and the color palette contains muted and understated shades or patterns.
Personality and Lifestyle Match
In some cases, a person’s childhood home maybe was styled in a traditional way, so that’s what they end up imitating in their own living spaces. Just in general, traditional room design is suitable for those who want to keep things simple and unfussy — and for those who feel content rather than restless and bored among orderly décor.
How to Achieve It in Your Home
Because most of our budgets don’t allow for purchasing original pieces, traditional furnishings are most often reproductions. Solids, stripes, plaids and floral patterns are commonly used — such as those on this living room sofa — and both furniture pieces and accents are typically placed in coordinating pairs.