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If you look at home decorating styles from different cultures, it can help you step back and see your own home with fresh eyes. Click here for a list of the decorating styles this site will cover - or read on for an overview and a few snippets of interior decorating style history (you’ll get to the list a little further down).
Every culture develops distinct ways of living and homemaking in harmony with their natural environment and belief systems.
Even the most humble homes have a character and beauty that’s special – and that sets them apart from similar home designs a few hundred miles away.
Country Originals
The most enduring and original interior decorating styles are the ones you can still find away from the cities.
A traditional country home feels timeless because it is made to last.
Its blueprint has been developed over hundreds of years, in response to the landscape, the climate, the requirements of farm work and of running an extended-family household.
Original country home decorating styles are, strictly speaking, not interior design styles.
There is nothing ‘designed’ about them – no one sat down and said, “Right, let’s develop a stylish interior design concept for this west-facing living room!”
Similarly, redecorating in a new interior decorating style wouldn’t have entered the mind of someone who lived in a country home, say, 50 years ago. You usually ‘got it right’ the first time, and then you stopped worrying about it.
I love the wonderful variety of country home decorating styles (that’s why they have their own ‘button’ on this site). You can currently find short descriptions of Swedish, French, Swiss and Italian country styles there – more are on the way.
City Fashions
Interior design styles, on the other hand, are much more at home in towns and cities. They go in and out of fashion all the time. Sometimes they are inspired by the interior decorating styles (or fashions) of foreign countries - whatever is considered ‘exotic’ (read: expensive and hard to get) or ‘chic’ at the time.
For example, the Swedish ‘Gustavian’ style started out as a copycat version of the royal court in France (well, okay, maybe calling the castle of Versailles an example of ‘home decorating' is taking it a bit too far!)
Starting around the 1850s, these ‘schools’ created the concept of lifestyle design: dress, fine art, furniture, poetry, textiles and home decor were all part of a way of life.
In this tradition, home decorating styles have now turned into home decorating fashions, and fashion houses launch ‘home’ collections at least once a year. We're told what our walls should be wearing this spring, and that it's probably time to update our living-room.
If you've ever felt the pressure to spend time, energy and disposable income, dressing your home up in the latest interior decorating fashion - even when you're actually happy with its current state - that's your opportunity to create style rather than follow fashion.
Your home is the perfect place to surround yourself with what you love and what inspires you, and pursue happiness ... your way!
And great design isn't about fashion. Sometimes it's even the opposite of fashion. Really stylish homes feel 'right' rather than 'hip', and they 'age' very gracefully.
Fashion goes out of fashion. Style, never.
(So many famous designers are supposed to have said this - I won't try and decide which one said it first!)
Let’s just have a quick look at how we could define ‘style’.
”Style”
Of course, this topic would easily fill a whole library. I’ll spare you the details and propose the following summary:
Something that has ‘style’ is usually
- well-considered for its purpose
- graceful (with ‘good bones’ and pleasing lines)
- simple rather than fussy or showy
- useful, beautiful, or both
- well-made, of quality materials
- in other words, it’s something that looks great and works.
'Stylish' does not have to mean
- expensive
- exclusive
- exotic
- rare
- old
- made by a famous designer or brand.
You can create a very stylish home on a shoestring, or you could be extremely rich and have very little sense of style.
Home Decorating and Interior Design Styles
Most interior decorating styles have developed over long periods of time, and some instantly appeal to us today while others don’t.We have access to so much information, so many images and materials that we can ‘pick and choose’ and develop our own, personal take on interior design and decorating.
So here's a list of interior decorating styles for you to browse (as soon as they're written).
Country Home Decorating Styles:
- Italian Country
- Swiss Country
- Swedish Country
- French Country
- English Cottage
- Beach Cottage
19th/20th Century Interior Decorating Styles:
- Victorian
- Arts & Crafts
- Art Deco
Interior Decorating Styles from around the World:
- Japanese
- Mexican
- Italian/Tuscan
- French
- Moroccan
- Western
- Asian
- Scandinavian
- Mediterranean
Current Interior Decorating Styles:
- Zen
- Contemporary
- Modern (including Modern Classic)
(You see, I’ve got my work cut out for me ;-)
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