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Tuscan Decorating Style Secrets
Get inspired by these authentic Tuscan interiors, and learn how to create your own Tuscan decorating style.
Decorating Tuscan style is fairly easy if you’re starting with a home that already has all the architectural features ...
... the barrelled ceilings, exposed beams, rugged stone walls, arched doorways (and the views!)
But even if your home has no Tuscan design elements whatsoever, you can still create an authentically Tuscan mood, look & feel for it. I’ll show you how.
In fact, that’s the point of all the links listed below (the blue ones are active, the black ones will be soon):
To give you ideas for creating Tuscan interiors that don’t require you to go out, hire an architect and start over on your house.
1. Room by Room:
2. Tuscan Kitchens:
- Tuscan kitchen design
- Pictures of Tuscan kitchens
- Typical accessories for Tuscan kitchens
- Tuscan kitchen decor for a quick makeover
3. Tuscan Decorating Styles:
- Modern Tuscan interiors
- Really rustic Tuscan home decorating ideas
- Tuscan interior design, Palazzo style
4. Tuscan Home Design Elements:
- Mixing elements of Tuscan home decor into a contemporary home
- Tuscan color schemes
- Tuscan window treatments
Bonus Material: Tuscan Living
- How to make pasta (an illustrated guide!)
"Secrets" of Tuscan Decorating?
 Unless you live in Tuscany, or have friends or family living there, you will rarely get to see authentic Tuscan interiors.
The refurbished, redecorated Tuscan farms and villas that usually make it into interior decorating magazines and coffee table books aren't, for the most part, owned by Tuscans (or even Italians).
They often look very beautiful and extremely inspiring, and they can provide you with great ideas for adding a chic or rustic touch to your own home ...
... but to someone living in Tuscany, they might not look much like Tuscan interiors at all.
So if you're after original Tuscan home decorating ideas, check out the pictures in this section. They all show authentic Tuscan decorating in farmsteads and town houses, in different parts of Tuscany.
A Tuscan Flavor
 I’ve just returned from a two-week stint of living and working in Tuscany, and at the end of those two weeks, I couldn’t remember why I needed to catch a particular plane to London.
When you visit Tuscany, it's hard to pick out one single reason why you'll want to stay. The whole 'package' is incredibly seductive.
There's the legendary, warm Italian hospitality, glorious food, a rolling green-and-brown countryside, sweet and herby scents everywhere, and nightingales in the valleys, singing their hearts out all through the night.
(One afternoon, I got soaked on the back of a jeep while driving through a cloudburst to a Tuscan farmhouse. Even that was rather fun ... well, sort of.)
People graciously welcomed me into their houses, shared their delicious home-cooked meals with me, taught me how to make pasta, and explained why Tuscan interiors look the way they do.
So I’d like to share all that with you!
All Natural
 The rustic version of the Tuscan decorating style reflects how poor most people in this part of Italy were for much of the past century.
If you had a podere, a small home with a piece of land, you were lucky – it was usually enough to feed your family.
Most building materials would have come from your land as well. Your house was made from the rocks you dug up in the fields. Furniture was simple, sturdy and unpainted.
Of course, there are also large country villas and castles in Tuscany, but even though they are more lavishly designed and decorated, they too have a slightly rustic feel – it is as if all of Tuscany was about appreciating what the land provides for you.
In Color
A Tuscan color scheme can cover the whole spectrum from pale peachy cream through burnt orange to reddish browns.
Add to that a blue sky, white fluffy clouds (except right before cloudbursts ;-), red poppies in ripe cornfields, and a countryside in every imaginable shade of green …
… I know this sounds a bit kitschy, but it really does look gorgeous, and the color combination can be turned into a great background for your Tuscan home decor.
With Gusto
 Tuscan cuisine is usually referred to as cucina povera, ‘poor cooking’: simple ingredients, prepared in a fuss-free style, with leftovers recycled into new dishes. And boy, does it taste good.
It’s sun-ripened, slow-cooked food, prepared in Tuscan kitchens with love and quite possibly the best olive oil on the planet.
The same principles of simplicity and quality also apply to almost any Tuscan decorating style.
Tuscan Decorating Style Recipes
 Here are some basics for adapting the Tuscan decorating style to your home:
1. Stick to simple (wooden, unpainted) furniture.
2. Use upholstery in light neutrals or solid colors, and add a few (floral) prints in a Tuscan country color scheme.
3. Paint the odd wall or ceiling (or a cupboard, if you must) in colors that are typical of Tuscan villages.
4. Use natural, even roughly textured materials wherever you can.
5. Add white cotton (with a bit of lace) to windows and beds.
6. Use terracotta and simple porcelain in the kitchen, and maybe add a few decorated plates and bowls.
7. Keep lots of flowers in pots at your doorstep and in window boxes, and
… cook with passion, and eat with gusto.
For all the richly illustrated detail, and tips on how to create the look (or fake it), please pick from the lists below:
Tuscan decorating style for…
Tuscan kitchens:
- Tuscan kitchen design
- Pictures of Tuscan kitchens
- Typical kitchen accessories
- Tuscan kitchen decor for a quick makeover
Types of Tuscan decorating styles:
Tuscan Home Design Elements:
- Mixing elements of Tuscan home decor into a contemporary home
- Tuscan color schemes
- Tuscan window treatments
Bonus Material: Tuscan Living
- How to make pasta (an illustrated guide!)
Once you have exhausted this list, you could always ...
... return from Tuscan Decorating Style to the Dream Home Decorating Homepage.
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