Have you ever gone to your neighbor’s or cousin’s house and wondered how they got their living room to look like a cutout from a magazine? Decorating our home to look unique can be a challenge, especially if you want it to look Pinterest perfect. The following top 12 interior design styles are all lovely, and if you’re a free spirit, you may have a difficult time choosing just one. As you learn about each design style, you’ll figure out which ones attract you and what to do if you start to fall in love with too many.
Contemporary Design
You can’t go wrong with contemporary interior design. It’s always current, although the style is always evolving. Contemporary home design diverges from modern aesthetics while borrowing from time periods and the current most popular trends. It’s a sleek and simple design with clean lines. Using a neutral color scheme gives off the look of luxury and will keep your design timeless and easy to update.
Traditional Design
Also known as classic, many who adopt this design style are going for a new traditional. The style is timeless and well known to most people. It’s popular for its ornately designed dark woods and luxury textiles like silk and velvet, which people use on furniture, bedding, and drapery. Commonly, the style includes patterns like floral, stripes, and damask, and people often choose a neutral color palette, bringing in pops of color with artwork.
Transitional Design
Increasing in popularity, transitional design combines traditional and contemporary modern design and marries the best of both worlds. It’s characterized by solid furniture items that are robust and slightly oversized. If you use this style, choose a few accent pieces and décor items. Your bold focal pieces will speak for themselves. You can use area rugs and pillows to decorate. In transitional design, you want people to focus on the modern lines of your furniture.
Pro Tip: Most people use a neutral and monochrome color scheme when working with a transitional design.
Minimalist Design
The minimalist design is inspired by the idea that less is more. You embrace negative space and incorporate fitting pieces into your design. Use a fireplace, large piece of artwork, or a giant couch as the focal piece of your design and include minimal accents. Bare walls and clean lines are the characteristics of minimalist design. You’ll also want to use a neutral color palette; white is popular in minimalist spaces.
Pro Tip: Use multifunctional furniture in your minimalist design to save on space and avoid clutter.
Mid-Century Modern Design
Often confused with contemporary design, modern actually refers to a specific time period. The style is often mixed with others like country, farmhouse, or traditional and is known for its clean lines and smooth surfaces. Those who utilize this style stick to metal, chrome, and glass, and include furniture with neutral fabrics. You can feature some bold colors through accent pieces like artwork.
Eclectic Design
If rules aren’t for you, you’ll love eclectic design. It’s characterized by free-spirited, bohemian aesthetics, and it allows you a lot of freedom in how you design your space. Just about anything goes with eclectic design, though most rooms that model it are high energy and layer unique fabrics. Typically, you bring specific items together to create a culture-rich interior that results in fabulous color combinations.
Modern Farmhouse Design
Influenced by western culture, this is one of the most popular vintage décor designs. People enjoy it for its repurposed barn doors, exposed rafting, and mix of materials like wood, leather, and metal. While many people use natural colors like green, brown, and orange to match their farmhouse aesthetic, blues and reds will give your design an Americana feel.
Coastal Design
Beach lovers will adore coastal style. Not to be confused with nautical, coastal is about the romance of the sea. You won’t find anchors and seashells—unless that’s what you want. Try to picture the captain’s quarters on a ship. Coastal style typically includes straight lines and stripes. The color palette is blue and green with bursts of pink, purple, orange, and yellow to brighten the space. Furniture is typically made from natural sources like bamboo, wicker, and mahogany.
Pro Tip: Add touches of a tropical theme to your coastal design by adding exotic prints and décor to your home.
Scandinavian Design
This beautiful design style uses natural materials and clean lines. It leans toward minimalist while retaining a welcoming atmosphere. Simple yet functional furniture characterizes this design style, which is all about ease and logic. A typical color palette for Scandinavian design style is black and white with greys and blues.
English Countryside Design
Blending several designs, this style is inspired by the countrysides of England and France. Though people often combine it with traditional, shabby chic, and farmhouse designs, the main aesthetic of English countryside décor is that of a charming cottage. Vintage and sophisticated, the style is characterized by lots of patterns. Those who like pastels and soft fabrics enjoy this design style.
Hollywood Glam Design
Hollywood glam combines art decor and mid-century modern. The style makes a statement and uses bold colors and large furniture to do it. Most Hollywood glam designs include plush velvet pillows, antiques, exquisite crystal chandeliers, and mirrored furniture. Unique color combinations are popular with this design.
Southwestern Design
You can go multiple ways with this theme. Inspired by the North American desert, this style includes natural and warm colors like brown, red, orange, and green. It’s characterized by soft lines as well as the types of materials found in the desert, like raw wood, cactus, and bone. Furniture is often bulky with thick legs, and the upholstery is often leather or suede.
While it may be difficult to settle on one design, you can mix and match your favorites with the 80/20 rule. Work with the existing architecture of your home and any pieces of furniture you may already have when determining which of the top 12 interior design styles to include in your home. No matter which style you choose, the Great American Home Store has furniture to fit any décor. Visit our furniture stores in Memphis, TN, and our designers will help you style your space.
