In today’s homes, we are seeing an array of designs that bring to life peoples individual styles; much more organic and eclectic than ever before. The days of each piece matching, from the tables to the pillows and window treatments made from the same fabrics, are mostly a thing of the past in today’s fun styles. With this in mind, often times we are asked to help identify what our clients “style” is. Whether it is traditional, transitional, contemporary or modern what is the difference between any of them? We thought in this entry we would give a brief overview of what these styles mean in your space.
Traditional
Often characterized by furnishings with heavier roll-arms, turned legs with matching pieces filling in the hardwoods to complete a room. This style is where you will frequently find camel backs, tight back, and wood trimmed seating all around. Rich harvest colors in brocades, tapestries, and elegant silks compliment beautiful velvets and supple leathers.
Transitional
This style made its debut when styles took a drastic turn from traditional to contemporary, hence transitional. Cleaner lines, smaller roll arms, straighter legs, toned down variations of patterns and colors appeared. These rooms offer a great way to blend the old with the new, creating a more eclectic look and feel.
Contemporary
Frequently confused with modern styling for it’s straight lines, this minimalist approach takes very clean lines and pairs them with smooth finished woods and mirrored furnishings. Track arms and tapered legs are the standard in this look. Fields of like-minded neutrals will often times be accented with a pop of the years hottest Pantone of the season.
Modern
Sometimes referred to as cold, modern styling incorporates straight lines with drastic geometric architecture and incorporated unique bases of unexpected materials. Often seen with glass and shiny metal accent tables this style is exemplified in Scandinavian and Italian designs that are found here in the U.S. Color pallets will vary but usually, a monochromatic effect is the classic approach to achieving this trend-following style.
Mid-Century Modern
Brought to popularity in the 1950’s and early 1960’s in the U.S., this style is seeing an exciting return to homes around the country. Inspired by modern trend-setters of the time, you will find low-backed furnishings often with low arms of unique materials. Tight backs with unique body curving seating, with specific stitching and tufting, are shown in menswear fabrics and split-hide leathers to create a look of simplicity that allows the construction of the piece to do all the talking. Tables are woods with simple peg legs, open box looks, and interesting metals in distinctive geometric styles.
If this has given you the style inspiration you needed to get moving on that interior design project you’ve been holding off on, I’m ready to help you make it the best it can be.