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What is Art Deco Style, and How You Can Decorate Your Interior?
Art Deco is the style for those who like to feel sophistication, luxury, and elegance in their home interiors.
I am not going to lie, Art Deco is one of the expensive interior styles (luxury is not a cheap thing), but I will share some ideas to keep the cost down if needed. Everyone deserves to decorate what they wish for.
This style has endured 100 years. It first originated in France and was heavily used in design between World War I and World War II. In the ’20s and ’30s, Art Deco was the most popular style.
One of the most important architectural examples of Art Deco is Chrysler Building in midtown Manhattan.
Optimism is the main idea behind the Art Deco style. After World War I, shortage and suffering people wanted to feel the abundance until World War II.
Then pessimism appeared once again, and the Art Decor style declined significantly.
After the Art Deco style influence, Mid Century Modern followed and got famous.
Today, it is a style that is loved and used by many famous restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs interiors and still influences many interior styles such as Hollywood regency.
Enough with the history lesson. Let’s take a closer look to make it easy for you to bring Art Deco style into your home.
What Are the Main Characteristics of the Art Deco Furniture?
To find and buy Art Deco furniture pieces, you need to know some characteristic features.
They are large-scale pieces with lots of strong curve lines.
In this style, furnishing generally is the shine and the lacquer used. Even wood is typically lacquered.
You should definitely incorporate some shiny or lacquered pieces in your interior to homage the Art Deco style.
One of the signature furniture pieces of this style is the speed chair designed by Paul Frankel.
Mirrored furniture, which has made a big come back in recent years, is also one of the star furniture of Art Deco style.
You should incorporate a mirrored console table, a mirrored nightstand, or a mirror coffee table. If you ask me how many mirrored pieces I should use, 1-2 pieces for one room is ideal.
Chrome framed furniture pieces are also commonly use. For example, chrome-framed coffee tables, chrome-framed chairs are easy to use pieces.
Chrome was a new material during that period, so anything made of chrome will perfectly fit in your Art Deco designs.
A deep leather club chair, an armoire, and a lounge sofa are some of the other Art Deco staples.
Art Deco Love to Use Patterns
Patterns aren’t loved in many interior styles, but Art Deco is not one of them.
Specifically geometric patterns, like classic chevron patterns, circles, stripes, and zig-zag.
Other prints popular in this style are a sunburst, stars, greek key, and animal prints.
Be sure to throw in a zebra, cheetah, leopard, or any other animal print of your choice into your Art Deco style room.
You can easily throw a pillow using one of these prints or use it as wallpaper. Wallpapers with patterns were so on demand during this time period.
Art Deco Style Bedrooms
Don’t expect something straightforward for Art Deco style bedrooms!
Beds often had oversized headboards and were made of metal or wood.
Using motifs in headboards is so popular. These motifs are generally selected in Egyptian or Aztec designs.
All of us were aware that this style was all about glamour and luxury. Materials that you used in your bedroom should reflect that.
Mirrors are so harmonious with Art Deco style, and you can use them in your headboards.
Diamond shape mirror walls are an option modern and sophisticated that you can use in your bedroom.
You can use satin, mohair, velvet, suede, and exotic animal hides (In 20 century, they were using real animal hides. However, I can’t stand this slaughter. Now we have lots of options in fake furs, and we should use them instead) for bed textiles.
Art Deco Types of Wood Finishes
If you want to feel Art Deco head to foot, you need to incorporate distinctive wood finishes in your flooring and furnishings.
Specifically, exotic woods, such as ebony, rosewood, walnut, maple, and teak commonly used in high-end pieces.
These are costly woods, so if you couldn’t afford the expensive woods, you can buy less expensive wood lacquered pieces that still gave a similar appearance.
Color Schemes of Art Deco Houses
Art deco style uses lots of neutral colors, but I do not think that it lacks drama.
You can accomplish this by using a strong contrast in colors such as black and white.
Black and white color schemes are so popular in Art Deco style. You can even decorate a whole house by just using black and white.
Other neutrals you can confidently work with are cream, beige, gray, taupe, and brown.
As an accent color, go with one or two bold hues to make it noticeable against a dramatic black and white backdrop. Think yellow, fuchsia, or red.
Art Deco Lighting
Light fixtures are crucial in designing an interior style because they vary very specifically for different styles.
You will see a lot of layered lighting in Art Deco interiors.
Sconces and torchieres are big in this style. You can add one of them as ambient lighting in an Art Deco style room.
Try to select shiny finishes in your light fixtures, such as chrome or brass.
Table lamps are also an option. You can find strong geometric shape table lamps made of frosted, enameled, or colored tiffany style glass.
Chandeliers with multiple tiers and often incorporated with crystals are one of the iconic Art Deco lightings. Did you hear of helix style chandelier?
Art Deco Style Home Accessories
Home accessories are the easiest way to change your room atmosphere.
By changing your decorative accessories, you can modify your home decor style.
Let’s take a look at Art Deco decor elements to make you started:
Bold oil paintings from bold artists such as Picasso, Matisse will perfectly fit in an Art Deco style room.
I mentioned that this style inspired the Hollywood style, so you can definitely use black and white movie posters or portraits of movie stars as your wall decor.
Andy Warhol is another artist you can use to bring some colors into your room.
Sunburst mirror is one of the iconic decorative elements for Art Deco and Mid Century Modern style.
Except for these, you can find decorative elements made of shiny materials such as chrome, brass, crystal and use them in your room.
If you have a chance, you can find an accessory from 20th-century antiques.
Stores that You can Find Art Deco Furniture Pieces
You now know everything about this style’s design elements, but I want to make your shopping way more manageable.
Stores that you can find some tremendous Art Deco furniture pieces are a delicate issue. So let’s discover some of them:
- Christopher Guy is a designer who designs Art Deco furniture pieces. However, prices are high.
- One Kings Lane for Art Deco inspired accessories.
- You can find accessories on Etsy as well.
- Vintage Hardware offers beautiful Art Deco lighting.
You should know that the Art Deco style needs to have a higher budget. Furnishing space entirely in Art Deco style is an expensive thing to do.
So rather than doing that, try to add a few Art Deco piece that I mentioned as iconic in your room if you don’t have the budget for that.
After knowing everything about this style, do you think that Art Deco is your style?
Feel free to make a comment and share your ideas. We love to hear your thoughts.
