How to Decorate a Traditional Style Home

May 23, 2020

Elif Naz Kaya

Elif Naz Kaya

Architect/ Designer

If you are a huge interior design fan and want to learn some inside tricks, this is where you need to be. More about me…

How to Decorate a Traditional Style Home

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How to Decorate a Traditional Style Home

This article will tell you how to decorate your home with traditional style, detect traditional style furniture pieces the moment you see them, create your traditional home color palette, and so much more.

When I hear the phrase Traditional style, the first thing that comes to mind would be curved furniture pieces, adornments, floral print fabrics, claw-footed tables, or oriental rugs. 

You might know all of these, but the real question is: How can you decorate your home with Traditional Style?

Some of you may think that the Traditional interior design style is outdated, but it’s not. It is a timeless style and can be easily made to be comfortable, even casual.

Traditional homes are classics that will never lose their popularity.

I see lots of people already using this style in their homes and still decorating with the latest furniture pieces or accessories. 

One of the beautiful features of this style is that you can effortlessly mix it with new, trendy interior design styles.

One of these mixes already has a name and became the most popular 21st-century interior design style. You probably heard the name of the Transitional style.

In a nutshell, using a traditional interior design style is fashionable and is always open to adding accessories or furniture for a fresh look. 

Before we start, this Traditional Home Decor board will help you to get inspired and imagine your home decoration.

[lwptoc]

Traditional Style Furniture Pieces

The main feature of the Traditional interior design style is that you will see more curved lines than straight lines on all furniture.

Before we jump on to furniture styles, I want to mention furniture arrangements in Traditional homes: formal symmetry.

The use of formal symmetry is key to Traditional interiors.

You can design the whole room or just a wall with formal symmetry, but you need to use formal symmetry somewhere in the room for Traditional style. 

This means you will be purchasing many of your items in pairs, like a pair of armchairs or a pair of table lamps.

Multiple furniture styles are often included under the umbrella of traditional style. Exact Traditional style types of furniture are high quality and well made from wood (like antiques).

These furnishings were named after historical royalty and designers.

Queen Anne Furniture

Queen Anne style furniture is lighter, meaning it is less chunky than some other similar styles.

Two of the most common characteristics of this style are the curved cabriole leg and the pad foot.

It’s important to know the leg and foot characteristics of furniture. It will tell you a lot about what style that furniture piece belongs to.

curved cabriole leg and the pad foot

Chippendale Furniture

Chippendale style furniture closely resembles the Queen Anne style.

Now let’s talk about the legs; this style of furniture utilizes a few different leg styles. We have the Queen Anne style cabriole legs because it has become so popular.

Chippendale furniture also has the straight Marlborough leg and carved Rococo legs.

The most iconic chair of this style is the ribbon back chair. Do you recognize that the Chippendale influenced by the Gothic style?

straight Marlborough leg
carved Rococo legs

Sheraton Style

Sheraton style main characteristics are the chair has straight square backs with openwork splats.

Legs are round and straight but sometimes tapered, reeded or fluted to resemble Greek columns.

Delicacy is a crucial feature of Sheraton style furniture.

If you see hardware shaped like a lion’s head or a rosette, there is a good chance that this is a Sheraton piece.

Chippendale Furniture

Modern Pieces of Traditional Style

You might see other furniture pieces in this style include a Chesterfield sofa, club chairs, and Wing back chairs.

How to Decorate a Traditional Style Home
Modern Pieces Of Traditional Style

These are the furniture pieces that you can find anywhere and in any color. Tufted furniture is highly sought after.

A skirt on the bottom of the chair and couches is also a standard feature for Traditional style, but using a tailored skirt will add a modern flavor.

You can choose a simple white tailored skirt couch and add traditional pieces of accessory collections like china, figurines, or plates to emphasize the modern classic look.

Other usual accessories include vases, candleholders, elegant bowls, and gilt-framed mirrors.

Traditional Style Home Material Choices

Of course, the material choices of an interior design style where even the furniture with royal names will be of good quality.

High-quality woods such as mahogany, walnut, maple, and cherry are ideal for traditional-style homes.

Expensive fabrics are commonly used, such as silk, cashmere, and velvet. 

However, for a modern traditional look, you can use more casual fabrics like linen and cotton.

Traditional Home Color Palette

Overall, color palettes for Traditional homes use more neutrals, but some intense colors such as dark rich browns, greens, blues, and reds can be useful.

When using these intense colors, the crucial part is staying true to other Traditional elements like furniture styles.

Traditional Homes Color Palette

Traditional homes commonly use white color on the ceilings, and for walls, you can use white, taupe, cream, or beige.

For a rare look, burgundy and navy are excellent wall color choices for your Traditional style home color paletteUsing a pop-up color like these as a backdrop to a stunning piece of furniture creates a dramatic look.

Bold colors are also great to use in artwork and home accessories for this style.

Traditional Style Patterns

Traditional style uses patterns. Common patterns in Traditional homes include floral, plaid, toile, stripes, and paisley.

You can use patterns in your rug, window coverings, pillows, or anywhere you want, even in your furniture pieces.

Using patterns might sometimes be complicated, so you need to stick with the same colors to avoid a confused look when using these patterns.

If you choose to use patterns in your rug, orientals, Persians, or kilims are reliable choices.

I know that these rugs can be expensive, but finding machine-made ones made from polypropylene rather than human-made rugs can cost a lot less.

How to Decorate a Traditional Style Home

Where to Find Traditional Style Furniture

Consider your budget, and set up your expectations to spend more on the traditional style pieces than on casual interior design styles.

Starting your shopping with local antique stores to find your star elements such as a side table, lighting, or an accessory and decorating around it is a perfect way to reduce your expenses.

Antiques can be expensive, so here are other furniture retailers for this style: Ethan Allen, Thomasville, and One Kings Lane.

I would love to hear from you in the comment section below! I am also here to answer any questions you might have!

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2 Comments

  1. khaled

    thank you for that great article
    best & regards

    Reply
  2. Pauline

    Thank you for your help.
    I start ok, but get lost on windows and drapery and fill in

    Reply

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