Decorating
So Your Style Is: Traditional
This elegant home design style borrows from the past without looking stuffy, teaming elegant pieces with warm tones and textures. Here’s how
What it is: OK, we admit it, traditional is a pretty broad category. It can mean different things to different people, tipping towards country house style in one home and town house elegance in another. Nevertheless, certain key design elements crop up again and again in traditional schemes. This is an effortless style that is relaxed, not rarefied. Elegant but comfortable furniture shares space with statement chandeliers, generous curtains, patterned rugs and a palette of warm tones.
Why it works: This is a look that manages to be both seriously gorgeous and wonderfully familiar. Many of us grew up with traditional elements in our home, whether that was thick swagged curtains or comfy leather armchairs, and today’s traditional schemes plunder the past for inspiration while still looking relevant and stylish. Where modern homes feature sleek surfaces and contemporary colours, a traditional room revels in an abundance of textures and materials, placing equal emphasis on the finish (wallpaper, carpet, elegant lighting) and the furniture (restrained, well-made, perhaps owned for a lifetime).
You’ll love it if: You have a growing collection of pieces passed down through the family, you’ve never liked roller blinds, and you prefer Downton Abbey to Doctor Who.
Why it works: This is a look that manages to be both seriously gorgeous and wonderfully familiar. Many of us grew up with traditional elements in our home, whether that was thick swagged curtains or comfy leather armchairs, and today’s traditional schemes plunder the past for inspiration while still looking relevant and stylish. Where modern homes feature sleek surfaces and contemporary colours, a traditional room revels in an abundance of textures and materials, placing equal emphasis on the finish (wallpaper, carpet, elegant lighting) and the furniture (restrained, well-made, perhaps owned for a lifetime).
You’ll love it if: You have a growing collection of pieces passed down through the family, you’ve never liked roller blinds, and you prefer Downton Abbey to Doctor Who.
Dine in style
An important space in a traditional home, the dining room should be spacious and sophisticated. Forget open-plan living, where the kitchen is visible from the table – a traditional home has a dedicated space for dinner parties, which includes a handsome table and abundant seating.
Learn how to mix and match your dining room style
An important space in a traditional home, the dining room should be spacious and sophisticated. Forget open-plan living, where the kitchen is visible from the table – a traditional home has a dedicated space for dinner parties, which includes a handsome table and abundant seating.
Learn how to mix and match your dining room style
Pick a practical kitchen
Use the traditional dresser as inspiration for a kitchen scheme. Incorporate a mix of cupboard space, deep drawers and open shelves, teamed with practical tiled walls and plenty of worktop space for food prep.
Use the traditional dresser as inspiration for a kitchen scheme. Incorporate a mix of cupboard space, deep drawers and open shelves, teamed with practical tiled walls and plenty of worktop space for food prep.
Be generous with fabric
In recent years, the trend has been towards minimal window treatments, from neat Roman blinds to New England-inspired shutters, but a traditional scheme says bah humbug to that! Instead, it embraces a more-is-more approach. That means deep swags, pretty pelmets and curtains made from metres of lush fabric, pooling generously on the floor.
In recent years, the trend has been towards minimal window treatments, from neat Roman blinds to New England-inspired shutters, but a traditional scheme says bah humbug to that! Instead, it embraces a more-is-more approach. That means deep swags, pretty pelmets and curtains made from metres of lush fabric, pooling generously on the floor.
Make a strong first impression
Traditional-style hallways make a grand statement and set the tone for the rest of the house. Wallpaper creates welcome pattern in this space, while a radiator is artfully concealed behind a handsome cover. The scale is generous, too, from the large glass pendant light to the tall mirror.
Browse 10 ways to create a stylish hallway
Traditional-style hallways make a grand statement and set the tone for the rest of the house. Wallpaper creates welcome pattern in this space, while a radiator is artfully concealed behind a handsome cover. The scale is generous, too, from the large glass pendant light to the tall mirror.
Browse 10 ways to create a stylish hallway
Find unique furniture
Traditional describes a broad sweep of interior styles, and within it lies a big range of furniture, from antique to unique. Dark wood often features on traditional pieces, as do ornate shapes and fine detailing, but comfort is as important as style.
Traditional describes a broad sweep of interior styles, and within it lies a big range of furniture, from antique to unique. Dark wood often features on traditional pieces, as do ornate shapes and fine detailing, but comfort is as important as style.
Have fun with wallpaper
A traditional wall covering that brings pattern and colour to the largest surface in a room, wallpaper is a great addition to a traditional scheme. Choose classic chinoiserie or chintz, or go for a more up-to-date take on a trad floral.
A traditional wall covering that brings pattern and colour to the largest surface in a room, wallpaper is a great addition to a traditional scheme. Choose classic chinoiserie or chintz, or go for a more up-to-date take on a trad floral.
Hang wooden frames
A simple grouping of old family photos, mounted in picture frames made from honey-toned wood, makes an inexpensive but pleasingly traditional display.
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Are you a fan of traditional style? Tell us how you incorporate this style in the Comments.
A simple grouping of old family photos, mounted in picture frames made from honey-toned wood, makes an inexpensive but pleasingly traditional display.
TELL US...
Are you a fan of traditional style? Tell us how you incorporate this style in the Comments.
The traditional look takes a mix of tones and colours, all of them soft, and blends them together to create a scheme that looks elegant, but relaxed. Forget accent brights or muted greys and go for something in between: soft peach and dusky red, mauve, sage and brown.