25 Classic Interior Design Styles for Home Decor: Which One Do You Pick?
Are you feeling overwhelmed with all the different interior design styles out there? From modern to traditional, boho to glam, there are so many options to choose from. But what do these terms actually mean? Basically, each interior design style has its own unique characteristics, flavor, finish, and overall experience.
In our previous post Personalize Your Home Décor That Matches Your Style With Rinumvis, we have discussed some ideas for making your home truly yours, including exploring different design styles. Now, we'll share the fundamental principles of each style and guide you towards finding your ideal interior style. So sit relax, and let's learn about the exciting world of interior design!
1. Traditional
Traditional design is experiencing a resurgence in popularity. This style takes inspiration from 18th and 19th century European interiors, with a timeless approach.
You'll find classical furniture, intricate details, and rich colors in traditional spaces, resulting in formal yet functional rooms. Architecture plays a significant role, with detailed millwork like crown molding and wainscoting adding to the overall stately feel.
2. Contemporary
Contemporary design is all about the present. This style blends various design elements from the past, including minimalism, modernism, and Art Deco, to create a unique and fresh aesthetic.
Contemporary homes often have open floor plans and use lots of natural light, and materials are eco-friendly with a focus on energy conservation. Neutral colors dominate, but a pop of brightness can be seen in furniture or artwork. The end result is a home that speaks volumes about the residents, with a personality that feels both welcoming and orderly.
3. Modern
Modern The modern style is often mistaken to be harsh, stark, and austere, but in reality, it is all about simplicity. It breaks down all the elements of design into their most basic forms, emphasizing clean lines over embellishments. The neutral color palette is broken occasionally with small pops of color.
The modern style originated in the early 20th century and has now made a comeback in contemporary homes. Modern design elements border on simplicity, with no loud or daring furnishings. Modern interiors are defined by simplicity, with clean color schemes and clean individual elements. The heavy use of glass and steel adds to a welcoming feel, and the color palette features shades of black, white, blue, red, and other primary colors.
4. Midcentury Modern
This style was popular in the wake of the Second World War. It is all about embracing vibrant colors and crisp lines that define the furniture.
If you love indoor plants, then this style is ideal for you because it includes a lot of them too! The concept of this design style is to create a seamless flow between the indoors and outdoors, using design elements from various decades in the 20th century, and bringing a modern interpretation of the mid-century style. This design also emphasizes creating shared common areas within the home to encourage social interactions.
If you're a highly social person, then the Midcentury Modern design is perfect for you!Just like was the trend with almost every aspect of life those days, this interior design style emphasized on vivid use of color; from the walls to the wall arts, to the artifacts. Everything was colorful in this era. Furniture was defined by crisp lines, and indoor plants were in plenty.
5. Urban Modern
For those who want an elevated city experience, Urban Modern design is an ideal option. The style merges deluxe contemporary, modern, and industrial elements and creates a timeless appeal that is both inspiring and inviting. It is like bringing the diverse flavor of the Big Apple to your home to bring statement-making appeal to each living space.
6. Farmhouse
Farmhouse is rustic and allows us to unite with nature since it uses a lot of organic and natural materials and furniture designed accordingly.
It focuses heavily on creating a countryside vibe in the city with earthy and neutral tones. Each room has a distinct element that dominates the design, and the style includes minimalistic decor with a lack of matching furniture for authenticity. Wood is the primary material used here, creating a laid-back, utilitarian, eclectic, and sophisticated home that's both luxurious and relaxing.
7. Maximalism
If you love bold patterns, bright colors, and textures that give a unique twist to your living space, then Maximalism is the style for you. This no-holds-barred style permits mixing and matching anything to create a whimsical and visually stimulating décor.
The style doesn't have any strict guidelines, allowing creativity to flourish. However, it's important to repeat a few key colors throughout the living space to avoid overcrowding.
8. Minimalism
Opposite to Maximalism, Minimalism originated in Australia and is still trendy there. The design idea is to minimize everything, from furniture to accessories, with neutral color palettes. Every element in the home is necessary and functional, avoiding any flamboyant décor. This style is all about streamlining the living space to create clean lines and a serene ambiance.
9. Transitional
Transitional interior design is all about mixing and matching traditional furnishings with modern elements to create a unique and timeless look. This style is particularly useful in blending different interior design styles or when moving to a larger home. By combining old and new, you can achieve an elegant yet comfortable interior that speaks to your individual style.
The core idea of the transitional style is to create a home that feels traditional as well as modern at the same time. The key lies in the right balance between the two that resonates with the personalities of the people living in the house.
10. Vintage
Vintage design takes inspiration from past eras and showcases unique, character-filled pieces. From antique furniture to retro accessories, this style adds a touch of history and nostalgia to any space.
The color palette can range from soft pastels to bold jewel tones, depending on the era being referenced. By incorporating vintage elements, you can create a charming and timeless retreat that tells a story of bygone days.
11. Art Deco
The art deco style features bold yet elegant elements that blend glamour and elegance with furnishings. It has origins from the post-war era of America and Europe, born in the 1920s.
With its emphasis on geometric patterns and bold curves, this style adds a touch of elegance and sophistication to any space. Shiny brass and chrome fixtures are often used to add a touch of glamour and luxury.
12. Mid-country Modern
With cues coming heavily from the ’50s and ’60s this style has become one of the most common and relatable styles for many people. The pieces designed during this period have stood the test of time and still remain fresh, modern, and relevant. The lines on many mid-century pieces are simple, clean, and minimal and are made out of warm woods with purposeful details and styling.
13. Mediterranean Style
Mediterranean interior design originated in Greece, Spain, and Italy and is characterized by its use of columns, ornate cabinetry, and warm wood tones. The color palette is reflective of the sky and water and often includes warm terracotta shades. Large windows with minimal curtains are a hallmark of this style, creating a bright and airy feel.
14. Eclectic
Eclecticism is all about picking ideas and inspiration from a broad and diverse range of sources. The Eclectic Interior Design style creates homes that are rich and layered with ideas picked from design eras and styles spanning centuries.
This style brings contrasting style elements, colors, and textures together for a unique feel. This is chosen by people who prefer a bold décor and like expressing themselves creatively. There are hundreds of options to choose from and the output will depend on how the styles are merged.
The background colors used are usually neutral to allow the designer to highlight the accessories and furniture. Rooms designed with eclectic style have multiple focal points and work on balancing colors and textures to not overwhelm the eye.
The core idea of the eclectic style is to use all the styles from history and create something fresh, unique, and mesmerizing. It is all about creativity and the ability to use the mind freely and innovatively.
15. English Countryside Chic
English Countryside Chic is a design style inspired by the idyllic charm and rustic beauty of the English countryside. It embodies a sense of warmth, comfort, and timeless elegance, bringing the essence of nature indoors.
In this style, you'll find a harmonious blend of natural elements and classic English aesthetics. Wood is a key material, with exposed beams, hardwood floors, and rustic furniture creating a cozy and inviting atmosphere. Soft, muted colors reminiscent of nature, such as earthy tones and pastels, are commonly used to evoke a sense of tranquility.
16. Coastal
Coastal interior design notes feature light, bright, and airy environs often dreamed up in vibrant neutrals to soak up the suns rays. Common coastal color palettes include shades of light blues and greens inspired by the ocean along with an array of creams and neutrals for a relaxed yet elegant finish.
Much like the colors are nature-inspired, textiles and furniture in coastal design are of the natural variety, too. Materials like wood, jute, linen, cotton, and glass are all common. But arguably the most critical element of modern coastal interiors? Light. Lots and lots of glorious, natural light.
17. Naturalism
Naturalism, on the other hand, celebrates the beauty of the natural world through interior design. This style embraces organic materials, textures, and patterns, creating a space that feels grounded and in harmony with nature. It emphasizes the use of sustainable and eco-friendly materials, such as reclaimed wood and natural fibers, to minimize environmental impact.
18. Industrial
Industrial style is one you're probably pretty familiar with by now. Inspired by the lofty factories of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it's a design aesthetic that considers function first, then form.
Elements that are commonly associated with industrial design are, of course, rough building materials such as unfinished brick, exposed pipes and metal, worn wood, and polished concrete. Architecturally, these spaces often feature soaring ceilings, massive windows, and open floor plans. Colors tend to veer neutral, with light walls and darker, more masculine furniture.
An interesting thing to notice about industrial design is how it has subtly trickled into just about every other style out there. When our interiors are inevitably "missing something," so often the solution is adding in an edgy, industrial element.
19. Rustic
Taking inspiration from the outdoors and a combination of farmhouse and industrial interior design styles, rustic décor places an emphasis on natural and weathered finishes, raw wood, stone, and leather, with unexpected touches and an overall sophisticated bent.
We love how the room featured above fuses a varied mix of statement-making furnishings like the custom plush sherpa sofas, the industrial inspired wire pendants, and unique leather chairs. That said, we’re all for modern interior design styles that combine various elements to create a beautifully realized, one-of-a-kind room.
20. French Country
The french country style is a mix of sophisticated features and other styles like seedy enthusiasm, grange, and traditional. It’s marked by antique cabinetwork pieces and neutral womanlike designs. The design is analogous to the transitional ultramodern innards design style and is a mongrel blend of antique French, grange and seedy sharp styles.
It’s a popular style that evokes comfort and casual fineness. Its distinctive features include vocally patterned fabrics in muted colors, painted and quaint furnishings and accessories. It incorporates lots of wood and other natural accoutrements. It’s also appertained to as the parochial style as it’s further formal and refined.
Its rudiments include rich colors, bold patterns, and gold accentuations. It’s favorable with warm color tinges with medium to low intensities like soft yellows, warm pinks, baby blues and creams. It’s also connected to impregnated colors like sunbaked ochre and deep slipup reds.
21. Chinese Design
Chinese inspired interiors display bold colors along with ornate furniture and accessories. The furniture pieces tend to be carved wooden designs with hand-painted details and high-gloss lacquered surfaces.
Accessories continue this dramatic style by featuring animal motifs and mythological beasts, such as monkeys and dragons. Porcelain ginger jars, large vases and fish pots painted with complex patterns in multiple colors or in classic blue and white are also fashionable in Chinese interiors. Other stylish items frequently seen are large wall murals, plaques and folding screens, which depict historical characters and legendary scenes in vibrant or striking color palettes.
Red is a prominent color in this Asian style interior design, perhaps because it means "good luck" in Chinese culture. Other bright colors such as yellow and green are used as accents as well. Colorful paper lanterns are often made in very vibrant colors, while wood tones tend to be dark and rich in color.
22. Hollywood Regency
Hollywood Regency design style channels the glamour and opulence of Hollywood's golden era in the 1930s. It is characterized by its luxurious and dramatic aesthetic. This style embraces bold colors, metallic accents, and luxurious textures. The use of lacquered furniture, mirrored surfaces, and plush fabrics like velvet and silk is common in Hollywood Regency interiors.
The color palette ranges from bold and vibrant to black and white. Accessories and decor often feature intricate details, such as crystal chandeliers, ornate mirrors, and animal prints. Hollywood Regency interiors exude a sense of drama, sophistication, and timeless elegance.
23. Shabby Chic
Shabby Chic design style showcases a vintage and feminine aesthetic with a touch of rustic charm. It embraces worn and weathered furniture and accessories, creating a cozy and romantic atmosphere. Soft pastel colors, especially shades of pink, blue, and white, dominate the color palette. Distressed and whitewashed finishes give furniture a timeworn appearance. Floral patterns, lace, and ruffles are often incorporated into textiles and decor. Shabby Chic interiors evoke a sense of nostalgia, femininity, and casual elegance.
The Shabby Chic Style is characterized by laid-back vibes, airy lighting fixtures, antique-touch furniture, and a vintage-inspired charm. It is inspired by modern designs, but it has some elements of contemporary design.
24. Bohemian
World travelers and plant moms, this one's for you. Bohemian style favors layers of lush textiles from far-flung lands, like handwoven Moroccan rugs layered with Japanese block prints and even Malian mudcloth pillows. Expect to see plenty of natural materials, tapestries, macramé planters spilling over with lush greenery—the jungle-like plant-obsession trend is very at home in a boho space—and metals like brass and copper with a well-loved patina.
Authenticity is the name of the game here, so anything that looks like it was picked up at a flea market in a far-flung location is game for this comfortable, creative style.
25. Gothic Style
It is certainly true that Gothic interiors tend to have a dark and moody feel. However, this does not mean that your home has to feel like the set of a ghost movie. Try creating a contrast between darker elements and light, modern pieces. This can help develop a fashionable, neo-Gothic feel.
Additionally, while you should include some dark décor, natural light can be your friend. Letting the sunlight in on your Gothic interior can help make it feel elegant but welcoming. Getting the tone right can be a challenge for this style because there is a fine line between moody and creepy. However, when you get it right, the Gothic aesthetic is truly beautiful.
Have You Discovered Your Own Interior Design Style?
As you embark on the journey of selecting an interior design style, consider the elements that speak to your personality, the colors and textures that ignite your senses, and the overall ambiance that you wish to create.
No matter which classic interior design style you choose, the most important aspect is to infuse it with your personal touch. Add sentimental objects, family heirlooms, and cherished artwork to create a space that tells your story. Your home decor is not just about aesthetics but also about creating an environment that nurtures and inspires you.
So, go ahead and embark on this exciting journey of discovering the perfect interior design style for your home. Let your creativity soar, and may your living space become a beautiful reflection of your unique style and personality!