Interior Design Training: Principles of the Four Basic Style Categories

If you are beginning your coursework or self-training to become an interior designer, you want to have a firm grasp of the basics. Whether you're decorating a dorm room or a whole house, a bungalow or a penthouse, you'll find the many specific design styles fit into four broad generic categories. This overview guide will define the Casual, Formal, Traditional and Contemporary styles so you may proceed in your studies and your career with an understanding of each categories' design principles.

Formal

Formal is the look of elegant Ritz-Carlton hotels and public government buildings like the White House. While homes today are not usually constructed with 12" high baseboard moldings, hand-laid herringbone-patterned wood floors, or elaborate carved plaster ceiling and wall decorations, there are elements of the formal style of decorating that you and your clients may want to utilize in a project.

Symmetry is one of the key features of interiors and exteriors of homes designed in a formal style. Windows, furniture, paintings are elements which are most often arranged in pairs with a straight axis dominating each room. A central focal point will define a room, and it might be a beautiful window-wall looking out to a perfect lawn, a large stone fireplace centered on one key wall, or an exquisite piece of furniture. A formal style of decorating suits a home with high ceilings, large and tall windows, and architectural features such as beautifully paneled walls, columns and pilasters.

Formal style interiors are decorated to attract attention and display wealth so they include highly polished woods, glistening mirrors, highly polished brass window and door hardware, sparkling crystal chandeliers and wall sconces, and unique and interesting pieces of fine wood and upholstered furniture.

Furniture and accessories in formal interiors are often antique or fine reproductions. Woods used are generally dark and rich looking, but lighter woods are often used for decoration and inlay. Imported Oriental rugs cover polished hardwood floors. Original artwork is often elaborately framed in hand-carved gilt frames and stone or bronze figurative sculptures will be displayed on pedestals.

Contemporary

Contemporary decorating is for those who like to keep current with the latest styles and enjoy things that are of today. While it's been thought that modern interiors are cold and minimalist, today's contemporary interiors are often comfortable and welcoming without being cluttered and dark. It's a style that is equally appropriate for offices and homes, lofts and stores.

A contemporary style home can be quiet and serene, and may give the appearance of an Asian meditation space. Simplicity, subtle sophistication, texture and clean lines help to define contemporary interiors. The focus of each room is tranquil space rather than furnishings. By focusing on color, dimension and shape contemporary interiors are thought-provoking, sleek and fresh.

Neutrals, black and white are the main colors in contemporary style interiors. The palette is often accented with bright and bold color, and, within a few style variants, ornate patterning and glitzy ornamentation. Black is often used to ground and define a room. With walls painted in a basic neutral, you have a backdrop for bold colored accessories.

Line is a key design element. It's found in architectural details and defined by the use of bold color blocks, high ceilings and bare windows. Geometric shapes are used in wall art and sculpture. Bare space is left on walls, between pieces of furniture, and above in upper areas, and it becomes as important as areas filled with objects.

In contemporary interiors, less is more since space creates perspective and dimension. Each piece of furniture stands out as individual and unique. Contemporary style takes advantage of structural elements as decoration. Air ducts may hang from a ceiling, fabric and bricks provide texture and stability. Structural details may be painted in bold contrasting colors, or simply exposed and painted the same color as the wall to diminish their importance.

Casual

A casual style room is homey, warm, comfortable, and inviting. For TV watchers, it's like walking onto the set of Friends or The Big Bang Theory. Who doesn't want to be comfortable in their own home? If you want to put together a casual style room, learn the basic elements that combine to create an informal, unassuming room. Casual rooms have simple details, textured elements in fabrics and accessories, soft, neutral-colored upholstery, low-luster surfaces, structural elements and furniture arrangements that avoid perfect symmetry.

Details are simple, and elements are rectangular or softly curved. A room decorated in a casual style has simple details, but it is the perfect place to add an unexpected touch of whimsey, such as an old, reconstructed birdhouse or a bowling pin for a lamp base. Casual decorating is easily incorporated into such specific styles as rustic, cottage, beach, French Country, Shabby Chic, or American Country decorating styles.

With people enjoying more relaxed lifestyles, many homes today are totally decorated using the elements of casual decorating. But any home can incorporate the elements into a guest room, country kitchen, TV room, or bath. Elements of the casual style of decorating can infiltrate into most any room and make it feel comfortable.

Traditional

Traditional decorating is calm, orderly and predictable. You may have grown up in a home that was decorated with traditional style furnishings. Furniture is classic and might feel outdated, so nothing is a surprise. Pieces fill up a room and match and are consistent.

Furniture pieces are often reproductions. They are a part of dining room sets, living room sets and bedroom sets, and all room sets are similar in furniture styles. Furniture and accessories are placed in pairs and tend to be centered in each room. There is nothing out of place or of a vastly different style.

Traditional rooms are not ostentatious but somewhat casual so that traditional style homes feel comfortable for any age group. It's a familiar look that you see in magazines or furniture show rooms.

Upholstered furniture in a traditional room shows classic lines and understated details. They may have decorative details but they are functional, unfussy, and restful looking. Edges are soft, smooth, and blend into the whole. Fabrics are generally neither too shiny nor too textured. Plain colors, florals, muted plaids, understated stripes, geometrics, tone-on-tone and small all-over patterns are common.

As you continue your education, knowing the four broad generic categories of Casual, Formal, Traditional and Contemporary, you will lay a good foundation for your career. Once you research these well, and expand your studies into specific styles, their history and their resources, you can confidently guide your clients through their various projects to make each a unique expression of their taste and your design ability.

You have read this article with the title . You can bookmark this page URL https://moderndeserthomes.blogspot.com/2011/03/interior-design-training-principles-of.html. Thanks!

Why Silk Plants Have Enjoyed a Resurgence in Interior Landscaping

Silk has long been revered as one of the most beautiful materials known to man, boasting a natural sheen and a coolness of touch that few other materials have. For centuries, this attraction to silk has been extreme, especially in the clothing industry where pure silk dresses and shirts are so highly prized. There can be little surprise, then, that silk plants are also keenly sought after.

Once upon a time, these plants were an extravagant example of craftsmanship that won plaudits at state fairs across the country, and were the ones that hotels were happy to invest grandly in to give guests a sense of luxury when they walked through the doors. These days, they are a key aspect of interior business landscaping both in terms of large and small floral displays.

Indeed, the market for artificial plants has grown dramatically in recent decades, with a range of materials coming into favor from time to time. However, in recent years, silk has regained its place as the favored material with which to enhance the interior landscape of an office or reception area. But designers are keen to highlight that it is not just because silk looks pretty.

Quality of Plants

The quality of plants made of silk is particularly high. In the past, silk was colored and then cut into the shape of a leaf or petal, and then applied to a framework, usually made of wire. However, that simple process has been replaced by high tech precision machines that are capable of creating perfectly measured plant parts. Not only that, but the coloring has become so exact that every aspect of shading can be allowed for.

The result is that, both visually and physically, these plants have real depth to them, making them very difficult to differentiate from real flowers. In fact, the silk materials used are made in such a manner as to replicate as closely as possible the texture of a real petal, bud or leaf.

So, even touch, which was once a sure give away when identifying an artificial plant, is no longer a reliable way to tell the difference.

Durability

There was a time when the petals on silk flowers and foliage on plants would fray over time, making the plant itself look dowdy and old. But the processes involved in manufacturing these plants have been perfected, ensuring this is no longer a concern, and the plants maintain their impressive appearance for much longer.

Of course, artificial plants, tend to last much longer than real plants. They require little or no maintenance, can never die so do not need to be replaced regularly, need no watering and no feeding. Silk always enjoyed these same traits, but since silk frays less easily now, the durability of silk artificial plants is even greater than it once was.

No Fire Hazard

As a choice of artificial plant material, silk may have succeeded in regaining its place at the top table in the eyes of interior landscapers for its quality and durability, but others favor it for different reasons. With fire and safety regulations being so important for all buildings, the fact that silk flowers, trees and plants have passed a range of tests makes it an acceptable material.

Silk is a fire retardant and has passed both the NFPA 701 and the ASTM E84 tests, with the result that interior landscapers know it will not harm the fire-safety status of an office. Other materials, such as plastic and nylon can release toxic fumes when set ablaze, making them not just a fire hazard but a health hazard also.

The fact that silk plants are now considered a safe option, as well as a precise replica boasting quality and extreme beauty, makes them impossible to ignore. Little wonder then, that interior designers and landscapers are happy to use them as an alternative to real plants, and that safety officers in workplaces are happy to accept them too.

Needless to say, as far as office workers are concerned, it is the fact that these plants make the interior landscape at work so much more pleasing that matters most. The degree of creativity, reliability and durability that silk boasts makes it a favorite once again when business landscaping plans are being agreed between seasoned landscapers and their clients.

You have read this article with the title . You can bookmark this page URL https://moderndeserthomes.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-silk-plants-have-enjoyed-resurgence.html. Thanks!