Most people know what they like, and can pick it out of a line-up, but how to put it in words that others will recognise? That’s more difficult.
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Defining style, and your style, is never easy.
But it’s a skill that can be useful to develop, especially if you’re trying to get a designer to understand why this floats your boat, not that.
There are some key words that are thrown around, when talking about style, that aren’t necessarily clear: Where are the lines between minimalist and modern, and what, exactly is ‘traditional’, for instance.
Styles with Names!
Minimalist
The straight-up definition of minimalist is using the bare essentials to create a simple, uncluttered space. A minimalist home is often monochromatic, with colour used as an accent. Things like light fittings and the nuts and bolts of a home will be hidden, or very subtle; storage will often be behind closed doors, and clean open lines will dominate.
Minimalist design can be very beautiful, and create a soothing place to live, free from visual distractions and clutter. Done well, it’s not cold or bland, and there can be many interpretations, depending on how it works for the people living in the home.
Modernist
here is some overlap between Modern and Minimalist. Modern design is defined around a philosophical movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and Modernism in design flourished in the 1940s to 1980s. Mid-Century Modern is a longer, less-ambiguous phrase that is often used.
Strong lines and neutral or natural colours feature strongly, and materials such as leather, unpainted wood and metal, chrome, glass and concrete. Long, low furniture pieces are typical, together with open floor plans and a minimalist feel.
Contemporary
Contemporary, as a design style, is more vague than Minimalist or Modernist. It came into being after the Modernist style started to fade, and is more or less ‘the latest thing’. It is characterised by trends, and thus what was ‘contemporary’ a decade ago, would need to be updated to retain that tag now.
Artisan or artistic pieces, often still with a minimalist feel, a variety of textures and often several pops of colour characterise Contemporary, but each person’s Contemporary home would be different from any other.
Maximalist
This, in short, is the opposite of minimalist. Busy, colourful, flamboyant, eclectic, a celebration of style – all these descriptors fit – and again, your maximalist is going to be different from mine. Displays of teapots, houseplants, ancient relics or whatever else takes your fancy; layered patterns, fabrics, paintings, and textures, but usually very carefully curated to create a deliberate, harmonious, and cosy feel.
Traditional
This, again, isn’t ‘old’ with a broad brushstroke. Technically speaking, it’s “a style of decor based on the aesthetics of 18th and 19th century European homes. It takes inspiration from neoclassical, Georgian and Victorian design to create elegant yet comfortingly familiar interiors that are ageless and sophisticated.” Many UK homes already have features that are ‘traditional’, so if you’re renovating or extending an existing property, you may have the groundwork there already for traditional styling.
It is characterised by symmetry, in architecture and furnishing, and a tidiness of style. Beautiful architectural details and patterning, such as ceiling roses, or damask patterning in wallpaper and furnishings, as well as dark wood, and warm, aged metals are used, as well as luxurious fabrics.
Heritage
In many homes in Cornwall, there’s ‘old’ and there’s ‘really old’. Buildings that are several hundred years old often come with all kinds of quirks, with doorways that have been sealed up, walls moved, extensions, new roof lines and other oddities. In a house like this, style often needs to come second to practicality. Uneven walls may not suit fitted joinery, so freestanding pieces are best. Rooms with tiny, deep-seated windows will probably require warm curtains, and plenty of artificial lighting. Interesting features like granite lintels, carved doorframes and original beams cry out to be seen, rather than hidden, but warm colours and textures in soft furnishings can help add cosiness.
How to define your style
You might be reading the above and have realised that your design style is one of these, straight down the line. That’s great. Tell us, and we’ll help you make that dream come true.
For many people their style will not fall solidly into one of these definitions, but will draw elements from each, or be a ‘liveable-with’ version – and that is also great information to be able to share with us.
If these descriptions (and they don’t cover all possible design styles) aren’t ringing bells for you, that’s also fine. Look around your home, your friends’ homes, antique shops, magazines, Pinterest and the internet, for items that make you happy. Take photos of them, save the images (or buy the item, if available), and bring us a collection of things and pictures. It doesn’t matter if that is a pair of vases, a delicate pot plant, a grand piano (a picture of that please, not the actual piano), some tiling, and a rack of copper pots in your mum’s kitchen – it’s your style!
We’ll be able to take a look and get a feel for you, and then start to suggest options. It’ll give us a place to start: rather than every single tile option, we’ll narrow it down to some that are like your Pinterest one, and bathroom furnishings that go with them, and you can choose from there.
We hope that helps, and look forward to helping you achieve your vision.
PS - Our Style
If we, at Richards, were allowed to design your home to fit our tastes (which clearly we’re not, because you’ve got to live in it, not us) then we’d go for something that’s not flashy, but with some statement pieces or features that make us stop and admire for a while. We tend towards homes that are comfortable to live in, rather than ones that need constant upkeep to keep them pristine and on-trend, and we’ll probably choose a neutral, natural palette, with crisp lines and a clean finish for the fixed elements like flooring, windows and doors. To bring some visual interest, we’ll go for more intricate, colourful choices on fabric, furnishings, and wall finishes. For us, functionality and longevity come before fashion, but we do like unique and personal items.
We like to consider local designers, makers and suppliers over international brands, where we can, and will always go for the durable option that looks the same as the big-name perhaps-not-so-robust choice. We are prepared to pay a little more to get it right, but happy to pay less for something that fulfils the same function, if we can!
Whilst we’ve tried to define our tastes in our office, they are varied, and every one of our past clients has broadened our style, and brought another detail or product we were unaware of, but would very much like to shoehorn into our own homes, or offer to future clients for their consideration. Style is constantly evolving, and we aren’t going to stick something we’ve done before simply because it worked THEN– we’ll create what works best NOW, and for YOU.
So that’s us. What about you?
This is a screenshot of our Pinterest page, by the way. Follow us here, to see all kinds of interesting inspiration, from doors to bathrooms to pantries to tiles.
