dimanche 26 juillet 2015

A Decorator's Guide To Arts And Crafts Style Decorating

By Phyllis Schroeder


There are many different ways in which a person can decorate their home. Some are more ornate than others. If you love the idea of clean lines without the stark look of modern styles, arts and crafts style decorating may be a good style for you to explore. Here is what you need to know about this style and what you need to do to bring it into your own home.

You may be surprised to find that this design style (also known as Craftsman) has actually been around since the late 1800s. At this time, the Victorian style was extremely popular. This was a style that had a lot of ornamentation on areas such as the legs of tables and the arms of chairs. Often, portions of the furniture were covered with heavy cloth that was further ornamented with ruffles and other decorative elements. It was not a look that some people enjoyed. They wanted to create pieces that looked more natural and which had clean lines and simple designs.

Furniture is not the only thing that is available in this style. There are also houses that have been designed in the Arts and Crafts or Craftsman style of architecture. If you are looking for homes that have been designed in this style, you will see that they tend to have exposed rafters, eaves that overhang quite a bit and columns that hold up the roof. Some excellent examples of this can be seen in homes throughout the United States.

If you are looking for ways to decorate your home in this style, be prepared to have a lot of wood in your home. Remember that artists working in this particular design style loved natural materials such as stone and wood. They wanted to find ways to showcase the beauty that these materials had naturally and used them in as many different ways as possible.

If you are choosing the colors that you will use in a room or in a home, consider picking natural colors. Green, brown, and other tones that are found in nature are found in Craftsman styled items rather than bright hues that other styles of design favor. Often, some of these colors may look muted or faded rather than looking bright or artificial.

When you begin looking at this type of furniture and architecture, you may be amazed at how complicated some of the designs are. Some of these items can be decorated but it tends to be understated and show a lot of hand carving and workmanship. Just remember that this style tends to showcase the inner beauty that is found in natural materials rather than painting them or disguising their appearance with thick layers of paint.

Before you start looking for pieces to fill your home, looking online can be a huge help. There are a number of famous designers who worked in this style and there are many examples of the furniture and the homes that they created.

If you are decorating on a budget, you may need to look at reproduction furniture as original craftsman pieces can be quite expensive. Be sure to look online and at local stores once you have seen pictures of different furniture pieces and you may be able to furnish your home in a much more affordable way than you may have thought possible.




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