RoomPlanners Inc

Ever heard the saying ‘go big or go home’? Forget all that. Now you can ‘go big at home’!

Over-sized art has never been more popular... with street art taking on a life of its own in cities, and mural-sized prints of history’s most breathtaking paintings available at affordable prices.

Inside our homes, murals can create a masterpiece out of a simple room design layout… focusing our eyes on a big idea and inspiring some compelling room color design ideas. 

Now, just to be clear, we’re just not talking murals of the 1970s that simulated an outdoor scene or put a Tahitian beach scene outside your window. Thankfully, today’s mural suppliers offer more sophisticated choices… and they’ve never had so many looks (or sizes!) to choose from. With more artistic images, more digital capabilities and more affordable printing, fine quality mural designs—including prints of some of history’s most masterful paintings— are easy to bring home.

From enlarged prints by the likes of Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Monet... to graffiti-style street art, pop art, photography and exciting graphic patterns, there really is something for everyone today, and for all home interior design styles.

So forget heading to Sotheby’s to buy a famous canvas. And bid farewell to puny prints on your walls. Today you can bring home a big dose of color and art for less money, in most cases, than buying a framed piece of art from the furniture store.

Murals will add drama to your home! They’ll create a one-of-a-kind look and spruce up walls with as much      impact as new wall paint colors… and without the commitment of wallpaper. And they promise to be memorable and conversation-worthy!

In this month's issue of our home decorating magazine, we've included some artful house decorating ideas... mixing sofas from Bernhardt, lamps from LampsPlus and murals from MuralsYourWay to reveal just a few ways you can go big in your own living room (or in any room in the house)!

Click here, or on the magazine cover below to open!

Is your bedroom an extension of your living room? Do you gather with your family in the master bedroom to watch a movie? Or do you guard your bedroom as a quiet place to relax away from others? Either way, you’re going to love one of today's most popular style trends for home: upholstered beds!

It’s no wonder these sophisticated and sexy beds are popular, considering their benefits. Upholstered beds are comfy to lean against, inviting to look at, soft to the touch, and quiet (fabric helps dampen ambient noise). And because they don't match the storage pieces, upholstered beds making a stunning focal point - while offering a custom, one-of-a-kind look.

Covered in padded fabric or padded leather, upholstered beds promise to turn your bedroom into a comfy place to hang out, not to mention, sleep… and they’re showing up everywhere... from European trade shows to home decorating magazines to the Spring 2013 Furniture Market in High Point, N.C.. The range of styles, colors and textures has never been more impressive... or accessible!

See some of the most exciting bedroom design pictures from the recent Furniture Market - complete with beautifully upholstered beds - in a blog I wrote for Hooker Furniture. 

Love the look of a marble or granite dining table or counter top, but not the price?

Here's a furniture tip... there's an alternative in the market.  Faux stone counter and table tops look a lot like marble and hold up a lot like granite... but they beat both as one of the today's top style trends for dining room interior design. 

Faux-stone are growing in popularity with consumers today because they offer a good mix of elegant and practical. They're softer, warmer and quieter, more forgiving on both dishes and elbows and easier to clean than real stone.. and all this at a fraction of the cost.

As capable of withstanding a family on the go it is standing next to a fashionable living room, a faux stone dining table top features a clear layer of polyurethane over a marble design. The result is a table that’s tough at fending off wear, comfortable to touch and stylish to look at. 

Faux marble is found on top of quite a range of  products in the market - from dining tables and coffee tables to nightstands and other types of home furniture design. (Click here to find out more the example shown on the left, the Lacey dining room from Ashley Furniture.)

There's a lot to love about this kitchen... in fact, it's one of my favorite kitchen design photos because its warm, but sleek style has broad appeal - whether your tastes run contemporary or casual. The actual  room design layout also isn't anything out of the ordinary, so most of its best ideas could work in a kitchen of any size.

So here are 5 things that really work here - that might inspire your own renovation plans!

1. It's modern, but warm. Sleek metal handles and minimalist bar stools are warmed up with some tantalizing kitchen color ideas. The caramel and chocolate tones are appetizing and inviting.

2. It's light-infused. The high, narrow clerestory windows (top left in the photo) are rather nice, but even without them, the light in this kitchen is carefully planned and effective. Note the large window that runs right down to the counter. It's also a 'picture window' style - ie. one piece of glass rather than cut up with mullions - and it transports you outdoors - while letting in a lot of light. Notice also the white ceiling and wall paint colors, and the reflective island countertop and the light-colored stainless steel backsplash. At night, a row of four dropped pendant lights illuminates this area.

3.  The clever two-tone color scheme! Instead of using the same finish for all the kitchen cabinets (or changing it on the island; a common new trend), the cabinet color change occurs just under the window.. corresponding to the width of the window. Notice the cabinets are darker here, mirroring the chocolate color of the matchstick blinds. This is a brilliant design strategy that creates a custom look!

4. The stainless steel backsplash. It's sleek and uninterrupted (outlets are placed under the cupboards rather than lower on the backsplash wall - creating a sleek line that's easy on the eyes. Notice the same steel gray is used on the floor for unity, and also onto the toe-kick under the counter.

5. The placement of the microwave, It's above the counter, so it doesn't eat up work space, but not above the stove. A safe, practical decision!

Want more home inspiration and do-it-yourself decorating ideas?. Sign up here for our free home decorating magazine.

Our Spring issue is here! And we've devoted it to art lovers everywhere... especially at home!

Here's a quick look at our feature articles this month... 

Art... at large!  Over-sized art has never been more popular, with street art taking on a life of its own in cities, and mural-sized prints of breathtaking historical paintings available at affordable prices. Murals can create a masterpiece out of a simple room… focusing our eyes on a big idea and inspiring compelling room color schemes. For inspiration, see inside Bernhardt's Furniture's award-winning showroom (also featured on our cover!) at the international furniture market in North Carolina.

7 tips on choosing and using murals! Adding a big-scale mural to your room is a fun and surprisingly affordable way to add art to your room design layout. But choose carefully. Murals don’t require the same time or dollar outlay as paint or wallpaper, but  picking the right image—one that’ll stand the test of time and good taste— is important! Read more about picking and positioning art on your own walls... and using it to inspire color design ideas or interior design themes. 

Painting the town! From the cave paintings at Lascaux in Southern France to the street art of Philadelphia, artfully painted walls and ceilings are a testimony to our love of color, beauty and personal expression. The list of must-see frescoes and murals around the world is endless. We picked our favorites for their skill, beauty or message, and offer a brief look at why each made our top 10 list.

Click here, or on the magazine cover to open the spring issue of our home decorating magazine... and enjoy!

Every year, the Dining by Design display at Architectural Digest's Home Show in New York City offers up a dining room interior design extravaganza. Dozens of room displays by students, top room designers and home furniture design suppliers push the edge of the style envelope. This year was no exception. (To see more dining room displays from the show, click here.).

But among all the whimsical, colorful and at times impractical displays, one dining room stood alone. A display from Shabby Chic proudly bucked the edgy industrial chic or white-on-white modern style trends ( ... and the even edgier displays that included, but weren't limited to chairs made of hanger wire and kinky red and black boots doubling as a kicking chandelier!) Instead, Shabby Chic's casual-meets-elegant dining room displayed their signature English Country-inspired look.. with white-washed country chairs, tie-on seat cushions, upholstered settee, antique-style chandelier, lacey drapery, vintage candelsticks and plenty of flowers (including full-on floral wallpaper).

In spite of all that's new and trendy in the market, it seems that tried-and-true looks - in the right hands, are as appealing as ever...

If you like the look of English country or French country interior design,download our Vintage or French Country Room Cues. These handy style guides are filled with room-by-room decorating ideas, paint colors, furniture and accessory guidelines (...and much more) to help you create the look you love. 

Every year, the Dining by Design display at Architectural Digest's Home Show in New York City offers up a dining room interior design extravaganza. Dozens of dining room designs by design students, top room designers and home furniture design suppliers push the edge of the style envelope. This year was no exception.

Many of the dining rooms on display are impractical and not likely to grace many real-world homes. But part of the fun of this show is its fresh or whimsical color design ideas. And on that note, I've included five of my favorites, below. 

So put practicality aside with some of these, and enjoy them for their color rush alone... unless you really want to hang kinky red and black boots above your dining table... sit on wire stools... or serve Benjamin Moore paint cans for dinner!,  (If you want to see even more of the dining rooms at this show, sorted by style trends, click here.) 

In the neutral department, I loved this very chic mix of walnut wood and charcoal from a display by Design Within Reach.

Also in the neutral color department, this beautiful design by Bolognino Interiors

Rich jewel tones figured into a few displays at the show, including this sapphire and grape combo (with brassy table and chair base made out of hangers) in a design by New York University

Who says boots need to be stored in the closet (many people, I think). But for sheer fun... and a high-contrast lipstick and black combo, this room by 

And the final word from Benjamin Moore - a riot of color.

Dining by Design is the premier fundraising event for DIFFA: Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS.. 

The 2013 Dining by Design show wrapped up recently in New York. As part of Architectural Digest's annual Home Design Show, this visual feast of dining room interior design ideas offers up the hottest new ideas for furniture and table settings. Dozens of top room designers and home furniture design suppliers chipped in, creating quite a spectacle . Dining by Design is the premier fundraising event for DIFFA: Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS.. 

So here's what we saw... sorted by the key style trends trends we identified!

Industrial  chic. The ongoing popularity of weathered-wood and industrial metals was alive and well at the show with some great examples of the look... and its signature industrial-looking chairs, chunky wood table tops, pegs, planking, exposed construction details, tarnished metal lantern-style pendants.

White.. We're still seeing a lot of dark woods in furniture stores, but the future seems a brighter! A plethora of white, off-white colors felt upscale and fresh... modern and luxurious..

Outside In. The look of outdoor living was a popular inspiration, with elegant, lightweight chairs looking straight out of the sunroom, garden of conservatory. A touch of silver over a bamboo textures and they're ready for the dining room.  

Glamour. if you can't add a little glamour in the dining room, where can you? But this year's glam'd up looks were as much about color as shimmer - with rich jewel-toned backgrounds adding classic elegance - even to modern furniture.

Ever wish your home had more architectural detail? That your abode was blessed with Palladian windows, pediment-top doors or a column-surrounded porch? You're not alone. Many of us wish our home was modeled after a classical villa in the Italian country! But a lack of architectural interest doesn't preclude you from adding some impressive architectural detail. How? With furniture!

The 21st century isn't the first time furniture has 'added architecture' inside our homes. Home furniture design from the 18th century often drew on architecturally-inspired pedestals, pediments and pilasters. But current interpretations of classical architecture go well beyond applied ornament. Architecturally-inspired furniture today is more likely to look plucked directly from an ancient temple in Rome. Impressive in size and scale, but organic in color and rustic in finish, today's architecturally-inspired furniture offers offers a unique mix of classic and old world design sensibilities.  

To make this point, check out a popular new collection, Rhapsody, by Hooker Furniture. This exuberantly designed furniture feeds our fascination with architecturally-based style trends without sacrificing our need for a comfortable, serene home. Blessed with big proportions, it's also softened with hand-painted or antique Venetian finishes and serene, natural wood tones that enhance quiet, understated color combinations for rooms.Such a blend of relaxed and exuberant feels sophisticated, but livable; the perfect blend of casual and opulent. This is a look that suits a European villa or atrium as much as a coastal interior or New York penthouse.

Check out just a few ways architectural detail can be added to furniture...

1. Pediments. Placed over the entrance to important places, pediments still live to mark important places. In this case, a triangular pediment tops a grand-scaled floor mirror that's sure to light up any room (ie. this much mirror will reflect... ie.,double... any light in the room!) This particular item does double duty as an impressive space for storing jewelry behind the mirrored door.

2. Fluting. Of Greek and Roman architecture fame, fluting occurs mostly on the outer surface of columns as low-relief, in-and-out sculpting. The same sculptural effect works on cabinet fronts and table bases. Notice the fluted edge of the urn-shaped table base below (urns are also a handsome architectural detail).

3. Scrolls. They recall the tops of columns on classic and neo-classic buildings, but they can also inspire the scrolled top of a sleigh bed, or a scroll-armed chair. Below, a scroll shape replaces the legs of a table base. Over-the-top? Yes,but elegantly architectural.

4. Arches and colonnades. If you've ever walked among a row of classical columns at a temple in Greece, or at a monastery in Spain, you know the majestic effect of horse-shoe-shaped arches between columns. Replicate the effect with round-topped bunching curios. Line two or three of these together along a wall and you've created your own classical colonnade! (Notice the elegant fluted texture on the edge of each of the curios.

For more architecturally-based interior design inspiration, check out this blog I wrote on the Rhapsody collection: Laid Back Meets Luxurious.

Once upon a time... and not so long ago, a traditionally-styled home meant rooms full of historic reproduction furniture mostly influenced by English and French styles from the 18^th century. Names like Thomas (Chippendale and Sheraton) and Louis (any one of a string of French kings) were bandied about, and strict period décor was something to be emulated and admired.

Want to update your kitchen in a vintage style?

Great choice! Vintage-style kitchens have a one-of-a-kind, intimate feel that's positively charming. The style also works as well in a small kitchen as in a big one.  Here are 5 quick ways to get the look! 

1. Create a slightly mismatched look. If buying new, opt for cabinets of different heights, breaking up the 'uniform look' of contemporary kitchens. Or remove a pair of doors (above or below the counter) and replace them with shirred fabric curtains. 

2. Choose slightly ornate, or heavily detailed cabinets. Cabinets with layered moldings, rope-twist textures, pilasters or crown molding add a look of history, especially if moldings are made of solid wood. For a more casual vintage look, whitewash the cabinets (with white wood stain or off-white paint) to tone down their dressiness. This combination of 'chic' (applied moldings) and 'shabby' (painted or whitewashed finishes) is perfectly vintage!

3. Add 'age' to the cabinets. Make wood cupboards look older by distressing them (hitting them with a heavy chain!), applying antique glazes or burnished edges, or letting some of the natural wood finish show through a painted or white-washed finish. As a rule-of-thumb in a vintage kitchen, the more ornate or shapely the original cabinets, the more toned-down (or well-worn) they should look.

4. Use glass-front cabinets above the counter. They show off beautiful vintage dishes or old-fashioned canisters or jars. Look for cabinets with antique glass textures for even more vintage appeal.

5. Use slightly tarnished-looking knobs and pulls. For an extra vintage look, use versions with a ceramic or crystal inset.

For more vintage interior design ideas, download our Vintage Room Decor guide. This do-it-yourself decorating guide includes more vintage ideas for kitchens (tips #73-86)... and ways to create vintage style in other rooms in your home (from wall paint colors and furniture to accents and more!)

In the market for new furniture? A new sofa or bedroom is a big investment and mistakes can be costly. But you can avoid disappointment and shop with confidence with a few furniture tips. Here are 10 of our best...

1. Buy furniture that will hold up to your lifestyle. This isn't just our first furniture tip, it's the most important one. If furniture in your home gets a lot of wear, forget the delicate, pretty or light-colored pieces and choose hearty furniture with durability built in. (A few tell-tales signs of durability... make sure the corner of a sofa or chest is weighty to lift. Put some pressure on both sides of a chest of drawers, making sure it doesn't rack (sway) from side to side, then look under the drawers to see how well-reinforced the base and corners are). Also, if you don't plan to vacuum or spot-clean your sofa or dining chairs regularly, choose patterned or textured fabrics… and avoid extremely light or dark solid colors.

2. If buying an furniture with a pattern, check how well the patterns are matched between seams. Stripes in particular should match (continue uninterrupted) from top to bottom, and from the side to the front or back.

3. Check that wood finish colors match between drawer, door and frame panels. Some variation in grain is a natural part of wood furniture, but variation should be within a single piece of wood, not between adjoining pieces. 

4. Avoid large or loose fabric weaves (also wicker and rattan) if you have cats with claws.

5. Opt for furniture with a pre-distressed finish (pine, white-washed, etc) if you worry about wear and tear. Or buy furniture with a solid wood top. Future wear will be less noticeable and repairs will be easier. A dense or multi-colored fabric pattern on upholstery will help hide dirt.

6. Stick with matte, rather than glossy or polished wood finishes if you don't like fingerprints on your furniture... or regular cleaning! 

7. Be wary of new trends. What's to-die-for right now may be yesterday's news in two years or less. If the furniture isn't comfortable and timeless, be careful how much you invest.

8. Buy furniture in scale with your room. If your room is small, avoid flared-arm sofas, sleigh beds and over-scaled drawer chests. They'll overpower the room,making it look smaller and more cramped, and make furniture placement more difficult. Choose furniture that looks lightweight… with tall legs, narrow arms or with see-through features. If your room is very large, choose over-sized furniture that won' t look 'lost' in the space.

9. Remember that accessories make the room. If you buy new furniture based on a beautiful store or catalog display, it won't look the same at home unless you invest in the accessories you saw with it… or something similar!

Happy furniture shopping!

The color wheel... it's one of the handiest color design tools ever discovered, and one laden with design secrets!

As background, it's a little known fact that Isaac Newton was the first to replicate the rainbow's color order by using shafts of light and a glass prism. Observing that colors at both ends of the rainbow were similar, he bent the rainbow (well, hypothetically!) into a circle and produced the first 'color wheel'. Over the years, other scientists, engineers, painters and colorists refined the color wheel... and today it's hard to imagine understanding color without it.

But despite all the insight this study of the paint color wheel offered on the nature of color, most color theory today uses the wheel mostly to choose color schemes, or good color combinations for rooms (complementary, triadic, and so on). This is a valuable feature of the wheel (it's #6 on our color secrets list below), but the color wheel is capable of helping us do so much more! Understanding all of its secrets can transform the way we dress, or the way we dress our homes.

Check out all seven secrets about color revealed by the color wheel...

1. Color has a language... and its vocabulary is rooted in the color wheel. Knowing how to 'speak color' helps us identify a color's make-up and thus, its character.

2. Color elicites a specfic response. Every color possesses its own set of physical, psychological and emotional traits based on what we associate it with (... needless to say, room colors and moods are directly related!) Each color's traits and assocations are related to where it sits on the wheel.

3. Color and light are inseparable. Every color is inherently light, dark or somewhere inbetween, affecting the amount of artifical light we need in a room. The way we view the color wheel can help us understand a color's light or dark quality.

4. Color feels warm or cool. Although our perception of color temperature tends to be more psychologyical than physical, a color's warmness and coolness can be both measured and felt... deeply affecting the mood, energy and thermostat setting in a room. Again, the color wheel can reveal this.

5. Color has weight. True, we can't actually measure the weight of a color... but the apparent weight of colors is a key consideration in determining which objects to apply them to. And again... the color wheel can reveal this.

6. Color schemes have a formula. Color hues are enhanced (or not) by the colors placed next to them, whether similar or contrasting. The layout of colors on the wheel helps us create sure-fire color combinations and color design ideas that work... and create very specific effects. 

7. Colors can alter or correct size and propotion. This is one of the most powerful secrets of all. The perceived color of an object, can be dramatically altered based on the color it's seen next to. The color wheel can be used effectively to illustrate this principle. 

To find out much more about each of these seven color wheel secrets (and to learn about color in a very practical way!), download our Color Basics1 module. You may be surprised how easy it is to make complicated color theory simple to understand... and how easy (and fun) it is to manipulate color to your advantage.

Old gold, burgundy, hunter, brick... traditional colors inevitably look inspired by old world design - from the burnished patinas of old time pieces and leather chairs to medieval tapestries, traditional Christmas décor, tweeds, top-grain leathers, university crests, wine and brandy.

The traditional palette feels reassuring and permanent. A rich heritage of quality exists behind these slightly sober hues, and traditional colors look unaffected by the passing of time and trends. They’re the same as they’ve always been and, if anything, seem to improve with age; often beautifully darkened or mellowed by the passing of time.

Using these intellectual colors is a poweful way to add a sturdy, serious, full-bodied mood to traditional interiors. With a slightly maculine vibe, room designers use thes hues to add a rich, old-world, mellow or distinguished quality to furniture in the same way fashion designers do.

With a private, do-not-disturb quality, these colors feel restrained... conveying authenticity, sophistication, maturity and a proud assertion that little improvement is necessary!

See how traditional colors have been used in interiors in the current issue of our home decorating magazine (left). Or download our Traditional RoomCue (right) for interior design help creating your own traditional interior. It's packed with information - from choosing paint colors and furnishings to room-by-room tips on creating a professionally-designed room with a little - or a lot of history. 

Inspired by old world design and a love of all things familiar and well-made... traditional interior design concepts offer a respite from the modern world. They replace the new and the novel with a deep respect for the past, the proven, the broken-in and the comfortable. Traditional rooms look filled with furniture that's been passed down over generations, well-used and much-loved. Rooted in a love of logic and reason, they conserve and celebrate the best design ideas from the past.

If this sounds like the perfect look for you, look for home furnisings with these characteristics: 

* furniture that looks slightly 'overbuilt'... including heavy-looking legs under tables, chairs and sofas... or legs that are connected in several places with stretchers.

* simple, well-tailored furniture with smart detailing... including wing-chair shapes, button-tufting and turned legs 

* math-inspired geometric patterns (they perfectly suit the intellectually-ordered traditional mind!)... including squares, rectangles and diamond shapes woven into fabrics, or carved into walls, doors, cabinets, window panes and flooring.

* menswear-inspired patterns... herringbone, plaid and tweed are favorites.

* hearty-looking, character-rich surfaces (instead of fancy ornaments)... including heavy top-grain leather, embossed leather, heavy canvas, bronze, pewter and other heavy-looking metals, and grainy woods (oak is a favorite)

* deeply-toned fabric and wall paint colors, including forest-, college- and menswear-inspired hues such as hunter, burgundy, old gold and eggplant.

For inspiration, check out these two traditionally-styled rooms by Drexel Heritage Furniture (top) and Thomasville Furniture (bottom):

Want more interior design help creating a traditionally styled room? Download our Traditional RoomCue - complete with wall paint colors, furniture and accent guidelines, one hundred room-by-room house decorating ideas and dozens of home decorating ideas photos.

It's one of the most unique home interior design styles of all... and also one of the most popular. Vintage interior design suggests a fond remembrance or longing for what seemed like better, simpler, more virtuous (...or just more interesting!) times. It also reflects our fascination with TV shows and movies set in a past era. 

Vintage rooms don't belong to any particular era - though Victorian interiors, including the late Edwardian era (... think early Downton Abbey episodes) tend to be especially influential today. But whatever their inspiration, all vintage rooms share a retrospective vibe that feels complex, nostalgic and deeply connected with the past.

In vintage decor, furniture that’s inherited, unearthed at a flea markets or discovered at an antique stalls (or that looks like it was!) adds unique character and old soul. A well-worn, antique-like piece of furniture makes us wonder who owned it before us and what their story was. Imperfection is prized for its character and even with a little dust or a few scratches on it, vintage objects seem to be better made, more elegant or more refined than what's made today. Unique, one-of-a-kind items are preferred to matching suites and a vintage room's charming mismatched quality or slightly hodgepodge decorating strategy suggests years of heartfelt accumulation and use.

Part of a vintage home’s charm comes from a quirky, unpredictable floor plan, aged surfaces and a charming mix of personal things. From quirky nooks and crannies to overgrown ivy and worn finishes, vintage homes celebrate not just one lifetime, but many lifetimes of use. 

If you'd like interior design help adding vintage elements to your home, download our vintage decor guide. Written by professional room designers, this simple guide is filled with vintage furniture and accessory ideas, vintage wall paint colors and dozens of photos and room-by-room tips for inspiration.

Traditional interior design themes conjure up library-like interiors, hefty leather wing chairs and herringbone toss pillows. But did you know how closely traditional home furnishings are linked to traditional clothing fashions? Or how traditional fashions, with their rich array of textures, colors and patterns, can inspire a more comfortable, fascinating and steeped-in-history home?

Room designers have long known that traditional apparel offers the ideal inspiration for a traditional home - from its timeless patterns to its slightly masculine colors. Like traditional furnishings, traditionally-styled clothing fashions (think Brooks Brothers, Burberry, Ralph Lauren...) is conservative, predictable and well-tailored; the undisputed choice of preppy students, scholars, journalists and sporty nature-lovers. It makes us feel more intellectual, suggesting a love of both quality and history. Ironically, though it once inspired a movement toward informality in a formal fashion world, traditional dress today preserves some of the most famous apparel icons.

If truth were told, 'traditional fashion' is a sort of oxymoron. In fact, to wear traditional apparel is to be slightly anti-fashion... making it the perfect choice for the under-dressed over-achiever, camouflaging a brilliant mind camouflaged in casual attire. But despite this ambivalence toward fashion, traditional dressers (and traditional interiors) have their own panache look, always preferential to tartans, checks, twill and herringbone—and to the warmth and comfort of rough-hewn tweed, flannel, wool and leather.

Get an inside look at the parallel ideas that inspire traditional fashions and traditional interiors inside the current issue of our home decorating magazine. We've highlighted the Fashion Institute of Technology's recent exhibition on Ivy Style... explaining the origin of traditional apparel in America, and paralleling the movement's iconic ideas with iconic traditional furniture and house decorating ideas. 

An oriental carpet… an Audubon painting... a tweed throw... a leather wing chair. Is there any design style quite as comfortable and familiar as traditional style?

This well-established, intellectual, even old-fashioned style proudly disregards new-fangled trends. But there’s little about traditional style that’s un-cool today. Its warm, timeless approach continues to draw fans eager to keep one foot in a familiar, honored past.

Such an ancestry-inspired style is firmly rooted in European influences, especially those of the British Isles. But its influences may be much broader, including any old world design style that suggests order, rigorous quality and the most correct... or at least the original way of doing things.  

Traditional style, as we know it today, developed out of a rational, intellectual world view and still inspires the sturdy furniture, smart geometric patterns, hearty building materials and serious colors the look is known for. It places the tried-and-true ahead of the trendy; a sort of safe haven from too much change!

Given its hearty, masculine vibe, traditional design claims a slightly rugged outdoor quality, and it’s often linked to boating, sporting, hunting, fishing and golfing pursuits. It also uniquely ties together an outdoor athletic-wear tradition with an intellectual one, which made it a popular choice in for scholarly institutions, especially on the campuses of American Ivy League universities in the early to mid 20th century. It’s northeast college campuses, in fact, that still most epitomize traditional style… from their weighty stone or brick-clad buildings to the sturdy  furniture and old-world design and warm colors found in their interiors and campus fashions… known best as ‘Ivy League’ and ‘preppy’ style.

Menswear patterns, including plaids, tweeds, flannel, khaki and wool serve as a kind of dress code for traditional rooms and apparel, offering a correct solution to those who want to do the right thing, but are also live slightly above the trends.

Traditional homes look steeped in history: familiar and comfortable, but also private and lived-in. The older  they are—or at least the older they look, the better, proving that old-style quality isn’t usually available in new-style products today.

The traditionalist’s preference for hearty materials and protective-feeling room colors and moods is symbolic; it provides a wall of insulation against intrusions from the contemporary world.

Find out more about the fashions, colors, art and personalities behind this well-loved look with our traditional Style guide. Or get interior design help... and some inspirated house decorating ideas with our traditional Decor  guide. 

Ivy Style, an exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York (through January 5, 2012) examines what  became a truly American look known as the “Ivy League Look”, or simply “Ivy” style. It focuses on clothing worn by young men who attended Ivy League and preparatory schools (where Ivy’s offshoot -  preppie style - began), during the 1900s to 1960s.

The look spread beyond the rarified walls of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton to influence designers and the evolution of menswear… and the exhibit intermingles work by contemporary apparel designers. All is set within the liveliness of an Ivy League university campus… from a grassy quad to a classrooms, dorm, and fraternities and shop devoted to varsity sports and athletic wear… supplemented with period objects that enhance the stories being told by garments.

The look’s association with established and trust-worthy traditions is still promoted by country clubs and yacht clubs today, especially those located in eastern states. Its conservative, predictable aesthetic qualities are still upheld by some of the oldest and finest apparel brands, including Burberry, Nautica, Brooks Brothers, Ralph Lauren, Yves Saint Laurent, Tommy Hilfiger and others.

For many people, traditional style is as much about home décor as it is about clothing. Traditional style has proven equally endearing and enduring in apparel and furniture. Tweed jackets, madras plaids, khakis, button-down shirts and repp ties have found their equivalent in the plaids, stripes, tweeds and button tufting of the traditional interior… while sturdy tailoring has translated to the rigorous quality and slightly over-built look of traditional furniture.

This month's issue of roomplanners home decorating magazine parallel Ivy Style fashions - as seen at this fascinating exhibit - with the equally stylish and understated ideas within traditional interior design themes. Get an inside look at the furnishings, patterns, textures, room colors and moods that continue to influence traditional style trends for home.

The latest issue of our magazine takes an updated look at traditional style: one of the oldest home interior design styles... and one that refuses to acknowledge style trends or worry about cool. From traditional fashion and furniture to traditional color design ideas, we've taken a fresh look at an old, time-tested look... and its well-establish style icons.

You'll also see inside the "Ivy Style" exhibit at New York's Museum at F.I.T. (at the Fashion Institute of Technology through January 5, 2013). Their intriguing exhibit profiled the fashions of  Ivy League school students in the early to mid 20th century -  through to the style's re-invention in the fashions of Ralph Lauren, Jeffrey Banks and others in the late 20th century (...and the development of 'preppy' style).

Fashion and interiors share a lot in common... and you'll also see how Ivy Style fashions inspired Ivy Style interiors, including lots of inspirational room photos! Click here to open...