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Decorating Trends of the Past and Present

By: Aeronx Mc Mall

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It has always been important to humans to decorate their living space, beginning with the painting of cave walls and becoming increasingly more complex throughout the centuries, as humans began to construct their own dwellings. Over time, people started to create even more intricate living spaces for themselves and their families. As living spaces became more complex, so did the decoration of those spaces.

The 17th and 18th centuries across the globe saw home decorating become more important and even more complex, as increasing prosperity allowed those in Europe and the America to spend more on home decoration and create more elegant or sophisticated living arrangements. Europe was immersed in the Italian Renaissance in the early 17th century and its principles influenced home decoration across the continent.

England was the only stronghold against Italian Renaissance style, having distanced itself politically and culturally from Italy with its separation from the Roman Catholic Church and the formation of The Church of England. As a result, England's home decorating trends took a somewhat unique path from that of the rest of Europe, incorporating the Baroque style into home decor, focusing on darker and deeper colors and more ostentatious styles, including thick fabrics with matching curtains, pillows and wall decor. Ceilings were decorated with intricate plasterwork patterns, and woodworking was ornate with carved banisters, furniture and doorways.

The Italian Renaissance style slowly made its way into England through merchants and designers from other European nations that were influenced by the colors, textures and trends of the Italian and French decor. In the 18th century, England joined the rest of Europe in absorbing the variety and freshness of the styles of the Neo-Palladian revival occurring in Europe, incorporating whites and yellows into their homes, painting walls lighter colors, and including French Rococo-style stucco wall decorations in their decorating schemes.

As the French influence grew in art and home decor, French colors and styles spread throughout Europe and the New World. The formal French styles included rich and colorful home interiors with huge wall hangings or art, luxurious materials, and finely crafted wood furniture. Deeper tones and more complicated patterns appear in formal French-style home decor.

The French Country style was even more common, with softer colors making their way into the decorating pallets of home designers around the world, including lavender, light blues, floral greens, and mustard tones, as well as darker or brighter red hues. Off-white or ivory was often used instead of pure or plain white in wall decoration.

American styles in the 18th century incorporated European styles of the time but added a culturally colonial flare to home decor. Americans tended toward lighter woods, often painting woodwork in light shades of off-white or ivory. Walls were commonly stenciled, painted, or covered with plaster or wallpaper, the patterns of which usually included intricate stripes or small images of people, scenes or flowers. Some early colonial style homes included carpeting but light-colored wood flooring was most common.

The early 1900s saw the emergence of Art Deco style, with a move away from more traditional approaches to home decor and toward a more modern focus. Art Deco homes usually included the use of medal, glass, and various man-made materials in place of the more traditional stone and wood used in past trends. The color pallets of the Art Deco style were eye catching and bright, with brilliant reds, and shining yellows. There was a strong emphasis placed on the use of metallic and black materials and hues.

The 1940s and the end of World War II drove a return to a more traditional and sedate approach to home decorating, with homes of the 1950s including more solid or simple color schemes, use of less complex furniture and wall decor, and more simple fabrics in curtains, pillows and upholstery.

The 1960s, with the emergence of the psychedelic styles and colors of the time, meant gaudy floral patterns and strong competing color usage in home decorating, with brilliant lime greens, bright yellows and strong oranges swirling about the walls and furniture. The shag carpet, linoleum floors, simple wood wall paneling, and stainless steel appliances made their way into the homes of the 1970s, along with the darker greens and gold color shades.

Neon, mauve, pink, and sponge-painting of walls was in style in the 1980s, with the 1990s seeing more homes returning to a more simple and metallic decor. Trendy homes of the 1990s might have more metal than wood in both furniture and wall decorations.

Contemporary decorating trends can include any amount of "retro " from any period of the decorator's choice, fusing older trends with the materials and color schemes available today. French Country style with the use of paint shades available on today's market allow decorators to add a modern or unique flare to a quaint and cottage style room to make the space a true reflection of the tastes of the homeowner.

Accent lighting, the use of personal heritage in home decor choices, retro styles, modern and man-made materials mixed with classic building and decorating trends are all common in current home decorating. Color pallets of light yellows, lilacs, blues, warm greens and bright blues, with the use of floral patterns and retro wall decorations are included in current bright and hopeful decorating schemes, reflecting the cultural movement toward a family focus and the hope of a brighter future.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

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