Impressive. Comfortable. Welcoming. Who wouldn’t want their home to be described with such words? With a perfect balance of rich textures, colors, patterns, and finishes, the Old World style offers the elegance of a centuries-old European estate with the comfort level that comes from well-worn, warm details. Even if the exterior of your home seems less than regal, you can achieve an Old World ambiance inside.
Style Influences
Old World interior design borrows from many European traditions, including Italian Villa, French Country, Mediterranean, and Spanish. (You can focus on one variation of the theme for a particular room or combine elements from each throughout your home for a somewhat eclectic feel.) Antiques as well as earthy elements such as tumbled marble and tile combine to create this distinctive look.
Furnishings and Flooring
In some ways, the Old World look is distinctively masculine, relying heavily on large furniture pieces in dark colors. Both furnishings and flooring offer a lived-in, comfortable look that provides a sense of history, like a new friend that feels like one you’ve known for years. Deep brown leather with Premium Hardwood Flooring such as the Rehmeyer Hand Scraped Collection can contribute to the design by providing a time-worn appearance and feel. Distressed leather with nail head accents, along with heavy wood furnishings in dark, matte finishes complete the backdrop of your design.
Colors and Textures
Deep, warm natural tones such as deep golds, hunter greens, and pomegranate reds, provide a cozy, inviting aura. Perhaps one room will focus on subtly different shades of green, while another will accentuate the reds, allowing each to blend into a cohesive design, one room blending into another. Other colors you may want to include sparingly are navy blue, cream, and burgundy — each slightly muted to offer a hint of wear. Keeping within a tight family of colors offers freedom in using a variety of textures and patterns without a cluttered look. Brocades, damasks, and large floral patterns can combine with stripes and even some small cotton prints. Fabrics can range from velvets and silks to leathers, cottons, and tapestries.
Architecture and Accessories
Architectural elements that lend easily toward Old World design include masculine, rough-hewn ceiling beams balanced with feminine-looking arched doorways and windows. Fireplaces, stone hearths, and built-in bookshelves with antique books and well-chosen antiques continue the design. Walls are textured and hand-trawled to provide both depth and interest — by both sight and touch. Accent pieces such as lighting fixtures and hardware can be ornate, but always with suppressed gilt, to offer the appearance of age.
The muted, rich tones and textures of the Old World decorating style hint at the wealth of a by-gone era in which people did more than design their homes; they took time to live comfortably in them.
Rehmeyer offers three distinctive collections that lend themselves to the Old World style, each providing specific hand-distressing techniques:
• Hand Scraped
• Legacy
• Old Trail
Rehmeyer Wood Floors
Rehmeyer Wood Floors offers a full range of custom milled and engineered wide plank hardwood flooring. Rehmeyer’s flooring is all 3/4″ solid hardwood and sold unfinished, prefinished, or completely custom finished to suit your project.
Call Rehmeyer Wood Floors today toll free at (888) 474-4047 or visit our website at RehmeyerFloors.com to learn more about our custom flooring services. Based out of Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania, Rehmeyer Wood Floors ships nationwide.
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