The hallmark of the old-world style is comfort, dignity, and a nod to European manor homes, estates, and villas. The main interior elements include hand-troweled plaster walls, exposed surfaces, and tough oak beams. The formula for a dignified style that isn’t afraid to display its age includes oversized furniture, textures, and a rich color palette.
Designing Your Home the Old-World Way
Old-World Decor
Old-world style is a mixture of design standards from the Medieval and Renaissance periods. The influences are drawn from several areas, including Tudor, Spanish colonial, Tuscan, and a French castle. The old-world is one of those styles that you immediately recognize. Its time-worn finishes, arched windows and entrances, and barrel-vaulted ceilings are reminiscent of huge Mediterranean houses.
If you desire a style that is a perfect blend of restraint, grace, and tradition, the old world is the way to go. Rustic features like aged plaster, limestone, and wrought iron complement opulent textiles like velvet, silk damask, embroidery, and brocade. The appearance of aged furnishings is aristocratic. Even though the rooms are formal in character, they frequently offer a warm and friendly atmosphere.
Old-World Color Scheme
The colors of the old world are deep, dark, rich, and magnificent. Consider weathered colors of indigo, raw umber, gold, Prussian green, bisque, ochre, and Venetian red—as if they were taken directly from a Rembrandt painting. Use a variety of finishes, such as dark-stained timbers and painted, aged, and weathered processes to simulate centuries of usage.
Old World Furniture
With artisan handcrafted designs, old-world furnishings demonstrate attention to detail. Furniture is available in a number of historical European styles, ranging from Gothic to Baroque. Their weight and stature are the only things they have in common. With sophisticated elegance, thick and hefty wood furniture is either ornately carved or distressed.
Seating is upholstered in worn leather and beautiful fabric, with hand-hammered hardware details. Look for crossbar supports or robust pedestals in dining tables. Built-in bookcases and cabinets, for example, have carved details like fluted pilasters, acanthus leaf accents, and crown and base moldings.