• Your Role in the Building or Remodeling Process
• Personal Needs Inventory & Wish List
• Space Planning
• Accessibility & Universal Design
• Safety
• Principles of Good Design
• Finding & Defining Your Style

Finding & Defining Your Style

• The first is the identifying characteristics of a particular era (neoclassic, modern, colonial), country (Scandinavian, French, English), historic period (Arts and Crafts, Victorian), or designer or design school (Bauhaus, Chippendale, minimalism). These types of styles are most often interpreted through varying forms, motifs and colors.
• The second definition of style is your personal preference for choosing colors, shapes, objects and textures and pulling them all together. You may have a favorite decorating style that is already evident elsewhere in your home. Perhaps in an heirloom Victorian dining table, a collection of colorful majolica, or Early American folk art wood carvings.

Traditional

• Elegance translated through classical motifs, rich materials including silk, mahogany, silver, etc.
• Elaborate tracery and chinoiserie - Oriental motifs found in porcelain, lacquer work, bamboo and vivid color combinations of brilliant red, emerald green, black and gilt
• Wainscoting, friezes, strong sophisticated colors

Victorian

• Plump scrolled arms and curved backs on chairs
  
• Sofas with overstuffed cushions
• Fringe and tassels
• Stenciled architectural ornament, lace curtains

Arts and Crafts

• A simple, straightforward look also known as Mission style
• Homespun fabrics, austere shapes
• Clean, muted colors and natural materials such as stone, glazed tile, copper, bronze and dark woods
• Simple geometric patterns as ornamentation, usually of small-scale stylized flowers and leaves

Contemporary

• High-tech, often stripped down and minimalist
• Pure, clean lines
• Soft colors, all-neural palette, or brightly painted and laminated
• Chrome, glass and stainless steel
• Furnishings often mass-produced and prefabricated

Country

• Mellow woods - pine or oak
• Painted or stained furniture and floorboards
• Handcrafted, unpretentious look - painted tiles, handwoven rugs, stoneware, engravings, embroidery and patchwork
• Farmhouse antiques or the clean simple lines of Shaker furniture
• Range of fabrics - hopsack, linen, floral chintz or toiles
• Shapes and materials mix well with other styles, adding a sense of charm and the past

Eclectic

• Mix of periods and styles
• Design element pulled together that show a range of tastes