Are you looking for an interior style that is warm, harmonious, and timeless? Transitional interior design style mixes classic and modern decor to create a space that will always feel contemporary.
The style entails blending competing styles in a way that reflects your present personality. It’s ideal for folks who appreciate both traditional and modern design aspects, and it’ll serve for many years.
What is Transitional Interior Design?
It is a fusion of two or more interior design types brought together in one area to produce a unified design. In essence, transitional decor style refers to a mix of traditional and modern elements including furniture, fabrications, and decorative features. These are combined to provide you with more flexibility when it comes to decorating your home. The best thing about this design style is that it has no limits.
This mix creates some sort of tension in a room, similar to how black and white fight and mixes so beautifully together. Transitional style stresses comfort and gentleness rather than prioritizing form over function. The following are the essential elements of a this style:
- Furniture that is both comfortable and functional
- Neutral color schemes such as gray and cream.
- Fabric that is both soft and durable.
- Accessories are kept to a bare minimum (with a splash of color thrown in for good measure!)
- Textiles and materials that are natural
- Styles that are both masculine and feminine
Benefits
The transitional style is ideal for those who don’t want to limit their home interior design aesthetics to a single era or design style.
With transitional home decor, you have more freedom to experiment until you find the right mix for you.
Transitional decorating is easier since you can be as expressive as you want.
You will also be designing a home that reflects your tastes and is absolutely unique to you because no two transitional homes are alike.
When done correctly the transitional interior design style you’ve produced for your home will impress your guests. The design is sure to spark conversation long after your visitors have left, as this is one design style that is sure to catch their eye.
Challenges You May Encounter
Issues are bound to arise when trying to make everything work together as you incorporate transitional style interior design. Some of the challenges you may encounter include as such as these:
When it comes to getting it right, scale is important. The trick is to keep the majority of the furniture and accessories in a space the same size. Do this with the exception of a couple of big focal points. However, the main furniture such as a coffee table or dining room table, as well as sofas, chairs, and wall art, are included.
Another confusing issue at times is balancing color and fabrication. If there are too many colors and patterns in a room, the eye will struggle to decide where to focus. Too much similarity will cause things to blend in too well. The key is to be diverse and look for common denominators that will allow things to flow together without becoming too similar.
Transitional style interior design demands a blend of different eras and design styles. To make things work, it is best to keep to a small number of items so that nothing clashes or appears to be completely random.
ProTip Takeaway: To keep everything seem connected, keep to only 3-4 different themes and common aspects, no matter how diverse they are.
How to Create a Solid Transitional Decor
Transitional style is achieved by blending modern and traditional elements in a seamless manner. This style can also be interpreted in a variety of ways. Here’s a list of tips to assist you to achieve a well-balanced transitional look.
- Maintain a neutral color palette to allow the furniture’s lines to take center stage.
- Wood, glass, lacquer, rattan, cloth, steel, and metal can all be used as textural features.
- You don’t want to confuse the eye with too many accessories because you’re adding aesthetic elements with your mix of furniture and materials.
- Choose art that has an effect, but use it sparingly. A single large artwork on the wall is preferable to a collection of smaller pieces.
Colors
The color palette of a transitional style interior design is pleasant and calming. It also depends on the tone you want to create from room to room. Whites, creams, grays, and tans provide a clean backdrop for the design and help to ground it.
Deep blues, rich browns, and verdant flashes of green give the design depth and life. The atmosphere should be light and airy. A transitional style interior design does not have dark walls. The use of natural tones allows designers to concentrate on texture and layering, which are important elements of this style.
You may still have a lot of fun with bright accessories. Colorful drapes scatter, and décor pieces, for example, can add a splash of color. Choose bedding with bright colors for a transitional bedroom.
Furniture
Transitional furniture, just like transitional style, is a mash-up of two different design styles. As a result, big furniture items from the old era are given a makeover to become more streamlined and sophisticated. This way they are able to fit in with the growing trend’s sleek status. The most significant distinction between transitional and traditional interior design styles is that transitional style interior design encompasses both contemporary and traditional elements.
Accessories
You must choose accessories for transitional homes that add visual appeal. They are also a great way to tell your story and fit your lifestyle. The idea of adding accessories is to include meaningful and functional items. Area rugs, ornamental pillows, plants, and trays are just a few examples. Of course, adding in some metallic pieces is always a good idea.
Textiles
The possibilities are endless when it comes to designing a collection of complementary fabrics in transitional style interior design textiles. Consider a transitional home with textural, velvety, and different materials. Be sure to also keep each area grounded with modest coordination. The goal is to never allow a single piece to look random because everything should have a rhyme and reason.
ProTip Takeaway: Keep textiles limited to a range of four to five complementary colors in varied patterns for the ultimate sensation of visual play.
Using The Style in Different Rooms
It can be difficult to put together a cohesive transitional room. Here are some suggestions for incorporating its elements into each space of your home.
Dining room: Use a modern dining table and chairs in the dining room. However, upholster the chairs in a piece of traditional fabric. Use antique furnishings and modern lighting, such as steel pendants with exposed light bulbs, as an alternative. In an otherwise modern dining room, classic wood paneling can be another traditional accent.
Bedroom: Combine a traditional element with a modern one by upholstering a tufted, curving headboard with a steel-gray fabric in the bedroom. Alternatively, modern cube side tables and sleek metal lamps can be used to complement a traditional headboard.
Living Area: Add clean-lined chairs and sofas, keeping materials warm but neutral in color in the living room if you have historic architectural details such as trimmings and moldings.
Kitchen: Go for a bolder look with modern accents if your kitchen cabinets are already traditional and you don’t want to change them. Consider adding contemporary pendant lights over your island or replacing it with a lacquered piece. Steel countertops can also give a more classic kitchen a more modern aesthetic.
Bathroom: For a modern look in the bathroom, use glass, metal, ceramic, and wood. Install modern floor tiles or arrange traditional tiles in a chevron pattern.
