Interior Design Ideas

Modernizing your Traditional Interior Design

June 18, 2026

Maybe redoing entire rooms is out of the question for the time being, but all of this financial restraint is wearing thin. You’ve invested in some great case pieces and some rugs and bought some art while on vacation but now it seems- tired. Here are 5 ideas to give you a partial room lift and move your decorating plan forward.

1. Work a geometric motif in to your room. A rug, slipcovers for a pair of chairs (tight ones can look like upholstery if you can fold up the chair skirt and attach the slipcover to the top of the leg with Velcro), pillows, wallpaper, metal grill work mounted on the wall……

2. Buy new lamp shades. Maybe new lamps too, but if you have some classic columns or urn shapes, try to work with them. Move toward empire and drum styles and consider an interesting texture such as burlap, or color such as wheat or lichen.

3. Take those little pieces of art down. You know the ones scattered around at one, 20″ x 16″ piece per wall. If you love them and can’t bear to store some temporarily, group them in one gallery type area where they can be properly lit. Now look for a big statement scaled piece such as an over sized mirror, a folding screen, huge plant in a big pot, or a painting (today with the giclee process of reproducing original oils, you can find the larger scale for a smaller budget). Consider a nonrepresentational piece.

4. Put some unexpected pieces of furniture in your mix. One piece is not enough to move the feel of the entire room but two or three can absolutely do it. Use out door furniture inside, add something with entirely different texture such as perforated metal, or hand carving. Or a piece “over the top” with details such as nail heads or pleats on the upholstery. Or a piece that should be wood tone but now is painted red, or covered in leather, or clad in mirror.

5. Simplify the backgrounds. I mean the walls and windows. Break up those coordinated print drapery with trimmed valances, and faux finish wallpaper combos. Maybe the draperies should be stored and a streamlined blind should cover the window. If the draperies are patterned, and you must decorate around them, maybe the valance, or chair railing has to go, and the walls painted a darker solid color so as to minimize the contrast between wall and window. Use wallpaper judiciously! The wallpaper trends are going through a schizophrenic time right now and some patterns which look cool and simple now will look dated soon. If you want that Marimekko look, buy sheets instead. Trust me on this one. I’ve already lived through the 70’s and was happy to move on to more complicated designs and decorating details.

A final note is, that to get any real change in the look of your space, you’ll have to employ at least two or three of these ideas. I would not pretend that these are inexpensive tricks. But the most interesting rooms and collections evolve over time, so try something new!

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Posted in: Design Trends