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The Formal Home
The Formal home is characterized by elaborate architectural features such as high ceilings, hardwood flooring, and fine molding. It is most often seen in period homes, historic buildings, and public places such as hotels and museums. But formal styles don't always have to have a rigid feel; this style can be adapted to home settings by adapting the rules to fit your lifestyle and taste.
If you want to adapt the formal style for your home, here are some things to keep in mind.
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Colors
Stick with dark woods to provide an elegant, warm, formal atmosphere. |
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Style Tips
- Symmetry is key. Furniture and accessories are often strictly aligned in a straight axis, in matched sets. While matching sets and identical pieces are important to the formal look, objects of similar visual weight will achieve the same symmetry, but will make the look less severe.
- High Polish and Gloss. Floors, furniture, and accessories like large mirrors, brass hardware, and crystal light fixtures should be highly polished or waxed.
- Lustrous fabrics. Fabrics are smooth and shiny, with primarily traditional patterns. Tightly-woven, luxurious natural fibers decorate this style of home, such as silks, linens, glazed cottons, velvets, damask, and brocades.
- Go big. High ceilings, tall windows, long formal draperies, large imposing mantles, and large artwork and mirrors accentuate the formal room's tall vertical lines.
- Elaborate Details and Finishing. Contrast straight lines with curving carved details. Gilt accents, marquetry, marble tops, leather insets, and polished brass hardware are characteristics of wood finishes in a formal-style room; while tassels, fringes, braided trims, double cording, buttons, pleats, and gathers are characteristics of the draperies, pillows, and upholstery.
- Must-have elements. Antiques and reproductions, fine Oriental rugs, framed artwork, ornate fabric tablecloths, light fixtures in brass, porcelain, china, and especially crystal chandeliers are hallmarks of this decorating style.
Recommended Window Treatments
Window coverings in a formal room are often elaborate fabric treatments, draped to the floor and layered with linings, valances, and trims such as fringe, tassels, and gimp. Symphony Cellular Shades make the perfect base covering to add these layers too. For a more complete look, consider Serenade Roman Shades with the full, elegant folds of the "teardrop style", or Shangri-La sheer horizontals for an elegant, yet understated look. Or decorate your home with Harmony Cellular verticals, which will highlight the tall lines of your formal room, and add extra elegance with a designer valance or fascia rod.
Gallery of Examples
Still need some inspiration? Check out our sample rooms. With each photo we've called out key details of the room and how the designer has created and embraced the Formal style.
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