Arts and Crafts Style

To create a wonderful Arts and Crafts style in your home, it would be to review the Art Nouveau period to give us a solid understanding of where to start.

The movement took off in England, UK in 1810 and carried on through until 1910. Thereafter, Art Nouveau was born. However, a group of much loved English designers and writers wanted to return to an industry of finely handcrafted goods instead of mass production which was all machine made therefore of a poor quality finish.

The image below shows a traditional type of wallpaper from an arts and crafts range.

The influence of the designers, artists and writers was so great that the arts and crafts style took off making interior design at look look very distinctive. The most widely recognizable name within the arts and crafts style is that of the writer and poet, William Morris.

Morris set up a company called Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co with fellow artists. Later to become, Morris & Co producing furniture, textiles, wallpaper and jewellery too. Use Morris to help you research this style so you can prepare ideas onto your mood board. The images of both hallways below show how you can add a touch of the arts and carts interior design into your home by adding a wallpaper.

Go Arts and Crafts:

The Arts and Crafts style is all about pattern design so firstly carefully select which wall(s) you would prefer to cover with an insanely beautiful wallpaper. These walls will become your feature walls.

Wallpaper of this era is key to authenticating your concept. Today there are hundreds of ranges that replicate the Morris & Co designs. It is a good idea to also have a look at the ranges from Sandersons.

The patterned wallpapers that best reflect this concept have influences from nature, fruit and also of the orient. The scale is usually large and the pattern is repeated often. So look out for this during your ideas and planning stage.

The organic shapes also had stylized birds and foliage within the patterns which were also used later in Art Deco .

You can also replicate an arts and crafts frieze using wallpaper instead of covering a whole wall.

The size of your frieze should range between 50 to 120 cm deep.

Furniture: Stick to wooden objects and if possible go for handmade items to give your look a real arts and crafts feel. If not, try to find pieces that look handmade.

Oak was the popular choice of wood for furniture and chairs often had leather upholstered seating. Look for items that have upside down hearts carved into them or have copper or leather strapping accessories.

I like the examples of timeless arts and crafts furniture below crafted from oak and finished with walnut veneers. They look classic and elegant.

Color: your color palette for your scheme should work with cream, off whites, mustard yellows, olive green, terracotta, deep blue and shades or deep red.

Floors: Parquet flooring is perfect to recreate this concept in your home. Again I recommend using oak should your budget allow for it. Finish the look by polishing or staining the boards to a mid to dark tone. Similar to the look of walnut.

Walls: Other than wallpaper the remainder walls could be wooden panels or select a greeny-blue or dull green paint. However for a modern look I would suggest to paint your walls light, similar to what you can see used in the above images of the hallways.

The below images are wonderful examples of how a feature wallpaper can emphasize your dining area. I love the big statement of continuing the wallpaper up the wall and onto the ceiling as shown below right.

Fireplaces: this is usually the focal point of your room and to get the arts and crafts style, the mantlepiece should be carved and they often bore a motto above. For more information and inspiring ideas click to visit the section fireplaces.

Lighting: keep wall sconces as your main source of lighting however, I would add some fabulous simple, modern pendants to add a twist and keep your scheme interesting. The image of the dining room above right is a great example.

To return to the CONCEPT section click here: leave arts and crafts style.