Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette. In today's video, we'll be discussing
interior design classics for gentlemen. Decorating your space can feel
overwhelming but if you use these classics, you can be confident that your
interior design won't feel out of date in five years or
anytime soon.
Like one's clothing choices, interior
design can be intensely personal. However,
unlike clothing which of course, you can change every day,
interior design is a bit more permanent. Classic interior design can actually
mean a wide variety of things ranging from more traditional styles
like English country home to more modern aesthetics like Bauhaus
and mid-century modern. In fact, these days, you don't even have
to commit to appointing your space in just one style. Raphael and Teresa's
interior design for example leans heavily toward traditional
aesthetics as you're seeing here but even they don't stick to just one
school of design. You can experiment with multiple styles
at the same time to find a blend that's unique to you.
If you look at modern home retailers, furniture companies, and design
firms, it's clear that traditional design is not the most popular style today.
Current trends lean more towards simplified modern
and mid-century inspired styles featuring neutral
tones and some light patterning. It may be harder these days to find
traditional design resources in the mainstream
but this doesn't mean that it's not worth pursuing,
just the opposite, in fact, because while everyone else is scrambling and fighting
over a room and board sofa for 90 percent of
the retail price, you can find a traditional Persian rug
for just 10 percent of that retail price, so in
today's video, we'll be looking specifically at more
traditional design classics. Stay tuned for another video sometime in the future
covering more modern design classics. Traditional design as it's used today is
most chiefly inspired by 18th and 19th century European home decor.
This style was formal and sumptuous embracing
color, pattern, curved lines, and details aplenty.
In other words, it's really the opposite of minimalist
style and it's often described by adherence as being
elegant. In terms of furniture, traditional materials like
wood and marble are often used and upholstery will use plush heavy fabrics
like velvet and silk as well as leather. Colors used can range
from being bold and rich with reds, browns, and greens all the way to
pastels. However, the style doesn't take advantage
of more neutral color shades. And from rugs
to walls to curtains, an abundance of patterns are seen
everywhere in this style so we wanted to come up with a list of interior design
classics that you can use to appoint your own space
that won't disappoint you in the long run.
There are many classics out there, of course, but we think that this curated
list of 11 choices will suit gentlemen who, like
us, don't want to be in a space that will
seem hopelessly dated in 10 years' time. Colors, patterns,
finishes, and even the size of different furniture pieces can wax and wane over
time but we think that this particular list
of classics will never go out of style. But before we
jump into the list, let's take a moment to briefly talk
about the potential costs of interior design.
Classically styled pieces that are purchased new
can often be large, expensive, and costly to move.
As such, you'll often need quite a bit of space to accommodate some of these
pieces. We would recommend that you buy vintage
or second hand when looking for pieces like this
as you'll often be able to find a range of sizes
and the cost will obviously be much lower. The English country home aesthetic,
for example, is based on the assumption that you've
got a large amount of space and a relatively large budget but with
some creativity you can find pieces in this school of design
that would even work well in something like a 5th floor walk-up
studio apartment. With that said then, let's get into the list
starting with our first pick: the Chesterfield sofa.
This piece was invented by the Fourth Earl of Chesterfield
Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope who lived from 1694
to 1770. The Earl of Chesterfield was a politician but he was also
apparently something of a trendsetter. Given that he asked a local craftsman to
create a sofa that allowed a man to sit upright
without wrinkling his clothes, therefore, he was definitely a man after
our own hearts. Sigmund Freud was another famous owner
of a Chesterfield sofa and today, it's a staple in clubhouses
old-fashioned libraries and offices. It's characterized by deep
buttoned upholstery and a nail head trim which adds
three-dimensional interest to a room since the rounded tufts and
deep nailhead create visual peaks and valleys
throughout the piece. While some furniture can be more
flat a Chesterfield will definitely help to add more
dimension to a room, this piece is especially great because you can make it
what you want using colors like black or going with a
distressed leather for a man cave or library
and going with something like white or gray linen for a more formal living room
and if a Chesterfield sofa is too big for your space, you could consider a
chair in the same style. This transitions us
nicely into our number two pick: the wing back chair. This was a piece
that was originally designed to keep its occupant
warm because the wings and upholstered back would trap the warm air of the
fireplace and block drafts so it would often sit in
the home facing the fireplace. These were first
introduced in England in the 1600s but they didn't really become
popular until the 1720s. The basic design has essentially remained
unchanged ever since and today, wing back chairs are a staple for
libraries, living rooms, or hearth rooms. They can be styled like a Chesterfield
and they're often tufted as well. They're great for a space
that's directly opposite the entrance of a room or
against a wall because they naturally draw the eye
upward with their tall frame and of course, as long time viewers
have no doubt noticed, we have two small wing back chairs here in our studio.
The third item on our list today is a grand piano though it's doubtless a
luxury purchase. It is still a staple of classic interior
design. In fact, a true grand piano really is
almost as much a design piece as it is an instrument.
The modern piano was invented around the year
1700 by Bartolomeo Christofori Di Francesco -
the keeper of instruments for the Medici family.
In terms of design, pianos are an excellent element to fill
large or awkward spaces, bay windows or empty areas that you aren't sure what to
do with like an entryway or corner, for example. Propping
the lid open will help to again draw the eye
upward and thus make your space look larger
overall and with the lid closed, you can use a
piano as a table of sorts to display floral arrangements, family
photos, artwork, and so on. Though the
particularly music-minded among us probably wouldn't want to set things on
top of a grand piano. Even though the popular conception of a
grand piano is of something that's an incredibly expensive purchase, this
doesn't always have to be the case. If brand, in particular, isn't important
for you, you can find a model for something like
five thousand dollars from a dealer. For reference here, a new
eight-foot Chesterfield sofa from restoration hardware
is just about the same price. In fact, we've also seen them on Craigslist
listed for just a few hundred dollars from people who desperately just want to
get them out of their houses. So don't be intimidated by the price of
a grand piano and a baby grand in particular,
if you're in it just for the looks, it can be a relatively affordable purchase.
Of course, if you'd like to get an actual working instrument
of good quality, that's an entirely different ball game
and probably, something that could be covered in a different video.
Our number four pick here is a curated bookshelf.
In traditional design, bookshelves were really an intrinsic part of a room
built into spaces like walls, corners, and alcoves so even though you may not have
built-in bookshelves, buying a shelving unit that
looks like a piece of furniture can help to replicate this
built-in look. In particular here, look for pieces that feature
crown molding around the top and the base.
Traditional bookshelves were often constructed either from
wood that directly matched that of the house or
painted. So painting your shelves the same color as the walls and trim
will help them to look as though they belong in your space
in a more traditional way. What do we mean by
curated, then? Essentially what it means is
appointing the contents of the shelves in a
design-oriented way first rather than directly for functionality. In other
words, you're not using the shelves primarily as a method of storage but
rather as a focal point and design element. The most
traditional look would, of course, involve tightly fitted leather bound
books that fill the entire capacity of the shelf.
The more modern approach meanwhile is to avoid
filling the entirety of the shelf or even half of its space
to avoid looking crowded or overstuffed. You could fill the space partially with
books either vertically or horizontally stacked and then add
various artworks, objet d’art, knick-knacks, framed
photos, statuary sculptures, floral arrangements,
and so on depending on your own personal feel.
Our number five pick here are portrait and landscape oil paintings.
Though there are countless ways to fill your wall space
these days, at the height of the English country home,
paintings were nearly the only choice. So today, portrait and landscape
paintings that are heavily framed will instantly make your space look more
polished and formal. The contents of the painting itself
don't necessarily need to be strictly traditional, of course,
as a traditionally styled frame like a gilt
gold frame will go a long way to making the entire
piece seem more traditional, overall. Even a piece of modern art in one of these
types of frames will still look somewhat traditional and
again, this is another category where new
gallery purchased art can run for an impossibly high price tag, but you
can certainly find original and reproduction pieces at
estate sales and online for a fraction of those costs.
Another traditional design element that's both beautiful and
practical and closely related to our previous pick
is number six: a classically styled mirror.
Mirrors will help to open up a space and make it feel bigger
because they reflect light back into the room.
Our number seven pick then is a pool table.
Billiards, in their various forms, have been a leisurely pastime for gentlemen
for centuries. In fact, King Louis XI of France had the
first known indoor billiards table and the game has
been evolving ever since. Pool, more specifically, has
been around in its current form since about the
mid-1800s. If you have the space for it, a pool
table is a traditional centerpiece for a gaming room library or spare room.
Pool tables are another piece that can be quite expensive
new but given that they are so large and cumbersome
to move, you can often find them for a fraction of the price if you're looking
second hand. In fact, some people are so happy to get rid of them that they can
even occasionally be found for free. They might be cumbersome to move
but ultimately, their loss will be your gain.
Our number eight pick is the only one on this list that might be
slightly controversial and that's taxidermy.
We'll start here by saying that taxidermy is definitely
not for everyone. Either you love the concept or you hate it.
We'll go on the record here by saying that we don't believe that animals
should be killed solely with the purpose to create
taxidermy nor do we think that endangered or exotic animals
should be displayed like this in a home. Where Gentleman's Gazette headquarters
is located in Minnesota, most taxidermy comes from legally hunted
animals like deer and pheasant. What's more, state
fishery and hunting boards and even private organizations
often have animal conservation at the core of what they do.
With all that being said then, once it is reserved a
taxidermied animal can last almost indefinitely as a piece of decor.
In general, this kind of decoration is wall
shelf or surface mounted. It's primarily something that can be found at
antique and vintage stores as well as at estate sales.
It definitely provides a more ruggedly masculine look
but it can be used in small doses to further enhance an
overall traditional theme. Our number nine
pick here are oriental rugs which are one of the best design pieces you can
add to your home for a traditional look since wall-to-wall carpet or other
flooring alternatives were created mostly in the 20th century.
At retail prices, they can be incredibly expensive
and that's because many of them are painstakingly created by hand
over a period of months or sometimes even years
but again, they can be particularly cost-effective when purchased
second-hand as a quality oriental rug can last for decades
and will be quite resilient to any wear and tear.
In fact, we've written a thorough guide to oriental rugs which you can check out
here (link on description box).
The number 10 slot is drapery as window coverings can definitely make
a statement about your personal style. Traditionally,
window coverings were used to keep out cold
air and light but today they're almost always used purely for
decorative purposes. They're also an excellent way to
introduce color and pattern into the design of a room
while being relatively inexpensive compared to
many of the other items on our list. Now we're not talking about the
horrible poofy designs of the 1980s here. Rather, classic drapery is sweeping bold
and elegant and as we've mentioned with a
few other pieces, it can draw the eye upward making a
space look taller and airier. Drapery will go a long way toward
making a room look more finished and it will also tie together
other traditional style elements because while most traditionally
designed spaces may or may not have contained some of the elements listed
above, they almost always contained drapery.
When in doubt, going with a solid will be the most conservative choice but we
would encourage you to work with patterns if
it works in your space. And, wrapping up our list today is our
number 11 pick: the palm tree. During the Victorian
era at the end of the 19th century, traditional style added a plant for the
first time and this was the palm tree. In the 1840s,
the kew gardens built the world's largest
greenhouse and started collecting palm trees
which then only grew in the tropics. This inspired the wealthy elite to begin
collecting palm trees and influential American financier Jay
Gould, for example, had more than 300 palms in his
collection. In the 1880s, palms came to symbolize
wealth and luxury so they became a coveted
interior design element and today, the palm tree, whether living or
faux is still an elegant addition to any home.
As we've said with many of the other items on this list,
a palm tree can also help to draw the eye upward
and make the space look larger. The green leaves will help to add
color and freshness to a room and they're great for
filling awkward spaces like corners. We're not suggesting you develop a
collection of 300 palms, of course, but maybe start with one and see how you
like it. So with this list of 11 interior design
classics, we hope that you'll be able to tie your
space no matter how large or small it is together in a more cohesive and
attractive style. In today's video, I'm wearing a
traditionally casual outfit that could be worn around the house
in a way that would harmonize with some of the interior design
classics we listed today. The centerpiece of course, is my
vintage silk dressing gown in a red color
that also features some relatively bold patterning
to continue my color theme throughout the outfit. I've paired the dressing gown
with a pink shirt some brown trousers that contain
a red undertone and some moccasin-styled loafers in suede
that also have some warmth to their color. The rest of my outfit today is
made up of elements from the Fort Belvedere shop.
The first of these that I'll mention are my cufflinks which are
rose gold plated sterling silver models in a
monkey's fist knot design. I'm also wearing shadow striped socks
in gray and burgundy red and an ascot that features a Macclesfield neats
pattern in buff red, blue, and orange. Of course,
you can find the cufflinks, socks, and ascot as well as a wide array
of other menswear accessories in the Fort Belvedere Shop
here. (link in description box)
I think it's lunchtime.