Tudor homes borrow elements from English castles.
Tudor architecture in America is based on the architectural style of the Tudor period in England (1485 to 1558), with its rambling castles and country manor houses. Tudor homes, popular in the United States from 1915 through 1940, resemble these Renaissance structures. A Tudor home's exterior features steeply pitched roofs, half timbering and multipane leaded glass windows. Inside, Tudor homes boast heavy paneling, textured walls, opulent textiles and intricate details. When decorating in the Tudor style, include items that reflect its royal history. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Choose your colors. Opt for the deep jewel tones associated with royalty like purple, red and deep green. Highlight your rooms with accents of silver and gold. Tie back sumptuous maroon silk, satin or velvet draperies with gold braided cords with tassels. Toss hunter green, violet, blue, red and black tapestry throw pillows onto a weathered black leather chair. Add gold fringe to draperies and pillows.
2. Put up intricately carved paneling. Opt for dark woods like mahogany and rosewood or stain the wood a dark color. Run it from floor to ceiling or put it halfway up topped with a textured plaster or stucco wall painted a soft shade of white. Choose paneling with a common design popular in the Tudor period like a fleur-de-lis or Tudor rose.
3. Lay wood floors fashioned from wide planks. Stain them a dark color but don't finish with polyurethane. Let them weather naturally like a castle floor. Put down opulent Oriental rugs in jewel tones to define living areas. Center the dining table on one. Use them to anchor conversation areas.
4. Furnish your rooms with heavy, intricately carved pieces crafted from teak, mahogany and rosewood. Opt for more budget-friendly furniture in less expensive, darkly finished wood like oak or pine.
5. Position a stone fireplace topped with an intricately carved wood mantel against an outside wall. Opt for a mantel fashioned from granite or marble. Hang a coat of arms, large tapestry or deer head above it. Opt for a large painting with a hunting theme in an elaborate silver or gold leaf frame.
6. Install wooden beams on the ceilings or expose existing beams. Opt for a carved wood cove ceiling stained to match the woodwork.
7. Light your rooms with sconces fashioned from wrought iron. Hang an intricate wrought iron chandelier from the ceiling in your entry or above your dining room table.
Tags: your rooms with, fashioned from, intricately carved, rooms with, Tudor homes
