What's Your Style: Modern Victorian Mixes Tradition and Modernity
Not sure why you love velvet, wainscotting and sleek lines? It could be because your style is modern Victorian
It’s very true that your personal style changes over the years as you move from one stage of life to another, but it can also be a bit confusing when you’re not exactly sure what your new design style is.
What is modern Victorian?
When I think about the things I really like right now in a home, it has a combination of functionality – furniture that’s comfortable to sit on and kitchens that can hide your mess – and old world luxury (velvet, oil paintings, deep strong colours, dark timber floors and stone).
When I think about the things I really like right now in a home, it has a combination of functionality – furniture that’s comfortable to sit on and kitchens that can hide your mess – and old world luxury (velvet, oil paintings, deep strong colours, dark timber floors and stone).
What I’m thinking of is the look of an English country house; a home that has been around for centuries, accumulating layers of period styles in a lazy mismatch of fine furniture and carpets worn out by dogs.
A Bolt of British Charm in Brooklyn
A Bolt of British Charm in Brooklyn
But, I don’t want the messy dogs, chewed up rugs and layers of other people’s history. I want the core elements of the country house but I want them to sport a touch of modernity. I want to live in a style that is a mix of period tradition and modern functionality.
And this is the concept behind the modern Victorian style. It is a unique type of maxi-minimalism, or traditional-natural, or period-luxe.
HDB Maisonette gets a country makeover
And this is the concept behind the modern Victorian style. It is a unique type of maxi-minimalism, or traditional-natural, or period-luxe.
HDB Maisonette gets a country makeover
The Victorian part refers to the historical period that saw the rise of modern Industrialism (the social movement, not the interior style) which meant that many more items like furniture and home goods could be made cheaper and more quickly.
The middle class began to grow and they wanted to decorate their homes to show off their increasing wealth. New technology like gas lights, ice-boxes, coal-fired heating, hot water on tap, plumbed toilets became available.
The middle class began to grow and they wanted to decorate their homes to show off their increasing wealth. New technology like gas lights, ice-boxes, coal-fired heating, hot water on tap, plumbed toilets became available.
And so, thanks to the combination of new technology and lower production cost, the Victorian style was itself a mismatch of various historic and global styles.
Everything from mock Tudor, to the Arts and Crafts Movement, the aesthetic movement, Anglo-Japanese, and Anglo-Chinese, colonial Indian and even the Art Nouveau styles all started in this period.
This means that there is a vast amount of material to choose from when picking out the Victorian part of your personal modern Victorian look. The orientalist style is a particularly nice one to choose if you have inherited furniture.
East meets West in this award-winning renovation
Everything from mock Tudor, to the Arts and Crafts Movement, the aesthetic movement, Anglo-Japanese, and Anglo-Chinese, colonial Indian and even the Art Nouveau styles all started in this period.
This means that there is a vast amount of material to choose from when picking out the Victorian part of your personal modern Victorian look. The orientalist style is a particularly nice one to choose if you have inherited furniture.
East meets West in this award-winning renovation
How to get modern Victorian style
Once you have decided on the central concept for your Victorian style – Gothic, classic Victoriana, orientalist, Art Nouveau etc. – you’ll be able to better create your scheme.
But there are a few key concepts to keep in mind:
Once you have decided on the central concept for your Victorian style – Gothic, classic Victoriana, orientalist, Art Nouveau etc. – you’ll be able to better create your scheme.
But there are a few key concepts to keep in mind:
Mix old and new
Mixing old furniture with new fabric styles, or using modern lighting fixtures with traditional furniture, or modern flooring with traditional wainscotting… all these things help create the modern Victorian look.
Mixing old furniture with new fabric styles, or using modern lighting fixtures with traditional furniture, or modern flooring with traditional wainscotting… all these things help create the modern Victorian look.
Tip: One way to get the look is to install wainscotting or panelling to the lower part of walls and then wallpaper on the upper portion. The purpose of wainscotting was to protect walls from scuffs and damp but it’s used for purely decorative reasons now.
Make a feature of your walls
No, this isn’t the return of the dreaded ‘feature wall’.
This is about making your Plain Jane walls more interesting. Wainscotting for example, is already a growing trend in wall finishes as it adds texture and dimension.
No, this isn’t the return of the dreaded ‘feature wall’.
This is about making your Plain Jane walls more interesting. Wainscotting for example, is already a growing trend in wall finishes as it adds texture and dimension.
You can use wallpaper or tiles in bathrooms and kitchens to create the point of interest on your wall.
Tip: Don’t forget other architectural features like ceiling roses, cornices and skirting. Having them in larger widths or more detailed designs are right up the Victorian alley. Opt for modern light fittings to bring in the ‘new’ element.
Velvet, padding and pleating
Rich and plush fabrics on ornately carved dark wood furniture were central to the Victorian living room.
Discover the value of velvet for your sofa
Rich and plush fabrics on ornately carved dark wood furniture were central to the Victorian living room.
Discover the value of velvet for your sofa
Tip: You can bring the ‘modern’ to your Victorian furniture by choosing a traditional furniture shape upholstered in a modern print.
Tip: If you’re not a huge fan of pleated or ruffled edging, go for the more masculine style of the Chesterfield leather sofa.
Substantial art
Choose art that has a particularly period feel to it, like a marble bust or a large oil portrait.
Even better if the portrait is of one of your family members or ancestors. And twice as good if the painting is huge.
Tip: Go with a modern metal frame for the painting and stand the bust on a streamlined plinth.
Choose art that has a particularly period feel to it, like a marble bust or a large oil portrait.
Even better if the portrait is of one of your family members or ancestors. And twice as good if the painting is huge.
Tip: Go with a modern metal frame for the painting and stand the bust on a streamlined plinth.
Tip: To make sure your interior doesn’t look like a museum, mix your Victorian features with items that are sharply modern.
Old furniture in a modern apartment
This is probably the easiest way to achieve the style since most of us live in relatively new apartments.
This is probably the easiest way to achieve the style since most of us live in relatively new apartments.
Tip: Be sure to have something old fashioned in spaces like the kitchen or bathrooms so that they don’t appear disjointed and not a part of the overall design.
Collections
The Victorians were great collectors and had all sorts of interesting and beautiful displays from fossils to pressed flowers to insects.
You can create displays of things you have collected in glass boxes or custom cabinetry to get a similar feel.
The Victorians were great collectors and had all sorts of interesting and beautiful displays from fossils to pressed flowers to insects.
You can create displays of things you have collected in glass boxes or custom cabinetry to get a similar feel.
Mix up colours
Don’t be afraid of using dark colours or busy wallpaper in smaller spaces as these can create drama.
Blue is an on-trend colour for 2019 or stick to ruby reds mixed with dusky pink or even mint.
Don’t be afraid of using dark colours or busy wallpaper in smaller spaces as these can create drama.
Blue is an on-trend colour for 2019 or stick to ruby reds mixed with dusky pink or even mint.
Go big with flora
The Victorians had a real love for nature and the outdoors and many of them were amateur botanists, gardeners and naturalists. Having floral elements in your interior will fit right in.
This can be static and 2D like a large floral wallpaper, 3D like an overblown floral upholstered chair or even in the form of ‘old-fashioned’ plants like Boston Lace ferns.
The Victorians had a real love for nature and the outdoors and many of them were amateur botanists, gardeners and naturalists. Having floral elements in your interior will fit right in.
This can be static and 2D like a large floral wallpaper, 3D like an overblown floral upholstered chair or even in the form of ‘old-fashioned’ plants like Boston Lace ferns.
So, does modern Victorian appeal to your design senses? I have to admit that it does mine, although now I need to find a lovely old manor so I can do it properly.
TELL US
Are you interested in creating the modern Victorian Style in your home? Tell us in the Comments below. And don’t forget to save your favourite images, bookmark the story, and join in the conversation.
TELL US
Are you interested in creating the modern Victorian Style in your home? Tell us in the Comments below. And don’t forget to save your favourite images, bookmark the story, and join in the conversation.
I relooked my style and thought maybe I’m more of a bohemian but I’m not into flowy fabrics, bright colours and wicker/ macrame anything. Perhaps I’m more defined by the modern Victorian style?