What is a Transitional Living Room?
According to Home Advisor, transitional home style is among the top 5 trending home design styles. In recent years, many people have been shifting from their modernized homes to traditional themed houses. While trying to create a traditional themed house in this era is possible, the transition from modern to traditional faces a lot of complications. It is such bottlenecks that have led to what we now call transitional home style.
A transitional living room is one that combines both traditional and modern aspects of decor. The most important factors to consider when creating a transitional living room include the furniture, paint, wall art, lighting, and patterns among others. Although the word transitional may sound complicated, it turns out that creating a transitional living room is much easier than sticking to one end. In this post, we explore what it means to have a transitional living room and how you can attain one in your home.
What is A Traditional Living Room?
A traditional living room is simply a living room themed in traditional color and furniture styles. You might have realized that there are people who decorate their houses with rich dark wood furniture, to create a traditional ambiance in the room. With a traditional setup, everything is made to look as natural as possible. The use of dark colors is adopted and some wall art pieces crafted naturally are used. Hand made art seems to take center stage when creating a traditional room. Other factors that count include the use of deem lights and adoption of patterns on the floor decor. Most houses are designed to create a living area other than a living room. In the traditional hoses, the living room was interlinked with the kitchen and the dining room. In such a setup, the kitchen also served as part of the living room where families could enjoy a meal together. In this article, we will not be focusing on home styles. However, it is important to note that if you are aiming at a completely traditional style, you should consider having a combined living area.
Modern Living Room
A modern living room is in simple terms designed in modern themes. Most modern homes are themed around bright colors and use of diverse art. In modern designs, bold colors are embraced with people using all types of colors that fit their taste. Another factor that distinguishes modern design from traditional is furniture. The use of finely carved furniture with precision edges has become the trademark fo modern homes. Now people use smart electronics to setup diverse lighting in homes to give their homes different modern themes.
Combining Traditional and Modern Living Rooms
According to the head of interior design at Decorating Den Interiors, it is almost impossible to achieve a 100% traditional design. In most cases, people are able to design a modern living room but few have managed to completely design a traditional room. This is one factor that has caused the rise in popularity for transition living rooms. Even those who love the traditional style still find it enticing to incorporate a few aspects of modern living. To settle the problems caused by the two styles, interior designers recommend creating a well balanced transitional room. A transitional room gives you satisfaction no matter your preference. If you love the traditional setting, you will be glad to have some of your traditional styles features incorporated in modern space.
Factors To Consider When Creating a Transitional Living Room
If you are looking to create a transitional living room, you must keep in mind that there are sacrifices to make. You might be forced to do away with some of your favorite furniture to incorporate something more traditional. However, the most important factor to consider even before you start the project is the cost. Talk with your interior designer to determine how much the project will cost. You should work with a home designer who is willing to listen to your ideas and understand your financial situation. Transitional home design projects may be affordable, especially if your living room already has one design in place. For instance, if you have a modern living room, you can easily make it transitional through an addition and subtraction method. You may just introduce a few furniture pieces, some wall arts, and change a few colors to get your home in the transition phase.
How To Attain A Transitional Living Room
- Stay neutral – Transitional home style is mainly focused on evoking a sense of cleanliness and perfection. Using neutral color pellets gives you the chance to clearly showcase the sleek lines and edges. The contemporary side of the living room will be shown through the precise edges. On the other hand, the traditional side will be shown through the curved edges. If you use neutral colors, it is easier to show a clear distinction between the two designs while keeping them in harmony. Your interior designer may recommend the use of hues like brown and maroon colors in some areas. However, a transitional house should not be painted in traditional colors alone. You might want to recommend colors that might brighten your house a little. Instead off dark brown, opt for much lighter colors like tan or cream. If you want your house to be bright and stay neutral, go for navy blue or choose white furniture to supplement the lighting. If you find choosing colors a complicated affair, just settle for whatever your designer recommends. You could also go with the traditional black and white colors. They are much forgiving even in areas you could go wrong with other colors. If you choose to go with black and white, make sure you introduce some bold accent pieces to complement the contemporary aspects of your living room. The beauty of using neutral colors is that they easily match with any furniture type. If you use the right neutral colors, you can either introduce traditional or modern furniture without a problem.
- Combine Curves and Straight Lines – Curves and straight lines are the two factors that give a clear distinction between traditional and contemporary furniture. To effectively design a transitional living room, you must find a way of combining the two. You should have a balanced mix of traditional furniture with modern ones. Traditional furniture is usually associated with ornate details, including curves and lines. There are many traditional style furniture pieces available in the market today. You can find furniture that shows traditional aspects such as rolled arms, out-turned feet, and curved edges. You might want to use a traditional sofa with a tufted back and out-turned feet for your traditional piece. To make this work well in a transitional room, choose a modern coffee table. It can be any color- as long as it is designed and shaped precisely with modern straight lines. You may even choose to use a glass table instead of a wooden one to make it look more contemporary. When choosing furniture for your transitional home, take your time and do some research. Let your interior designer help you in the process so that you can attain a good balance for the room.
- Incorporate various textures – Texture also plays an important role in transitional living room designs. If you want your house to have both modern and traditional look, you have to combine a wide variety of texture including glass, wood, fabric, metal, etc. In most traditional designs, wood seems to take center stage. Modern designs have less wood showing although it might be used. If you look at traditional chairs, for instance, wood is exposed on the arms and feet of the seat. However, most modern furniture is covered with fabric with wood exposed at a bare minimum. Modern decor is also dominated with straight lines and that is why you find metal and glass being used more. Unlike traditional furniture, you will find modern furniture having steel or metallic handles, that are not curved as it was with traditional furniture. To be able to attain a well balanced transitional living room, you have to combine all these aspects into one. It is important to create furniture layers and a texture that benefits all the different types of pieces. You have to work closely with your interior designer on this aspect since it is not easy determining the right texture by yourself.
- Mix patterns and shapes – Shapes and patterns create a visual interest that can not be achieved by any other element of your decor. You need to arrange your furniture and accessories in a way that attracts the interest of those visiting your home. Patterns and shapes also play an important role when it comes to distinguishing traditional and contemporary living room designs. Traditional designs mostly consist of squares and rectangular shapes. To create a transitional feel, try mixing furniture shapes. For instance, you can arrange your round coffee table along with striped window treatments. You should choose at least three patterns that vary in scale, size and look for a transitional living room. Make sure you work closely with your interior designer to be able to achieve a transitional living room even when choosing complicated patterns.