How to Decorate Art Deco: Interior Design Styles Explained

If you've ever romanticized the 1920s, you know the golden years between the two world wars, the great Gatsby, speakeasies, flapper fashion, and some of the most collectible furniture of all time. Chances are today's design style will pique your interest. Hello beautiful people, welcome back. If you're new here, I'm Lindsay, an interior stylist and teacher. I make videos about interior design so we can learn and style our homes together. Today we're breaking down a design style that's over 100 years old and having a totally major comeback right now, Art Deco. As we always start, what is Art Deco? Art Deco uses pops of vivid colors or bold patterns to create focal points punctuated by uniquely shaped furniture. A mix of geometric shapes, bold patterns, vibrant colors, opulent materials, symmetry, and a touch of glamour make this 1920s style fit into a contemporary living room. Whether you go full-on time period or mix Art Deco in with other design elements, it feels both timeless and fresh at the same time. It all began in Paris in the 1920s. Some of the most sought after vintage furniture was created by the first Art Deco interior designers who took their inspiration from the 18th and 19th century French cabinet makers. The first elegant pieces were showcased at the 1925 Paris Exhibition International des Arts Décoratifs et Industrielles Modernes, my apologies for my rotten French, featuring furniture designs by Jacques-Emile Rouman, Paul Fallot, and the Many of these items can be seen in museums around the world. Highly sought after Paris designers in the artistes-décorateurs tradition include Pierre Chareau, Pierre Legrand, Jean-Michel Frank, Eileen Gray, and Betty Joel. You might be familiar with some architectural examples of Art Deco, including the Théâtre de Champs-Élysées in Paris, which is a fantastic example, as is New York City's Chrysler Building. Art Deco ultimately became the predominant decorative style of the 1920s and 1930s, a time of relative prosperity and industrialized progress. By the 1930s, new materials like steel were in greater use, giving designers more to play with and Art Deco furniture filled U.S. stores and homes, a more modernist and streamlined look for the time period. Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewelry, fashion, cars, cinema, trains, ocean liners, and even everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners. Art Deco made a global and lasting impact on interior design. It's crazy to think a style that's been around over 100 years can still feel so timeless and fresh today. Now let's get into it with the key elements that you can incorporate into your own home when pursuing Art Deco. First, go bold with your color palette. Think rich jewel tones, not everywhere, but choose a few to balance out with your neutrals. They can really grab your attention and create a sense of contrast. Feel free to create a statement by embracing animal prints, sunburst patterns, textiles with bold prints or wallpaper, accessories that grab your attention and tell a story, furniture and accessory with sweeping curves. Next, lean into geometry. Art Deco uses a lot of repeating patterns in furniture, textiles, wallpaper, and it's a great way to add a little bit of visual interest to a space. Geometric shapes and prints feel modern even though they've been around forever. Even when you're styling furniture pieces and accessories, pursue a feeling of symmetry. Think about the scale of your furniture and think about incorporating things into pairs. Pairs of chairs, pairs of lamps on either end of a table, everything you can do to create that overall sense of balance. You can even pursue geometry in the nuts and bolts of your home. Think about patterns and flooring like herringbone or parquet, expansive use of tile and unique and eye-catching patterns. Black and white checkered flooring is a key element in this style. Archways, very popular for this time period, dramatic windows, diamond shapes, repeating patterns with symmetry, even scalloped edge designs have a little bit of that feeling. Next, pursue streamlined shapes in your furniture and accessories and look for items that have a little bit of subtle curve. Think about barrel armchairs or waterfall bureaus, two quintessential furniture pieces for this time period that instantly make a room feel Art Deco. Arched mirrors, also very popular, but think about ones with frames that are a lot more simple, not the baroque anthropology mirror. You can go really glam with lighting, think bold beautiful pendants, etched glass chandeliers, pairs of shaded wall sconces for that symmetrical look. There's so many different ways that you can incorporate different metallic sheens like brass and polished nickel for a really classic, beautiful, and glamorous look. Next, focus on sleek opulent materials. As I said earlier, all of our quintessential Art Deco designers use nothing but the best, so that's kind of what we need to look for within this style. You want to look for rich lacquered woods with a high gloss finish, and if you find an old vintage or thrift shop piece, you can always add that finish yourself on a budget. Think mirrored furniture, I think you can do that tastefully, hopefully it doesn't take you forever to clean it. If you look for something with very clean lines, milk glass is especially popular during this period, especially in light fixtures, still very popular today. Brass or polished nickel accessories like lamps, trays, and decorative pieces add a little bit of shine around the room and a little bit more glam feeling. Feel free to mix materials together too, like wood tones, metal finishes, as long as there is an element of balance and cohesion among the grouping. When adding textiles to your room, continue to pursue that opulent feeling with things like velvet, silk, and pattern on pattern play can be very beautiful in this aesthetic. We talked about our deco spaces having beautiful statement windows. If your space doesn't have that, think statement mirrors. Walls of mirrors were very, very popular at this time period, and I've seen some absolutely stunning contemporary designs that incorporate this element. Walls of mirrors, think that antiqued aged glass that has almost not quite a mercury glass feeling, but just that antiqued feeling, even if it's a new install, and it can create dramatic shapes and sizes, it can make an entire room feel double the size, and just really make a room feel more dramatic and interesting, and really playing around with the scale. I think that's the most important part. Now let's talk about a few design philosophies you'll need to keep in mind if you're pursuing art deco in your home. If you're into this, I like to nudge you in this direction. It's grown up glam, a little more timeless, you can still do your mirrored furniture, but take the palette to a bolder place and really find your design style. Mixing more glamorous art deco pieces with some more traditional wood pieces can create a little bit more of a, I don't know, mature version of this style, bring you into a more contemporary fresh zone. Look for art deco style furniture, both new and secondhand, and honestly the best pieces are true antiques. You can comb vintage stores and thrift shops, but you might find some kind of lesser quality reissues. You can also save and invest in beautiful high quality reissues if that's what you're looking for, but I find it's most fun to comb your area for antique stores, go regularly, even talk to the owners, kind of become friends with them, let them know what you're looking for, they can always maybe give you a ring if they find something that might fit what you're looking for, and don't be afraid to take something home that might be in some disrepair. You can easily DIY, sand it down, add a new high gloss sheen, and it's going to feel brand new again. That said, look for and invest in quality pieces, no matter what your budget is. Splurge on your priority pieces, the ones that you are looking forward to adding to your home most, save up your money, search out deals for the rest to fill out the rest of your space. The key is in the quality, so if you have at least a couple of vintage pieces or high quality pieces that you've invested in, it's going to make the entire room feel elevated, even if you fill in the blanks with thrift store finds and DIYs. Mix art deco pieces with other antiques, you don't have to do a time period art deco home, it's really fun to, you know, pull from different eras and see how they fit together, that's how you find your own style. So mix art deco icons with other design styles for a unique style that's all your own. We've talked a lot about curvaceous furniture, but remember to balance gentle curves with geometric shapes and patterns. Art deco is not all about all these rounded features, that is part of it, but it's a balance between a lot of geometric, very simple, clean lines with interesting details. One of my best tips with this style is to create contrast with contemporary art pieces. You don't have to go, as I said, time period here, and adding in some beautiful contemporary art that speaks to you can really bring those art deco pieces into the future, making them feel a little bit into the present, making them feel fresh for today. Now let's talk inspiration, you know, I love to look for some notable designers, influencers, or perhaps, I don't know, amazing, iconic celebrities. Let's start with Barbara Streisand. So when I was researching art deco, one of my most just awe-inspiring spaces that I found was Barbara Streisand's Malibu Guesthouse. Apparently she dreamed of having an art deco space as a guest home and sourced all this insane furniture, you guys, it is so bold, so interesting, and so inspiring. She really takes use of a lot of really bold colors, as we mentioned, jewel tones, it's got this sort of ruby red vibe, and these insane furniture pieces that have both clean lines, but a little bit of curve, and a little bit of interest, but simple yet modernist. It's a truly an inspiring space. I'll leave links to this and everything else down below. You've got to see this one, you guys, it's amazing. Another design I've completely fallen in love with recently is this quiet, streamlined take on art deco style from young French designer Dorothée Melikson at the Hotel Bacamont in Paris. It's definitely on my Paris places to stay bucket list, and it's very understated yet bold, it's got some great pieces that grab your attention, mixing in a lot of contemporary elements. I love this channel upholstery on the headboard, it's so inspiring, this is a truly interesting and unique space. And finally, a longtime favorite designer of many people, including me, Jonathan Adler. He is known for his love of the 1970s and eclectic, sort of maximalist style in some regards, but a lot of his designs do lean a little glam, and it's mostly in that, what we talked about, that modern, a little bit more mature art deco version of glam. He incorporates a lot of very quintessential art deco furniture pieces in his own designs and reinterpretations, and he has this way of making even old things feel new again. I also love the way he mixes art deco in with other styles, which is very inspiring. If you're looking for sources for new furniture pieces, I would definitely point you in the direction of CB2. They have really gone with a lot of different mixing of styles, their own interpretations of classic designs, and within their catalog, you'll find a lot of different things that can read very art deco. Another great one is Anthropologie. I feel like they definitely explore a lot of different design styles, they're known for mixing, they definitely have a lot of those, as we mentioned, that very ornate Anthropologie European mirror situation, but they also can lean a little bit more art deco with a sort of artsy, interesting shapes and furniture that can be impactful in a space. Definitely an investment, but gorgeous. Another favorite is West Elm, known for mid-century modern, but if you do comb and look for some curved linear pieces, really clean classic lines with some interesting inlay texture. They had a beautiful chagrin desk that was stunning, and I absolutely thought about buying it when I was looking for one. And another one is World Market. Don't sleep on World Market, you guys. There are a lot of great options there, definitely known for a little bit more of a boho, Polynesian aesthetic. You can find some art deco-inspired pieces, and look in their furniture. They have a lot of different things, and fantastic price points. I'll maybe look for a few to insert here. If you're looking for art deco secondhand, oh my gosh, you are gonna have so much fun, especially if you love to search. Etsy is a great source, no matter where you live, depending on the size of the piece, it might be a little bit of shipping cost, but maybe worth it, especially if you're having a hard time finding secondhand items locally at your thrift shops or antique shops. But I highly suggest comb secondhand apps and thrift shops near you. Look for items like waterfall style bureaus and cabinets, curvy barrelback armchairs, and don't be afraid to reupholster something. If it's the right piece, find someone who can do it for you locally. It's definitely an investment, but if you save a little money buying something secondhand, it's worth putting a little money into it if it's a forever piece. Another thing too is, you know, DIYing your reupholstery. I know everyone thinks this is a little bit too much work, and if you're not a DIYer, feel free to skip this part, but I really really highly suggest look for a local upholstery class. I found one several years ago now at a local fabric store, and it was taught by this hilarious older gentleman who had been in the upholstery business and owned his own store here locally for like 30 plus years, and taught us all the tricks of the trade and was a little gruff and all the tools and everything how to use them, and he had every possible option to solve any problem with any style of chair, and it was such an interesting look at the nuts and bolts of furniture, and upholstery largely is smoke and mirrors, so once you kind of get the hang of how to hide things, it's very very fun and a great project for a weekend or a week or a month, sometimes depending on if the chair is a little bit more ornate, it might take a while longer, but so worth it in the end, and if you end up getting really tired of it, you can always, you know, have it professionally done if the DIY thing doesn't work out, but it's always worth trying to learn something, right? And as I always try to push you guys to do, shop your own collection. Just because you're pursuing a new style doesn't mean you need all new things. Something you can look for that most of us have something of is a geometric print. You might have some geometric print drapes or a shower curtain or a rug that you can pull out or move to a different space. When you rearrange things in your home or maybe add a couple new pieces, it can feel brand new again. Another one is bold color accessories. Even if you're not gonna reupholster a sofa or completely paint a room a new color, adding in some just bold color accessories from your current collection might add a little bit of punch and statement that art deco is known for. Another one, of course, is mirrors. We love a mirror. I feel like I always talk about this in design videos. They're just great and every style uses them because they add so much to a space. Look for arched mirrors, ones with very simple frames, and go for something a little bit cleaner and sleeker. You can really add a lot to a room just by adding a new style of mirror. The last one is rethink chandeliers. Maybe if you moved into a new house and you thought, well that's a lot of chandelier, maybe it just isn't surrounded by the other elements that are going to make it feel more modern. So before you just rip everything out in your home or try to put all this new stuff in, stop and really think, is this something we could build off of? Homing the internet, homing my design books for inspiration can really help me rethink a piece. So if you have a chandelier that fits into that art deco style, just, you know, maybe just check, you know, just do a little bit of reference checking, see if you can find something that makes you feel like you could make it more modern. How do we make this style achievable, especially when so many opulent materials and these antiques can cost a lot of money? If you're attracted to this style, try adding in a little bit of art deco. Start with looking at the furniture pieces and think about adding one beautiful piece. My suggestion is an armchair. I always feel like that's a great way to just gateway yourself into a style, but really commit at the same time. That's what I did with Mid-Century Modern. I picked a chair and then it was like built from there. You can also just take it a step at a time. Remember that to pursue a new style does not mean you need to get rid of everything and start over and get all new art deco stuff. Something that's layered and gathered over time, that's always the best route to a beautiful space. After all this information, all these beautiful photos, you might be wondering, is this the style for you? Well, here's my prediction. Art deco might be for you if you are a collector, you love the antique hunt, you're willing to invest in quality, you're open to refinishing furniture. It might not be the style for you if you're solidly within a conflicting design style, which might make adding an art deco piece feel out of place. If you're solidly farmhouse and you try to add something art deco in, it just might fight and not fit together. But that said, I'm all for breaking all the rules. You never know what's going to work together until you try it out. Maybe you can figure it out, but if you find, oh this just isn't working in my industrial space, don't push it. And finally, if you don't like researching furniture styles, if you're not into the history and finding out all the quintessential pieces to look for, hunting for the right piece, looking for new shops to explore, combing Etsy and waiting and being patient for just the right thing, this style might not be for you. To really sell it, I feel like you have to have some, you know, new contemporary pieces of course, but you also need to have that balance of some vintage pieces, some really authentic 20s vibe to make it really work. I hope you enjoyed this little exploration into the world of art deco interior design. It was so much fun to research this one and I'm always looking for ideas for which one to explore next, so let me know down in the comments which design style you'd like to learn more about. If you liked this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more interior design videos every week here on Lindsey Levine. Check out this little playlist of all my design style videos, including my video on how to find your style when there's so many to pick from, and I'll see you in that video. Bye my friends.