In days gone by you could look at a paintings or photographs of interiors and immediately identify the era. Interior decorating had strict rules and just about everyone followed them. In the Victorian era, everyone decorated their parlors with lots of dark colors, fringed draperies and tons of knick-knacks everywhere. No one could mistake the French provincial style for anything other than what it was. But today, interior design doesn't fit into neat little categories because it's become distinctly personal. You can visit ten different homes and find ten different uniquely different styles of decorating - all of them tasteful, all of them gorgeous in their own way - and none of them resembling any of the other nine.
Today's homeowners want to express their own sense of style, not just blindly follow trends. They've grown up with an individual sense of fashion and learned to express themselves on the Internet. Today everyone is the author of their own biography with websites like MySpace, FaceBook and YouTube. People who can create their own fame and write their own histories don't want to copy the styles of a million other people.
The increasing popularity of decorating programs like Design Star, B. Original, Room by Room and many others has contributed to the trend toward bending the rules of design rather than following them. Many of these shows highlight ways that individuals can put their personal stamp on any room they are decorating by "fudging the rules" a bit.
One way that people bend the rules is by blending pieces from different eras to create new look that's uniquely their own. You can walk into a spacious living room today and find an exquisite Rococo armoire being used as a home office desk in the same room that holds a sleek, modern, glass and chrome coffee table. Combining different eras and styles in one room is something that you just didn't see in the past. However, it's become one way that individuals can express their wide range of tastes in their own homes, and done properly the results can be stunning.
Highlighting Interests and Collections
Many people are showcasing their personal passions in their décor these days. Collectors used to keep their collections safely ensconced in their bedrooms or tucked away. Today, more and more people are proudly displaying unusual collectables in their living rooms or family rooms. The gentleman who collects antique walking sticks and has them corralled in antique stands in each corner of the room, or the young woman who loves vintage hats and has them hanging on a feature wall like artwork when she isn't wearing them.
Some people don't simply bend the rules; they break them. Standard rules from the past like 'don't use dark colors in small rooms,' have gone by the wayside as individuals have decided to take a stand for what they love over what is "proper." It may be true that a room will seem smaller if the colors are dark, but if that doesn't bother you, why should you follow that rule? If a person loves the color and likes the feeling of being cocooned in comfort, then the rule was made to be broken - and the effect is often striking!
Working With Instead of Against
In this age of embracing our individuality, including our flaws and imperfections, more people are working with the flaws in their homes rather than against them. Instead of gutting their homes and completely starting from scratch, they are incorporating those little imperfections that come from age, design flaws or simply changing tastes into their new décor.
If someone has a 1960's home with a mid-Century modern fireplace these days, he's not likely to rip it out and replace it with something that's the latest trend. He's more likely to have it lovingly restored and work with it, accenting the mid-Century style of the fireplace with his own contemporary furnishings and a few Arts & Crafts accent - it will be truly his own Personal Style.
Can anything be passed off as "style" these days? No. You can't simply throw anything and everything into a room and call it your "style." You still have to have a sense of proportion and balance, an awareness of how color and line work together; but today's rules are much more fluid and individuality allows us to play with design like never before. We can start with the core elements of good design and rearrange the various elements to create our own personal style so that, when we walk into our homes, we can truly feel that there is no other place in the world quite like it.