A boxy, white, open-plan interior space with a large opening facing the sea is dotted with only white, cream, and beige minimalist furnishings. Beige modern chairs and sofas are topped with terracotta pillows and sit on a seagrass rug with a round wicker table in foreground. In the background is a simple minimalist dining table and chairs below pendant lights that end in flat wicker shades. A few black metal frames, light fixtures, and a black and white folding chair provide the only dark elements in the room.
Q&A Style, Decor & Design

Stylish and Serene Vacation Home Decor

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Q: I inherited my folks’ 1970s beach house. It’s full of furniture my parents bought when I was a kid. I love the place, but Mom covered everything with ocean-related stuff. The bathroom has whale tiles and an octopus toilet seat! The curtains have an anchor pattern, the kitchen chair backs look like boat wheels, […]

A pale blue upholstered sofa with many smallish matching throw pillows. The walls are a darker shade of teal. A black metal round side table is in front. Behind are a minimalist dining table (wood on top on a black metal frame) and gold leather-upholstered dining armchairs. On the dining table is a large amber glass vase filled with long leafy branches. Over the table hangs a chandelier of golden cylinders hanging at varying heights.
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The Best Coastal Style for Your Home

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When you think of coastal homes, what regions and home styles come to mind? There are as many types of coastal home style as there are coastal regions. Take time to consider what seaside settings feel most beautiful and comfortable for you. For example, you might create a relaxed and elegant modern Polynesian, Caribbean, or […]

A Midcentury Modern minimalist rush-seated wooden dining chair in pale wood sits on a light-wood floor with a white bare wall behind. To the left of the chair is a pair of small MCM cabinets in a mid-toned wood (perhaps walnut) with a prominent grain. It has two sliding doors across a cabinet on the top, and a wooden shelf below, all on a metal frame. It is about as tall as the back of the chair. Resting on the cabinet is a minimalist line drawing of a face in simple black lines on a white background. Books rest on top of and below the cabinet with spines facing away from the camera.
Design 101

Sustainable Interior Design

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Sustainability is, simply put, the goal of creating and maintaining an environment in which we can safely coexist with other humans, animals, and botanical life, both now and far into the future. This beautiful goal means we have to be honest with ourselves about how we live. Living sustainably can sometimes mean changing the way […]

The interior of a Japanese tea house. Multiple layers of sliding wooden doors and rice paper and wood Shoji screens are open, showing a room with a low tea table through the first set of doors, and a Japanese maple in a garden through the second set. Tatami mats cover the wood floors. A large blue glazed ceramic pot in the foreground is topped by a metal tea kettle on a stand.
What's Your Style?

Japanese Interior Design

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Traditional Japanese interior design is widely popular and much admired. This uncluttered and minimalist style emphasizes tranquil and airy spaces filled with light. Japanese design tends to be understated and calm, which lends it a serene elegance. Rooms are simply but carefully decorated. Proportion and harmony guide the placement and number of design elements. Subtlety—a […]

Detail from a Chinese armorial screen of the Qing Dynasty, Peabody Essex Museum. Intricate black and gold scene of people and animals in a Chinese walled palace, circa 1725.
What's Your Style?

Chinese Interior Design

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A Long Tradition of Formal Elegance What westerners tend to think of as traditional Chinese interior design has primarily been the style of Chinese aristocrats and successful merchants. It emphasizes wealth and status, and tends toward formality. Symbolism is deeply embedded in many elements of Chinese culture, and this is true of not only the […]

A little girl with dark hair and a purple dress holds an orange bottle of bubble solution and holds a bubble blowing wand up to her face. She blows into the wand, creating a cloud of bubbles. Behind her is an out-of-focus grassy lawn.
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Is Your Home’s Air Dangerous?

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When we discuss indoor air quality, we usually mean annoyances like pollen, dust, and household chemicals that can irritate our throats or cause runny or stuffy noses. For millions of people with asthma or other respiratory diseases, even minor irritants can lead to significant discomfort or even distress. Pollutants can make breathing more difficult, so […]

A rustic, lumpy cement pot holds a branch of eucalyptus leaves and sits on a rustic wooden chest. Also on the chest is a brass tray with two books, a bronze bell resting on the books, and a wrought iron candleholder with five lit votives. A linen-covered sofa sits behind covered with several textural pillows, one that looks like a section from a Turkish or Southwestern brown and cream rug, the other a woven rust and white texture.
What's Your Style?

Modern Farmhouse Interior Design

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Contemporary, rustic, yet bright and clean—modern farmhouse style is one of today’s most popular decorating options. It combines reclaimed woods, neutral colors, natural materials, and rich textures to create open, homey, serene spaces. While it has some similarities to country, cottage, or earlier versions of farmhouse style, it largely replaces color and pattern with texture […]

A farmer in a blue cap and jacket and tan pants walks away from us through a wheat field on a sunny day in Provençe. He walks away from a crumbling brick wall and some red flowers toward an ochre farmhouse with blue door and windows. A bright aqua sky above has pink ad white clouds. The farmhouse is surrounded by olive trees and mounded haystacks.
What's Your Style?

French Country Interior Design

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French country has long been a popular interpretation of French interior design style. Though related to the English cottage and American farmhouse styles, its exteriors may be more rustic. However, its interiors are often more sophisticated and spare than those in English-speaking countries. French country interior design is less casual and soft-edged than the related […]

Stained glass window showing a view of a bay with a large rock at right, and purple wisteria vines hanging from the top and along the right side
Design 101

Let’s Talk About Taste and Style

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In the worlds of fashion and interior design, a few individuals wield great power. We look to them to find out what’s considered correct, attractive, and stylish. These tastemakers are lauded for their supposed innate understanding of what is good, what works, what matters aesthetically. Followers look to them for ideas or approval regarding taste […]

A woman in a wheelchair is in a kitchen with a platter of bruschetta on her lap. Her stylish itchen has white cabinet, grey counters that look like rustic wood, and floors that look like rustic white planks with stripes of bright colors but are probably tiles. The cabinets have accessible horizontal drawers instead of cabinet doors.
Accessibility Design 101

Universal Design

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Making life more equitable and safe for people with disabilities is an essential goal of any ethical culture. Most of us believe improving accessibility benefits society as a whole. Naturally, we want all people to feel safe and comfortable navigating their surroundings. What we may not realize is that nearly all of us experience disability […]