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

by Laura Grey
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.
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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.
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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.
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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 […]