Satiating the Hispanophile in You: How to Make Spanish Interior Design Work

The Marge Carson Living Room Seville Cocktail Table shows how effective it is to merge a metal framework with wood and glass surfaces.

The Spanish interiors are observed to have many features that are similar to the Mediterranean homes. These share architectural looks as well as craftsmanship. For centuries, Spanish homes are also sometimes interchanged with Tuscan homes, French Country homes, and even the Moroccan style. But what makes Spanish style stand out?

Spanish Design Basics

Without a doubt, Spanish interior design is greatly influenced by the Mediterranean region. It is typical to find coastline palettes of green, blues, browns and whites. You will also generally find terracotta shades of red and oranges and these are apparently because of the use of terracotta tiling on the roofs as well as on the flooring.

It is typical to find ceramic and stone elements alongside wrought-iron pieces, pottery, candelabra, and carved wood panels. Copper and other metal accents are also an important part of this cultural design.

Now take a look at the wall finishes on Spanish interiors. These are heavily-textured complete with plaster or stucco to create visual interest. The neutral glazes are easy on the eyes because they are often used with textured walls.

Do you like hanging woven tapestries especially on wrought-iron grilles? Then you have a taste for Spanish style. Just keep your accessories to a bare minimum such as interesting displays of pots, urns, planters and vases. These are enough to make the rooms more interesting.

Uttermost Accessories Frederico Rustic Vases

The Colonial Style

The Southwestern states show a fusion, ironically, of Native American and Spanish colonial cultures. This is referred to only as the Spanish Colonial style. To others, this could be what’s referred to as the Mission style because of the infusion of mission churches on the design.

Other common elements of the Spanish Colonial design are corner fireplaces, wall benches, cabinets, and earthy floors. You could easily use ceramic, stone or rock flooring and accessorize with metal accents, pottery, stained glass as well as wall hangings. Are you tempted to display an image of a saint in the living room?

You’re welcome to do so.

The Revival Style

This Spanish design is called the Spanish Revival style because, in the 1920s, tourism to the southern part of Spain demanded for their architecture to be set up in California. Here, the Spanish Revival homes were set up and they became hybrid structures complete with adobe bricks, terracotta roofing, shutters, wood ceiling beams, and entry doors with carvings.

You will also notice the liberal use of railings, wrought-iron gates, banisters and lots of window grilles.

The Spanish Revival interiors housed many wood furniture. The typical species used were pine and oak. You will also marvel at the details on the carvings, inlays, and even the paint finishes. It was common to find furniture completed with nailhead trim and leather.

Modern Spanish

You could always go traditional Spanish and choose the elements that were already listed or you could go with a touch of modernism. A lot of Spanish style structures come with stucco walls, especially in the kitchen. This texture can be recreated by faux finishes in apricot, off-white, bold or burnt sienna.

Remember to use a natural, dark wood finish on the trims, wood works and molding. The contrast would be the rich-colored walls, giving your home a warm, welcoming feel.

As for the stairs and banisters, say goodbye to solid wooden banisters. Use wrought-iron whenever you can as this contrasts well with tiles and woodworks. Add some terracotta risers to otherwise bare stairs.

As for the ceiling, keep up with the exposed wood beam trend. As for the accents, add hand-glazed tiles all around the fireplace and on the kitchen backsplash. Go for heavy, hand-carved furniture pieces and steel lamps.

Don’t forget to show your personality with the colors that you experiment with.

Tags: McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, Spanish interior design, Spanish interiors, Spanish style

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2018 at 8:40 am and is filed under Interior Design 101, Interior Design Elements, Interior Design Themes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.