Welcome to The Render, a podcast all about interior design. Refine your personal style and discover the stories behind the styles you know and love—because who doesn’t want to learn a little more about design!
In this very first episode, your hosts Alessandra and Maddy introduce themselves and invite you on a tour of nine popular styles to help you figure out yours!
There is an infinite number of styles, so Alessandra and Maddy pared down the choices according to what’s popular and trendy. They break down the building blocks of each popular style and show you how you can pull together a unique room that reflects your personal style.
We hope you enjoyed the show! Share your thoughts on this show and your ideas for future ones at [email protected], don’t hesitate to slide into our Instagram dm’s @modsydesign and tune in next time.
This podcast is sponsored by online interior design service Modsy, the impossibly easy way to design your home.
About
Dr. Alessandra Wood is VP of Style at Modsy as well as a design historian with an eye towards the future. She studied design history & theory and is obsessed with applying that knowledge to understand what makes products beautiful/useful/successful, and what inspires people to love those products.
*The source of your next cocktail party banter.
Find out more on Twitter|LinkedIn|Instagram|Website
Madeline Warner is the Senior Brand Marketing Manager at Modsy as well as a one-woman content show. A writer and editor as well as a design enthusiast, she’s been working in the design industry for five years and specializes in bringing the expertise of an interior designer to the good laypeople.
*Resident furniture pun expert.
Find out more on LinkedIn|Instagram
The Render is edited and produced by Rachael Tellerman. Rachael is a graphic designer at Modsy and is fascinated by the many ways people tell stories. She is also an artist, avid media consumer, and excited to be entering the world of podcasting.
*Makes a delicious baked ziti.
Find out more on LinkedIn|Website
The nine most popular styles
*Be sure to check out the visual guide to this show
- Classic: refined, formal, symmetrical, wealthy
The classic style is based on mint condition French and European antiques: no rustic and weathered looks here! It created stylistic rules and both follows and enforces them.
— If you grew up with a grandmother that didn’t let you go in the living room, it was probably classic style.
Elements: Dark woods, gilded materials, chinoiseries (inspired by Asian pastoral imagery in the rococo era), toile (also pastoral scenes, usually blue on white background) and ball and claw feet.
- American traditional: adult, livable, democratic, proportionate
This style has some historic roots and evolved out of a need to seem less aristocratic and more like one of the people for the founding fathers: they had tons of privilege, but less than, say, Marie-Antoinette.
— No one at the time said I’m buying this chair because it makes me look like I’m running a democracy.
Elements: Inspired by the puritan roots of America, it’s often about craftsmanship and the raw material rather than gilding.
- Minimalist: form follows function, understated, cold
Minimalists were making an intentional statement in opposition to the Victorian era. The idea behind the movement was how can we bring good design to the masses through industrial production.
— Minimalism can seem cold and uncomfortable; it’s not for everyone.
Elements: While Maddy did her research, she noticed that aside from Marie Kondo, most of the pop culture references were serial killers — all kidding aside the stark purity of minimalism means that it does complement other styles really well!
- Mid-century modern: atomic, Scandinavian, comfortable
Mid-century modern spans the ’40s to the ’60s, and sometimes it bumps into the ’70s. It is known for a specific form of modernism that did an uptake and reimagined Bauhaus’ functional design into a more comfortable iteration.
— This is the big kahuna, it’s been the hit style for the past 10 years.
Elements: Blonde wood, teak
- Hollywood glam/regency/chic: bold, dramatic, fun
This style showed up in Hollywood star homes who were eccentric and creative. It’s very bold and incorporates all kinds of overlaid patterns. A lot of classic pieces are introduced into the glam world but accompanied by texture and prints they help bridge the past and the present.
— It’s definitely nouveau riche, a different way to indulge than 100 years ago.
Elements: Everything! Velvet, furs, prints, textures, gold, brass.
- Eclectic: colorful, bohemian, flexible, warm
This style is for the global collector, the flea market visiting bohemian. It breaks all the rules and follows very little symmetry. It can easily be dressed up or down and is the most flexible and comfortable of all the styles.
— This is the boho look, it can feel like you’re about to light up and join a drum circle, but it doesn’t have to.
Elements: Boho, colors textures, college dorm.
- Transitional/contemporary: polished, square, neutral, easy
This is the style-less style in the sense that it creates a solid base on which you can layer any other style you want. Transitional pieces are the bread and butter of most people’s living spaces, they’re timeless.
— Think of hotel furniture: it’s not offensive, it’s hard to dislike but also hard to like in the sense that there isn’t much to react to.
Elements: Neutral upholstery, square lines, streamlined without being minimal.
- Rustic: comfortable, warm, inviting, natural
This is the fixer-upper, the fun farmhouse, log cabin, fire in the corner style. It pulls from classic and traditional forms but it doesn’t have its roots in a defined historical movement.
— Homes being a shelter from the world, this particular time is helping the rustic style’s popularity.
Elements: It’s about the materials and textures, natural, weathered wood, leathers, sisal, jute.
- Industrial: rugged, vintage
A close cousin of the rustic style, the industrial has its roots in the lofts which were built out of converted warehouses and inhabited by artists like Andy Warhol.
— It can be adapted to apartments and regular homes without making them look like they’re trying too hard to be lofts.
Elements: Edison bulbs, exposed ductwork and beams, big heavy furniture, concrete floors.
Resources
Chinoiserie
Toile de Jouy
Walter Gropius
Bauhaus
Charles and Ray Eames
Dorothy Draper
Andy Warhol
