Author: Showdown

Incorporating Southwestern Design into Your Home

Posted on by Showdown

Modern Southwestern design is a blend of Spanish and Native American styles that draws inspiration from the local environment.  The styles fuses the colors of the southwest and natural textures to create a space that is warm and unique.  Southwestern style uses open floor plans, exposed wood and bright oranges, reds and yellows.  Let’s have a look at how you can bring this style into your own interior design at home.

The Colors

The colors used in southwestern design take their inspiration from the natural world around them and the deserts of the area.  You can use azure blues from the sky, reds and oranges from the local flora and the warm earth tones from the desert sand.  There is a lot of color in southwestern design, you can use natural colors on the wall and splashes of color are added with area rugs, and throw pillows.

The Furniture

One of the great things about southwestern design is how incorporates different textures, making your room feel warm and lived in.  You can use big oversized leather furniture next to a simple wooden rocking chair and it works beautifully.  Wood will be the predominant material for coffee tables or end tables but they can have decorative tile or ornate metal fixtures to make them stand out.  Here are some more design styles you can incorporate into your home.

Accents

The art work and accent pieces are where you can really make a statement and showcase that unique southwestern style.  You have so many options to choose from but traditional accent pieces will combine different colors and textures.  Wrought iron and metal feature heavily in this style, if you have high ceilings you can include a large wrought iron chandelier.  Flooring is usually stone tile or a rich hardwood but you can soften that up with thick fleece area rugs.  Leather furniture is fairly common and you can accent it with colorful pillows and a Navajo blanket.  Candles and Native American pottery work well and if you want to put some art pieces on the walls then landscape portraits or deer heads add to the overall design scheme.

Southwestern design can tread a very fine line between beautiful and kitschy, so don’t go over the top.  Add pieces slowly until you have the look you are trying to achieve.  Southwestern design is a fun style that is meant to be lived in and it can be great fun scouring antique shops and thrift stores and finding that perfect piece.

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Build Your Own Western Saloon Right at Home

Build Your Own Western Saloon Right at Home

Posted on by Showdown

When you think of the Old West you can’t help but conjure images of the saloon.  You can picture Wild Bill Hickok playing a game of poker at a beaten up wood table, or cowboys popping in for a shot of whiskey at the bar.  Every western you have ever watched has the saloon featuring prominently as the good guys and bad guys face off.  If you have always been a bit enamored with the old west and would like to incorporate that style into your own home, then let’s show you how you can build your own western saloon right at home.

Getting Started

There are two things that are an absolute must in your saloon the first will be the swinging doors that are an iconic part of the saloon.  The second part is a beaten up old wooden floor that looks it has been scuffed up by many pairs of spurs.  How you proceed with the rest of the décor will depend on your budget and how much space you have to work with.  One thing is for certain you can have a grand adventure hunting down the décor to create your saloon.

Décor

Aside from putting in the bar itself the rest of the décor can vary dramatically, some saloons were pretty modest with just a couple of wooden table.  The more elaborate saloons had everything from floral wallpaper, chandeliers and brass spittoons.  As for finding the right furniture or decorative items you can scan your local thrift stores and antique shops for vintage chandeliers, some antique glass bottles to go behind your bar.  Keep an eye out for old tables and mismatched wooden chairs.  The more distressed looking the chairs are the better.  Some of the more affluent saloons may have had an old piano for nightly entertainment.  Almost any piece of décor from the period can work.

Wall Art

Back then the walls of a saloon had the quintessential deer heads or the bleached skull from cattle.  The photos on the walls would have been black and white in wooden or silver frames, bear in mind that no one smiled in pictures much back then.  There may have been the occasional wanted poster, you can make those types of prints yourself using family members and an app.  To hang behind the bar you should get yourself a saloon sign, on wood with an old font, it will be the best piece of art on your walls.

The old west is such an iconic part of American history that we’re still obsessed with that era more than 150 years later.  You can create a piece of history right in your own home with an old west style saloon.

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