Modern Victorian Style

The Modern Victorian interior style developed during the sovereignty of Queen Victoria in England in the second half of the 19th century. The industry was rapidly expanding and flourishing, and the capitalists were getting rich. The availability of unrestricted funds gave rise to a natural need for luxurious homes and estates. 

The Victorian designs, arrangement, and furnishing of dwellings have acquired a demonstrative character. 

Wealthy people could travel freely and study other people’s culture, art, and life. Often, from their travels, the British brought various exotic decorations and new ideas for arranging their own home. Therefore, the presence in the interior of new original solutions, decor, and ornaments began to be considered a sign of the owner’s solidity and prosperity. This is how the Victorian design style appeared in the interior.

Modern Victorian House Interior Rules

To appropriately decorate a residence or apartment in an updated Victorian style, its proprietor should have thought of the components of those interior styles that he would want to see in this residence or apartment. 

Using features of exotic styles does not make them endure; otherwise, it will look like a non-Victorian apartment.

The Main Features of the Victorian Style

• Solid, high-quality, and reliable modern Victorian furniture: decor, textiles, accessories, and more.
• Eclecticism. In the Victorian style, you can often see elements: classics, baroque, rococo, gothic, renaissance, and ethnic accents.
• Brown and burgundy are always present in the color palette of the interior.
• The presence of indoor plants, mainly on the floor, in the room’s corners, and pots.
• The presence of a fireplace and library. The fireplace, traditionally, personifies warmth and comfort, so even when arranging an apartment, it is worth choosing an excellent artificial analog. It is unnecessary to set aside an entire room for a library; beautifully carved shelving with books and a conveniently organized reading space will be enough.

Creating a modern Victorian home

Suppose you’re looking at the specifics of Victorian design and wondering how to make it work in your own space. In that case, many ways exist to embrace Victorian interior styling while maintaining a more broadly modern aesthetic. It’s possible to bring in the warmth and luxury of the Victorian era in bits and pieces rather than an all-or-nothing approach, and the result can be a space that’s as one of a kind as you want it to be.

The trick to modernizing a Victorian interior is strategically choosing certain Victorian elements while leaving others behind. The result should be an interior rooted in this decorative style without getting lost, offering a perfect blend of romantic charm and contemporary chic.

Bring in some drama

So many Victorian design elements are steeped in the dramatic. And you can achieve this more modernly by mixing in a bit of drama with more understated features. For example, hang some bold, Victorian-inspired wallpaper in a space with more modern or modern-adjacent features. Or, nix simple window treatments and opt for heavy drapes instead. Other ways to bring in a bit of dramatic Victorian flair include sticking to fine art instead of modern prints (the more ornate the frames, the better) and bringing in plenty of jewel tones and other dark and intense hues.

Velvet, Tufting, and Fringe

‘More is definitely more,’ and this is an example of the essential anchor points of this technique. Mainly, when it describes the elements of the furniture in these types of rooms, you will usually see Victorian compositions that are accomplished with an extravagance of tufting, fringing, pleating, or gathering of fabric on the elegant furniture, yet in a slightly more modernized and abstract method. If you use the back of the sofa to create a moment with that gathering of fabric, make a considerable skirt along the back (the rest of the room is trickier). 

If you use a traditional tufting technique, wrap it around a curved wall to make it feel more modern. Anywhere and everywhere that you can add fringing or tufting is very much acceptable in this style. Use linen upholstery with a more matte fringe. The shiny velvet doesn’t feel as modern, but that shape is excellent. If fringe isn’t your thing, then some exceptional detail can add that extra layer to your piece of furniture, making it feel more Victorian. Just use that additional trim along all the seams of the couch. Fringe can also be added to almost anything in the room, even with a light fixture. The fringe instantly evokes a sense of playfulness, which is critical in this style, as it is all about layering on the textures and details in a playful and fun way.

To purchase the book:

Go to   Amazon.com…..Search for ‘66 Styles for Interior Design’….Volume 3 I-N