Buckle up everyone! Today’s topic is one we’ve been excited to share with you all. As we know, every interior designer has their own unique style, favorite themes and pieces, and a certain aesthetic that represents them. Each client, too, is different and has a certain aesthetic that appeals to them. Merging the two is what we, as interior designers, do every single day! That being said, we do have a unique style that’s completely ours and completely Joshua Allen Design!
When asked “What is the style that your designers bring to the table?” Our answer is complex. Joshua Allen Design definitely has a flair for the modern and we always try to put what we call a New England twist on each design project. We are based in central Massachusetts, so we get to work a lot with antique and historic homes (which we absolutely LOVE doing). To define our style, the best combination of words is “Antique Modern”. We know it’s kind of an oxymoron but stick with us! We thrive at integrating older pieces of furniture and decor with more modern pieces, and incorporating tastefully modern pieces into historically designed homes. We love using bold colors to make a room pop, but we also know which combinations suit the homes in this area, and which definitely don’t. We love to bring New England history to new homes through furniture, lighting and other design choices, and we also love to bring the “new” to historic homes in the same way!
As designers, first and foremost we listen to what our clients want. Usually if we’ve created a relationship with them their interior design style matches up with ours pretty well, but rather than designing a space according to our own preferences we always make our client’s vision top priority. Sometimes we may want to put our personal styles into someone else's home, but we always make design and style choices that work best for the client! If the client really likes certain elements of style we suggest then we will put that into the design but ultimately the direction our style sways is completely up to them — essentially when you’re our client you’re in the driver’s seat! We may make suggestions according to our own design style, like the inclusion of certain antique pieces if we find something that we feel truly works for their space, but we are always mindful of their styles and aesthetic. Each interior design firm is going to be unique in their own way, and we like to think people gravitate to our designers’ work for a reason.
As far as the JAD team’s favorite interior design styles (like we said) we really love antique style, but are also influenced by mid century modern, bohemian, transitional and coastal styles too. We use elements from each of these styles in our designs, and we also pull elements from our clients’ answers to our questionnaire — part of the interior design process when working with JAD. Whenever we add coastal elements, the space we’re designing needs to be in the appropriate location for the style to fit. In other words, we wouldn’t normally bring coastal elements into a home that wasn’t close to a lake or beach unless specifically discussed with the client. We aren’t huge fans of minimalism, shabby chic, super bold, or tuscan style, and we tend to steer clear of the elements of these styles when designing spaces.
In interior design, there can be consistency from project to project but there can also simultaneously be extreme variety. We really love incorporating our own favorite design elements in the spaces we work with. Some of our favorite pieces of decor to consistently add in a design are mirrors, analog wall clocks, candles, and vases. These items are versatile enough to be styled to fit any client’s specific aesthetic, and we feel that each piece adds something extra that makes our designs pop. We recently have been getting into wallpaper and accent walls, too, which a lot of our clients really enjoy!
On the topic of consistency, we definitely have some go-to paint color schemes that we tend to work with in designs. We are huge fans of the color blue, but if you’ve been following along with us for even a little while you probably already knew that. We like to use it as a neutral, it’s a great one for New England because it’s timeless but it also can be used to make a space pop. Our favorite colors to work with are grey blue, rich blue, white, grey (although it’s starting to not be as popular, so we’re trending away from it), yellow and teal. We also really love a good green, when used in the right way. There are so many different options within these paint color schemes and we love exploring them all.
As always, we appreciate any ideas, input, and feedback from our community and clients. So drop us a line in the comments below, chat with us on our Facebook page or email us at josh@joshuaallendesign.com! Don't forget to follow us on instagram (@joshuaallendesign) Twitter (@j_allen_design) and subscribe to our YouTube channel, where we post new design-related videos each week!
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