Hacienda Home Style .com

Quite often older homes have a certain flair and old world feel regardless of the style of home.  If your house is a mid-century Spanish style home, you may want to have an old world style kitchen to bring back the charm of years gone by.  Here are some ideas of how you can create old world style kitchens even in modern homes.

Old world kitchens typically have large cooking hearths and distressed walls.  Cabinets had raised panel doors but they may have seemed mismatched.  You might also find cabinets that have cracked.  The cabinets will have dish and cup racks.  This style of kitchen may be traced back to the years prior to seventeenth century Europe.

Pewter or copper accents and mosaic tiles are also common in old world style kitchens.  Expect to find deep, rich colors and panels that hide appliances.  Stone walls and floors are also indicative of this style of kitchen.

Think about the details when you’re renovating a kitchen in the old world style.  You obviously won’t want a small kitchen with modern, stainless steel appliances as the focal point.  This doesn’t mean you can’t have the modern conveniences; you just don’t want them to be visible.

Natural surfaces are what you’re looking for.  Wood and stone will be evident all over the kitchen.  Wooden cabinets, elaborate wood trim, and even wooden paneled ceilings would help capture the old world style you’re looking for.

Don’t forget about stone surfaces to complete the look.  Stone tiles and slabs can be used for the counter tops, walls, or floors.  Granite and marble can be used for cabinet tops or the floor.  You can either have polished surfaces or distressed for a time-worn appearance.

Metallic fixtures would be a great lighting choice in an old world style kitchen to finish off the look.  Try to find wrought iron chandeliers or rustic tin wall sconces.  These can be painted or left plain, but with a matte finish, so they appear to be antiques.

Remember that you’re trying to give the impression that your kitchen was moved over from the old world and put into your home.  If you have actual antiques that you can place in your kitchen that would make the room seem more authentic.

If you have a hacienda or other Spanish influenced house, an old world style kitchen might be the perfect choice for your home.  You may want to consider this style of kitchen if you are planning to remodel.

Are you tired of your home?  Do you wish you could move to a different country and start all over again?  If you redecorate your home with Mexican style interior design you can make it look like you’ve moved even though you haven’t.

Which room in your house would you most like to create a private get-away in?  Would you like to wake up to a Mexican new décor?  You can create a new atmosphere for your home without having to move across the world.

Look in decorating magazines or books for ideas.  You can also do a search on your favorite search engine online to find other images of Mexican style decorating.  Keep a notebook to hold pictures of rooms, furniture, or accessories that you would like to incorporate into your home.  You may also collect paint chips, fabric swatches, and pictures of window treatments that you like.

If you’d like to transform your bedroom you can expect to buy bright colored paints, new bedding, and new curtains.  You may also want to find items like sombreros, ponchos, or terra cotta items to draw the room’s look together.  Be prepared to purchase new lighting such as wrought iron or punched tin wall sconces depending upon your vision for your room.

You shouldn’t have to spend a large amount of money to change the look of your room.  New bedding and new paint color, along with accessories, should do the trick but these don’t have to be expensive.  Try to find reversible bed covers that have a Mexican them on one side and a bright, solid color on the other.  Mexican artwork isn’t expensive and can create the image you desire.

In lieu of merely painting your bedroom, spread sheet rock putty on your wall to give it texture.  Then paint your room, or maybe just the wall your bed is on, bright blue, red, or yellow.  If this is too bold for you, use glaze over the paint to tone it down.

Simple is better when it comes to window treatments.  You may not even need curtains.  In fact, a simple valance or shutters could be all you need.  If you prefer more privacy than these would afford, use blinds that you can lower to give you the privacy you desire.

Achieving Mexican style decorating is possible.  It may take you a little bit of time and effort, but a new bedroom can be all you need to be whisked away to Mexico without ever leaving your own home.

Mexican vacations are a luxury that not everyone is able to afford, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the atmosphere of our southern neighbors any time of the year.  Mexican interior designs warm your home and bring Mexico to you.

If you’ve ever been to Mexico or the Southwest, you’ll recognize the influence of Native American culture as well those of the Spanish missions.  You may expect to see Aztec elements such as pyramids and carved stone steles within Mexican interior design, but you’ll also see brightly painted furniture as well as stucco and exposed beams.

Use items such as Native American or Mexican blankets to drape over a solid colored couch or chair.  Place hand-made pottery pieces, either painted or in plain terra cotta, around the room to hold small cactus or succulent gardens.  You could also find a great Mexican art piece to hang on your wall and then place rustic tin wall sconces on either side to highlight the artwork.

Texture is just as important as color in Mexican interior design.  Consider creating the look of stucco by smearing drywall putty on the wall.  Create a recessed area to place a small piece of artwork or flowers in.  Rather than smoothing the putty out leave the trowel marks from where you applied it.  Paint the stucco a pale yellow, beige, or reddish tint.

If your house doesn’t already have exposed beams, you can create them with 2×4 boards nailed together to form a “U.”  To create the look of an exposed, hand-hewn solid log, distress the wood by using saws, hammers, or heavy chains.  After the wood is distressed, stain it match the other exposed wood in your home.

To bring Mexican interior design into your kitchen, try to find handcrafted Mexican tiles that you can use for a backsplash.  These tiles are brightly colored and have simple patterns painted on them.  You can tell they are handmade because they are not perfect like factory-made tiles.

Find hand-hammered copper pots or black wrought iron items to off-set the bright colors of the Mexican tiles.  White trimmed windows would be in keeping with Mexican interior design.  Use something unexpected like a serape or poncho to cover the windows.

Mexican interior design is simple yet rustic.  Bright colors are placed next to rusted tin signs.  Hard stucco is softened by using a handmade wall hanging or leather furniture with a hand-woven rug in front of it.  Finish the living room off with wrought iron lamps.

It doesn’t matter what the exterior of your home looks like, you can still enjoy the simplicity and beauty of Mexican interior design.  With the right ambiance, the right music, and your Mexican surroundings you may think you’re in Mexico instead of your home.