Table of Contents
- What Is Southwestern Interior Design?
- The Main Characteristics of Southwestern Design
- History of Southwestern Design
- Southwestern Virtual Staging
- Virtual Staging Is Cheaper & Faster Than Regular Staging
Southwestern interiors are part of a design style that originates from the American southwestern states.
Southwestern design is known for its earthly and cactus greens tones, vibrant hues of a desert sunset, and natural elements reminiscent of the “wild west.”
Combining these elements with the dazzling Native American, Spanish and Mexican artistry, the Southwestern style can breathe character and life into any space.
In this post, we’ll take a look at what southwestern interiors are and what this decor looks like in a home. We’ll also discuss the southwestern design style’s history and main elements, so you can decorate your home in this multicultural design.
What Is Southwestern Interior Design?
Southwestern interior design is a design style that’s pulling influences from the Indigenous history, culture, and textile craft.
It originated from a mix of the Spanish and Mexican settlers’ building methods. Albeit, the rustic charm of the “wild west” and the Native American textile craft.
Another key point in southwestern interior design is that anything organic and earthy is welcome. Typically, this includes items like potted succulents and cactuses, which are reminiscent of the desert outside.
Also, classic southwestern interiors often include boho elements of the bohemian style. Even vintage pieces and cosmopolitan influences are common in southwestern interior design.
Now, let’s take an even closer look at the main elements of southwestern interiors.
The Main Characteristics of Southwestern Design
The characteristics of southwestern interiors are mainly colors of the desert. Think of an earthy foundational palette of cactus greens, adobe red, and neutral hues.
Added to this, you’ll find pops of colors inspired by natural stones and dyes found in textile crafts, including:
- Terracotta
- Sand
- Rust
- Mahogany browns
- Sunset pink
- Cactus green
- And turquoise
- Even bright sunshine yellow and fiery orange are common accent colors
Additionally, you’ll find wooden ceiling beams and heavy, wooden tables, chairs, and dressers in southwestern homes. And more so, hammered metal light fixtures and accents.
Here is a list of the southwestern style’s main elements:
- Natural accents and geometric patterns
- Simple, white walls
- Distressed wooden furniture
- Burnished-metal accents
- Potted succulents and cactuses
- Knotty pine and ceramic tile floors
- Vintage pieces or cosmopolitan influences
- Boho features (bohemian style)
- Layered textures
- Handmade pieces such as heavy woven rugs, quilts, and tapestries, clay pots and jars
- As well as mosaic art and dishes
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History of Southwestern Design
Historically, the American southwest was settled by Europeans from Spain who influenced the southwestern style with their Spanish decor.
But before the Spanish invaded the area, it was inhabited by Native Americans, most prominently the Navajo tribe. Being that, the Navajo people’s talent in textile crafts came to characterize the southwestern design style.
So, you’ll likely find plenty of Navajo-inspired crafts such as woven baskets, quilts, blankets, and pottery in a home decorated in the southwestern style.
Apart from Spanish and Native American style decor, the southwest interior design also has Mexican and American influences. All this combined is making this style a fun mix of cultures.
Southwestern Virtual Staging
A great way of visualizing how a home decorated in the southwestern style would look like is by using virtual staging.
Virtual staging is a special computer-assisted design (CAD) process, where digital furniture are added to photos of empty or outdated spaces to make them look photorealistic and captivating.
Particularly, this is an excellent and cost-efficient way to see how a home would look when redecorated in a special style. It can also be used for:
- Staging empty spaces
- Decluttering
- Depersonalization
- Virtual landscaping
- And even renovations.
In addition, southwestern virtual staging style draws on inspiration from the historic region of Arizona and Mexico with its generous use of patterned textiles. At the same time, it’s also influenced by desert vegetation and its calming desert tones with turquoise accents.
Overall, the southwestern style can breathe character and life into any space!
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Interiors. Landscapes. Commercial. Virtually transform any space.
Virtual Staging Is Cheaper & Faster Than Regular Staging
Further, virtual staging is more cost-efficient and much faster than traditional home staging.
Instead of days or weeks it normally takes to deliver physical furniture and decor to stage a home, the digital counterpart takes less than 48 hours.
So, why pay for costly and labor-intensive traditional home staging when you can have our designers stage your real estate images?! You don’t even have to lift a finger.
If you’re still not convinced and want to know more, you can check out our blog post on virtual staging vs real staging: which home staging is best?
But if you’re ready to give virtual staging a go, PhotoUp makes it super easy to virtually stage your real estate photos at the affordable price of $20 per image.
Check out our virtual staging uploader video tutorial to see how easy it is to get started:
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Try the southwestern design style to virtually stage or redecorate your home, and you’ll get a taste of the Native American, Spanish and Mexican cultural blend delivered back to you.
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In conclusion, we hope this blog post helped you get an idea of what southwestern interiors are. As well as what this decor can look like in a home.
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