The Italtile Style Guide

What’s your interior design style? The style mavens at House Beautiful believe there are 23 essential styles. Those design wizards over at The Spruce say, “there are multiple interior design styles...”. At Italtile, we say there are as many interior design styles as there are style-conscious homeowners. After all, each of us brings our own unique taste to the style party. For example, both you and your Bestie might be fans of Contemporary Style... but each of you will interpret the look in slightly different ways. So, in effect, there’s You Contemporary Style and Bestie Contemporary Style. Each one is a unique expression of the style, each one a beautiful hybrid.  

At Italtile, we believe it’s wise to understand the interior design style you lean towards, before you play with it. With over half a century of immersion in interior style, regular interior design training with Chapters CEO Melanie Ewing, and annual visits to International Tile Fairs like Cersaie, we’ve learnt a few things about interior design and the myriad looks, old and new. It’s our privilege to get to know your style sensitivities, pass on our learnings to you, and guide you in your choices when the time comes to invest in timeless style with beautiful products from remarkable tile brands that sing your story. 

There are so many looks out there, from passing trends and curious fads, to the everlasting looks. It gets complicated, so we’ve refined the multiple interior design styles into four key style categories. 

* Classic Elegance: Timeless Charm for Every Home. 

* Natural Harmony: Bring the Outdoors In. 

* Urban Oasis: The Inner-City Vibe with Industrial Edge. 

* Modern Marvels: Sleek and Sophisticated Minimalist Spaces. 

Each style has its unique character, and we’ll explore how to choose elements to create your dream space. We’ll also touch on the various looks within each style category. Are you ready to uncover your perfect design style? We’ll begin each style category with broad brush strokes, so you get the hang of it. And then we’ll break each one down into all the attendant looks and feels, which is where you may well find your groove.  

CLASSIC STYLE.  

Think everlasting elegance, sophistication, refinement and warmth. Classic interiors often feature: 

* Soft colour palettes in subtle neutrals. 

* Sumptuous furnishings. 

* Luxurious materials, like marble and wood. 

* Statement lighting. 

* High levels of craftsmanship. 

Within the Classic Style category, you’ll find:  

*Traditional Style, with unmistakeable historical formality, almost choreographed symmetry, much matchy-matchy, and general grandeur. Lots of dark wood, heavy, expensive fabrics and chandelier action à la 18th Century England and Europe. *Then, you’ll find Transitional Style. The happy medium. If you love the idea of a Classic Home, find Traditional Style too stuffy, but feel that Contemporary Style is too much of a stretch into the Modern zone, Transitional Style is for you. Transitional Style is the perfect marriage of trad elegance and contemporary lines and textures. Old and new. Masculine and feminine. Curves and straight lines. But still, no fuss, fewer accessories.  

*Art Nouveau and Art Deco, both a good fit within the Classic Style chapter, with their own interpretations of historical glamour. Art Nouveau with its highly decorative silverware, iridescent lustreware, peacock colours, organic patterns and long, sinuous, feminine lines. Art Deco with its geometric shapes, high-octane Hollywood glitz, mirror furniture, black lacquer details, and super-contrasting colour schemes (hot pink with animal print, for example). These two are the unashamedly sexy sisters of Modern Style. But Art Deco takes it up several notches, with an unapologetic sense of “luxury hotel”: ideal for hosting glamorous A-lister soirées that are the talk of the town. 

*Shabby Chic, with classic roots: a fusion of vintage elegance and antique décor. Gently worn linens and cottons often feature old rose patterns or gingham checks, plus ruffles and soft pastels for a lived-in aesthetic.  

Italtile’s Classic Style Tile Selections and Design Tips. Stick to a neutral canvas, use texture to layer things up. Favour richly grained Wood-Look Tiles like our Tacora Camel InOut Rectified Matt Glazed Porcelain Tile which will create a beautiful flow if installed throughout the house and outside on your deck. InOut Tile technology creates a velvety tile surface that is soft underfoot in dry conditions, yet remarkably grippy in the wet. Create a luxe, traditional aesthetic with Brilliant Statuario 800x1600 marble-look tiles, with classy silvery veining. Marble in the kitchen? Yes, please, especially if it’s our Herringbone Milky White Marble Mosaic Tile for a refined splashback. Browse our ranges of Subway Tiles, the ultimate classic bathroom or kitchen tile choice. And don’t forget Classic Style’s go-to combo, the eternally elegant dance of black and white, perfectly achieved by our Circle Black Matt Glazed Porcelain Tile 450x450, or our Large Black Hexagonal with White Inset Matt Porcelain Mosaic Sheets 300x300. 

NATURAL STYLE. 

A stress-busting aesthetic that finds inspiration in the natural world, creates a soothing haven to promote well-being, with organic cues, and brings the outdoors inside, with: 

*Earthy tones. 

*Organic textures like wood and stone. 

*Biophilic elements like plants and natural light. 

*Sustainable materials. 

This mindful, nature-inspired interior design category is led by Biophilic Style. This mega-trend is a nature-centric aesthetic that took root in the 80s, rose to prominence during the Pandemic, and has become a worldwide movement. If you’re passionate about incorporating natural elements into your spaces, consider indoor plants, aromatic herbal air diffusers, indoor koi ponds and wood elements, and green tones in your mood boards, along with floral graphics, botanical patterns and organic shapes like honeycomb hexagonal tiles. 

You’re a Natural Stylista if you’re showing up for stylistic expression that speaks of: *Rustic Style (natural, rough-hewn, aged and casual, a category of its own, including Tuscan, Coastal, and Cottage feels) 

*French Country Style (relaxed Provence style with rustic natural décor) 

*Bohemian Style (free-spirited artistic expression with natural and organic elements, rich pattern, metals, woods, natural fabrics and animal hides, all the treasures fork your travels to exotic lands) 

*Scandi Style’s simplicity, with its harmonic “Lagom” belief of balance and moderation, natural elements, pale wood tones  

*Japandi (which combines the best of Scandinavian and Japanese interior design – natural elements, serene and uncluttered, with wood and greenery front and centre). *Jungalow Style, which taps into your creativity, supports artisan makers, connects with nature and enjoys the contrast of quiet hues with bold and interestingly curated gallery walls. 

*Cottagecore, which is Shabby Chic’s romantic cousin, beckoning us into the dream of traditional skills: baking bread, growing your own veg, raising chickens... with swarms of semi-feral, pink-cheeked children frolicking in a meadow. Big woven baskets, a wreath on the door, vintage or handcrafted home decor, patchwork quilts, candles. Cozy and quaint, this is slow living, aka “Homesteading”, taking us back to nature. It was brought to us during the Pandemic by social media influencers. (Hands up who made sourdough starters and took a short course on candle making?)  

Italtile’s Natural Style Tile Selections and Design Tips. Wood looks rule the natural environment you’re curating. Our sustainably made, top-tier Moda Vinile Vinyl Wood-Look Tile ranges look good, feel good underfoot and... last good, too. 11/10 in our book. Consider a wooden ceiling for that Farmhouse aesthetic, not just the floor. Bring in the biophilia big-time with our exclusive lush botanical patterned tiles by Italian tile masters Ceramica Sant’Agostino. We’re thinking Sable Jardin 01 with its jungle of fronds. Or gentle Sunwood Jardin 08 with its fresh take on those country meadow vibes for your Classic Cottage. A green-toned bathroom will bring invoke serenity, so consider our Vogue Esmeralda Ceramic Wall Tile with its intense, nature-inspired hue and artisanal finish. Spanish flair, only from Italtile. Finally, look at our stunning Natural Stone Cladding for a unique fireplace surround... or your outside areas.  

URBAN STYLE. 

Inspired by city living, reclaimed warehouses and loft spaces. Urban Style is all about:  

*Industrial touches like exposed brick, wooden beams and cement, with interesting metal elements. 

*Neutral colour schemes. 

*Open space and big windows. 

*Edgy textures, often featuring reclaimed materials. 

*Avant-garde art and accessories. 

Urban Style allows city dwellers to cleave to the adjacent looks of:   

*Industrial Style in home décor (the warehouse conversion with super-edgy textural elements like exposed gantries and brick walls, copper piping, and raw concrete). 

*A hybrid Urban Rustic aesthetic, with elements of country style.  

*Urban Bohemian and Urban Eclectic, with statement eclectic bohemian cues that include reclaimed and repurposed objects. We’ve seen artisanal Arts and Crafts pieces in Urban Bohemian spaces. We’ve found upcycled leather incorporated into a sofa made from pieces of reclaimed metal, very Urban Eclectic. We’ve encountered side tables crafted from old washing machine drums or abandoned wooden cable reels. Imaginative, eye-catching, statement-making, unique. The second life mindset is strong with this aesthetic.  

Italtile’s Urban Style Tile Selections and Design Tips. Concrete looks immediately elevate the urban aesthetic in home décor, from living rooms to bathrooms and kitchens, to lay the canvas for your pared-down room layouts. No cement look does it better than Italtile’s superb new Form Concrete by Ceramica Sant’Agostino. A high-end, award-winning Italian porcelain tile that mimics purposely visible, unfinished concrete with the imprint of structural wooden formwork. Take this Industrial edge onto your kitchen counters for real kitchen cool. But wait, there’s more urban coolth at Italtile, with our DripArt Rectified Matt Glazed Porcelain Tile 600x1200. Choose DripArt Copper or, even more out there, DripArt Verdigris. Sant’Agostino’s remarkable eco-chic take on the imaginative world of oxidised metal. For some added Eclectic Urban soul, consider Retro Patchwork Matt Glazed EcoTec Porcelain Tile 600x600. Neutral tones with subtle pattern to bring a glow to your urban cocoon and warm up the light flooding through your floor-to-ceiling windows. 

MODERN STYLE.  

Embrace sleek, uncluttered living and the “less is more” minimalist ideal, with: 

*An adherence to concrete, glass, metal and natural light in the build. 

*Straight lines and uncomplicated forms. 

*Achromatic or monochromatic colour schemes. 

*The stillness and serenity of “empty space”. 

Within the big Modern Style category, you’ll find:  

*Contemporary Style. Don’t confuse Contemporary with Modern, though. Modern Design refers to a specific period in the early to mid-20th century. Contemporary Style refers to style that is current, and ever evolving. It reflects what is happening right now in the design world and refers to anything of the present moment.  

* Mid-Century Modern, the incredible design movement the bloomed from the 30s to the 60s and then returned as an aesthetic after the 80s.  

Mid-Century Modern Style revolutionised the way we live today, with design elements we take for granted, like open-plan spaces, indoor plantings and sliding doors.  

*Minimalist Style, which refers to a radically pared down, almost monastic aesthetic. (The opposite of Maximalist Style – which loves all the colours, all the patterns, all the textures, complex forms and an abundance of decoration and accessories. Done right, it is bursting with charisma and eccentricity.)  

Italtile’s Modern Style Tile Selections and Design Tips.  

Once again, Form Concrete by Sant’Agostino rises to the occasion to create a structural, architectural statement that your modernist home will love. But so does Bergstone, leader of the hunky stone pack with powerful alpine rock looks, from our esteemed Italian tile partners Sant’Agostino. Bergstone Rectified Matt Glazed Porcelain Tile 1200x1200, with its textural Carve3D tech, offers its high-altitude rock feel in Dark, Sand, Grey and Light.  

Hybrid Styles. Mix and match to suit your sensibilities. Feel free to take your rustic affiliations into an urban loft. Be Art Deco in your Beach House. Once you know the rules, you know when to break them. And we believe in letting your personality shine through. Be eclectic. Gather your favourite treasures around you. Style hybridisation shows your confidence and allows your authentic self to show up in all your perfectly imperfect Wabi Sabi (ooh, there’s another aesthetic) glory. 

But before you pour your heart and hard-earned ZAR into a fresh new style makeover: 

*Browse Italtile’s luxurious ranges online or instore. 

*Find our style ideas on Pinterest. 

*Take advantage of our free online tile trial design tools like uView. 

*Ask us about our free Professional Residential Agent service. 

*Speak to your product-savvy Italtile sales consultants – we’re all interior-design certified and can’t wait to bring your mood board ideas to life to elevate your space, and express your style, your way. 

LiveGreen. Whether you choose a biophilic or urban direction, the high-end Italtile Porcelain and Ceramic Tiles you select are beautiful examples of sustainable style.  

You’ll be walking with a gentler footprint on this vulnerable earth of ours. 

Now go forth and explore the myriad interior design styles, using your imagination and our expertise. Whatever direction you choose, Italtile is here to ensure you curate a space that best expresses your personal brand, offers everlasting style, and delivers an attractive return on your investment in everyday art. 

Live beautifully. 

Ciao.