A Guide to Interior Design Styles: Southwestern Design

Open and inviting, the Southwestern style gives you an amazing visual history lesson. Look at any room and you’ll see hints of the Spanish, Native American, and Rancher cultures that all came to call the American Southwest home. This golden land mixed drier deserts with high-elevation forests, creating an almost magical landscape of sky, shrubs, and stark beauty.

Southwestern design has been an integral part of life in New Mexico and Arizona for centuries, but it didn’t take its more current form until the later 1800s. Santa Fe became the center of the style, radiating outward and across state lines with the power of the warm desert sun.

We love how there’s no single way to recreate Southwestern design. You can take various elements from these cultures, pay homage to the land, and create a space that invites you in. It’s easy to settle in and stay a while—even forever.

Colors from Nature

The first thing you’ll notice is the color palette. In Southwestern style, nature knows best. This doesn’t mean everything is in neutral earth tones of beige or brown. The style loves to play with vibrant, warm tones just as much as earthy, neutral tones, but the trick is to take your cue from the natural world. Along with sage or cactus greens you’ll see cornmeal and sunflower yellows, terracotta and walnut browns, mahogany and brick reds, apricot and pumpkin oranges, and the ever present lapis and turquoise blues.

Some of our favorite ways to blend color are to use a neutral backdrop and add two to three main colors—in everything from oversize blanket throws to wall hangings, pottery, and fresh flowers. The beauty of this design is in its flexibility. Since it incorporates so many cultural elements, it works just as well with layers of color as it does with a more simplified color scheme.

Rooted in Wood and Iron

As a design style with nature serving as inspiration, Southwestern style is big on incorporating local materials. Wood features prominently throughout the style, and it’s either left raw or given a subtle stain that still lets the natural wood grain show.

Due to the cultural influences, you’ll find anything from highly decorated, intricately carved Spanish-style furniture to more minimalist yet ruggedly pleasing Rancher-style pieces. Pine, especially pinyon and ponderosa, is the most common wood used in traditional furniture and architecture, along with oak, walnut, hickory, and cherry.

Exposed wooden beams have a rustic appeal that blends well with another Southwestern element—wrought iron. Try adding a chunky wrought iron light fixture above your dining table, or add sleek yet intricate railings along the stairs. A wrought iron bed frame draped in geometric-patterned blankets adds a bold touch of the Southwest to your bedroom.

Textiles and Textural Accents

Apart from the pleasing desert-influenced colors, we can’t get enough of those textiles. In this style, hanging blankets on the wall would never look out of place. Textures are everywhere, from thick, wooly throws to cozy cowhide stools to smooth, well-worn leather sofas. As with other elements of Southwestern design, the trick is to keep to the color palette. Warm tones are welcoming, and they let you play with the indoor/outdoor lifestyle.

What’s our favorite textile for Southwestern design? A gorgeous hand-woven, geometric-style rug. There’s nothing like sinking your feet into a soft rug, all while appreciating the artisan skills that went into crafting the pattern.

Passion for Pottery and Tiles

Now we turn to another lovely feature: clay. Adobe clay once made up the building material for homes in the American Southwest. Even today you might see clay in some architectural elements—perhaps as adobe bricks or plaster. Terracotta is also popular, especially in tiles. Hand-painted tiles give a bold look to floor borders, fireplaces, and even kitchen backsplashes.

To create some additional Southwestern ambiance, add pottery accent pieces in different colors. From a vibrant turquoise blue vase to a round bowl glazed in sage green and walnut brown, the colors of your pottery could be what finish the look. To let those earthen elements shine, consider adding open shelving throughout the home. You could even add open shelving as your upper cabinets, setting aside some space for pottery pieces.

A Touch of Greenery

Finally, you can’t have Southwestern design without inviting desert greenery indoors. And yes, there are many plants in the desert—cacti and succulents being most common. Create a collection of potted cacti near a large, sunny window, or add a few plants on your kitchen counter. Wherever there’s sun, those plants will thrive.

To complete the Southwestern look, consider replacing your doors with a modern barn door. Sliding doors can also transform your space and give you more square footage. From the Horizontal or Vertical Iron Plank Barn Door to the Knotty Alder Plank Barn Door, the sliding doors at Barndoorz will have you slipping out of contemporary life and into the rustic landscape of the American Southwest.

Contact us today to learn more about our premium barn doors.