Everyone feels like a movie star in a room featuring Hollywood Regency style furniture and decor! This cool, classic and classy style looks as good in today’s homes as it did when it first emerged during the Golden Age of Hollywood. It is closely related to the Art Deco style, as you can see in my Guide to Art Deco Style Furniture but it is a distinct decor style of its own.
Hollywood Regency is a luxurious look that sparkles with glitz and glamour, with a focus on clean lines, geometric shapes, glossy surfaces, and opulent textiles. The dramatic style has a sense of the theatrical, creating a chic stage for people to socialize and look fabulous while doing so.
What are the Origins
of Hollywood Regency Style?
It is not surprising that Hollywood Regency style has an Art Deco feel as it developed during the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s, the same years when Art Deco was a major new trend in interior design.
Movie-goers across the country were star-struck by Hollywood’s leading ladies and gentlemen, and were influenced by their opulent homes. Interior designers such as Dorothy Draper and actor-turned-designer William Haines were two of the taste-makers who established the look, which stayed popular through the 1950s. This photo of a foyer in the Greenbrier Hotel, designed by Dorothy Draper shows exactly why the style grabbed people’s attention!
Typical Features of Hollywood Regency Style Furniture and Decor
Typical features for Hollywood Regency style furniture and
decor include:
- Sleek and streamlined shapes, with a clean look to the silhouette. No fussy frills!
- Glossy and reflective surfaces and finishes, including lacquer, gilding, crystal and mirrors galore. The minimalist lines of the furniture let the shine do the talking!
- Lots of metals continue the sharp-edged and shiny look, including chrome, gold, brass, and polished nickel.
- Patterns include blocks of contrasting color, animal prints, bold and oversized florals, chinoiserie, and also geometric patterns such as zig-zags. The Greek Key design is especially important.
- Color schemes usually have a base of black and white or other neutrals such as ivory, cream, warm beige or camel, accented by pops of pure and vibrant color such as pink, purple, red, turquoise and yellow.
- High contrast colors and patterns (picture a cerise pink sofa against a black and white checkerboard floor) add to the drama.
- Opulent fabrics soften the hard-edged mirrors and metals. Velvets and plush fabrics such as faux fur invite the touch. Sensual satins and crepe-de-chine are buttery soft and slinky, and fringes and tassel trims add to the lavish mood.
- Spaces are intended for socializing and entertaining, so floor plans are open and furniture arranged so that people can gather for a gossipy chat.
Hollywood Regency
Interior Design Tips
Hollywood Regency style
furniture and decor lets you bring out your creative side with an elegant but lighthearted
look that puts people at center stage. This style doesn’t take itself too
seriously and you can go brave and bold. Life is a cabaret, old chum!
- The living room is an easy place to start for this style but the look is also great for a bedroom to create decadence in the boudoir! Or glam up a powder room where you can make maximum impact in minimum space.
- Start with a neutral base for your color scheme: black and white is always a winner, or elegant creams or beiges. Then choose one bold jewel color to create a bold contrast in soft furnishings, sculptural pieces, lighting or other home accents.
- Choose glossy and lacquered surfaces to create lots of shine and reflection.
- Add a beautiful mirror then add a couple more mirrors! One way to amp up the shine is in mirrored furniture, which can also create the illusion of a larger space as it reflects the room back to you. If you place a mirrored chest against a wall, it looks as though the floor extends further.
- Soften the clean lines and hard edged mirrors and metals with sensual fabrics such as velvet or faux fur.
- Hang a large black and white print of a famous movie star on the wall, or pick a statement piece such as a big sculptural vase or a statue as a focal point.
- Keep the space clutter-free to maintain focus on the dramatic silhouettes and contrasting patterns and colors. Only use one or two patterns such as an animal print or Greek Key design, so it doesn’t look busy and kitschy.
- Keep the floor plan open so it’s easy to circulate and socialize, and focus on smaller scale furniture with low lines so that the emphasis is on the people in the room, not the mammoth size furniture!
Have you taken a shine to Hollywood Regency Style furniture and decor? If you want to shop the look, browse our EuroLuxHome.com website for the perfect piece.
Aimee owns EuroLuxHome.com with her husband and best friend, Greg. Aimee sources amazing antique furniture, vintage lighting, & high-quality reproduction furniture to help her customers decorate their homes in a unique way. She loves her 9 (you read that right) fuzzy children and is renovating a 1920s bungalow in South Carolina. Find us on Facebook or you can sign up here to receive this blog in your inbox.