Defining My Design Style: Moody Modern Traditional

A reader recently asked me if I'm starting to fully embrace traditional style and whether we still consider our house to be a "modern Colonial" and why. It was a really great question and so timely — I had really just been thinking about my approach to this home and how my style has changed or stayed the same over the years. (Note: You can see my initial post about my thoughts on designing this home in this post!)

Faye's Cottage Room Sources

It got me wondering, "How would I describe my style to someone new to Chris Loves Julia?"

After thinking through the common themes of my design aesthetic, I feel like I've landed on my "signature style" that has carried me through much of my career: Moody Modern Traditional.

While I feel like this has been my style for awhile, putting a name to it is new (and scary, because I'm always evolving). However, last week, as I was walking through The Biltmore for the second time in a few years, the visit unlocked a part of me and gave me more permission for me to fully embrace my style. That grand Asheville home epitomizes some really big aspects of what I love and how I want my home to look and feel.

Here's how I'd break my style down:

Moody

Hallway Wallpaper

The common thread through all of my years of designing my homes and sharing online is that I've always want to impart a moody feel. Moody to me means rich, deep colors. A play on lights and darks. Luxe, buttery fabrics. Layers of lighting and lamps. I love for my style to evoke a feeling and create an instant sense of intrigue. I want our spaces to feel like a moment.

For me, moody design is more than just a dark color (although, you know I love a rich, dark paint color enveloping our spaces!). Some of my favorite colors feel moody just in themselves: dark green, grey-blue, smoky taupe, chocolate brown. I also think lighter colors can feel moody when the room has depth. I crave depth in rooms, in color, in people, in conversation. Adding multiple light sources to a room, so you have this shadow-and-light effect that creates movement can help with that a lot.

Modern

While I'll get to my love for traditional style in a minute, I love to bring in really big juxtapositions to decor by including modern lines. When I look at my personal style, modern design really comes in with the furniture, rugs and art. Clean, simple lines. Sleeker materials. Geometric angles. Organic shapes. They all speak to me.

Modern style is also about paring back. It's a little more utilitarian, and I'm all about function in my home. I don't want livability sacrificed on the altar of decoration. (I have to be able to see my family in our home!!) Modern style is definitely a big piece of my design aesthetic. And there's nothing I love more than seeing a super traditional fabric or sconce next to an abstract piece of art. Be still my soul!!

Traditional

Shop the Dining Room

I grew up in a traditional house, and I'm leaning more and more into traditional with every passing year. It evokes that collected charm with wall murals, gold and silver-toned accents, and patterns galore. Some might ask, doesn't the word traditional also describe classic style? But when I think about classic, it feels like it can be safe. It's will always be in. And that's not me. I'm not worrying so much about what other people might think these days.

There are many rules in purely traditional style, like the obsession with symmetry. Lots of saturated color palettes. Plenty of dark wood. Layers of patterns. I love these too, but I also like to bend and break the rules — all the time. So that's why I love combining all three of these styles!

So What's Next for Our House?

See originally, I thought of our house as a "Modern Colonial." And I've named past houses as styles too (see "Modern Cottage".) Yes, our home is a Colonial-style house in the architectural sense of the word. But I'm starting to see our home as an expression of Moody Modern Traditional. It can handle all of the traditional elements that I want to put into it. And the moodiness is also there. Like, of course I'm painting the exterior of our windows dark! Plus, I've created the modern touches to add the unexpected.

Shop the Primary Bedroom

This is why I feel like I'm confident defining my design style as Moody Modern Traditional: I wouldn't change how I've designed our home in the past couple years. In fact, I would add more!

I want to lean more into layers of trim and molding. More pattern mixing in each room from rugs to draperies. Not to be afraid of even a damask (gasp!) as a neutral wall covering to any room in the house. I can't wait to paint walls one hue paired with an entirely different color painted trim. So many opportunities to enrich the spaces of our home.

Defining my personal style is also helping me know how to handle the spaces in my house we haven't gotten to yet. I often leave my hallways lighter, because I usually do my rooms in a color palette. However, at The Biltmore, I was inspired that the hallways were considered as a standalone room, with their own colorway, trim, molding and more. The transitions between colors and the framing from room to room was one of my absolute favorite parts. Now I can't believe I have white hallways — I can't wait to add something there.

One thing people worry about when it comes to a bold style like Moody Modern Traditional is, "Are you afraid of getting sick of it?" And I think that's natural to think, "Oh, can I really look at this bold wallpaper in my entry every day?"

I guess I've lived with an all white room for just as long as our boldly striped powder room and I'm so sick of staring at the all white, while I can't imagine the powder room any other way. It helps that I don't see anything like it scrolling Instagram every day, either.

Wallpaper | Sink | Sconces | Towel Ring | Similar Hand Towel | Fox Art

While on a tour at The Biltmore, I asked the tour guide 5x to clarify if yes, it really was built — and decorated — in just 6 years. I have spent 6 years in a house and never finished it. Sure, money and time are both factors, but I also love going slow on making a space your own. There are still spaces and rooms for new ideas in my home now.

Now that I'm fully embracing my design style, I'm so excited for what's to come!