How to Decorate with Southwestern Style

Consider natural hues and clean, simple lines for a modern southwestern look.

Southwestern style is a warm, natural look to decorate any room with, even if you live far from the desert. Choose the right color combinations and accessories to create a sense of desert drama evocative of Santa Fe, New Mexico. For authenticity look to the desert color palette and traditional artisan elements rather than relying on paint chips and imported pottery.

Instructions

1. Create a southwestern color scheme. Look at pictures of the varied landscapes in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. Notice lots of rusty orange colors, reddish-browns, soft pinks and terra-cotta colors in the natural tones of the earth. These contrast with the brilliant sharp blue of a southwestern sky. Keep these colors in mind when choosing your paint colors, bedding, pillows and other decorative items.

2. Paint your walls or start with large furniture items and area rugs. Choose natural wool or cotton Native American style rugs with vivid color schemes and diamond patterns that are an iconic symbol of the American southwest. Your furniture choices should remain as minimalistic and natural looking as possible. Think rustic pine and unfinished wood pieces. Leather is a popular choice for sofas.

3. Consider smaller decorative items that will create a southwestern style. Handcrafted pieces are key here, especially those that reflect a Native American or Old West heritage. Settlers in the southwest used readily accessible materials from the earth to create functional and artistic pieces.

4. Create a clean look, decorated with functional pieces of pottery and ironwork with woven throws that add color, but don’t detract from the simple lines of the room. Consider adding kiva ladders, which you might see outside of a pueblo, or a chiminea -- a small Mexican chimney -- and sculptural pieces of iconic Southwestern symbols.

5. Choose artwork that uses earth tones from the southwestern color scheme that you chose earlier. Hang paintings that reflect life -- historically or current -- in the southwest or look for simple, dramatic landscapes. Finely crafted ceramics or a textile wall hanging can add texture to a room.

6. Finish your southwestern look with native plants and baskets of dried flowers. Focus on plants native to the dry, desert environment.

Tips & Warnings

• Steer away from too many bold, clashing colors and patterns. Stick to a few bright blankets and pillows and keep the rest of the colors muted.

• Look for accessories that are handmade from natural elements.

• Southwestern style encompasses a broad range of styles, cultures and historical periods.

References

• Su Casa: Visual Dictionary of Southwestern Style
• House Beautiful; Western Revival in Santa Fe: Southwest Style and Modern Architecture Come Together; Barbara King