Home Decor Glossary for Today's Designs!

Home Decor can be confusing until you understand the lingo. A quick read through this decor glossary helped me understand some of the decorating tips I was reading. Hope they help you too!

Accent colors: Contrasting colors used to enliven room schemes.

Acrylic paint: Water-based paint that becomes waterproof when dry.

Analogous colors: Any series of colors that are adjacent on the color wheel.

Antique: An object 100 years old or more.

Antiquing: A technique for applying paint, varnish, or glaze to a surface then blotting it off with a cloth to suggest age.

Architrave: The molding around a doorway or window opening.

Art Deco: A style of architecture and furnishings popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

Art Nouveau: The forerunner of Art Deco; a style of decoration between 1890 and 1910 characterized by flowing lines, sinuous curves, and stylized forms derived from nature.

Balance: A state of equilibrium; can be symmetrical or asymmetrical.

Balloon shade: A puffed fabric shade that forms soft, billowy folds when raised.

Bay window: A projecting roofed structure that includes windows set at an angle to each other.

Bob: A ball of upholsterer's cotton wrapped in a square of silk and secured with a rubber band. Used to polish or smooth off fine paint surfaces.

Bow window: A curved bay window.

Cafe curtains: Curtains that cover the lower half of a window.

Celadon: A pale green color.

Chair rail: A molding, usually of wood, running along a wall at the height of chair backs.

Chintz: Printed cotton, often glazed.

Cissing: The effect created when solvent is spattered onto a painted surface that is still wet.

Color washing: Paint technique used to produce a softly textured, patchy finish, achieved by applying several layers of thin paint.

Combing: A decorative paint technique for creating a striped or wavy pattern by pulling a special comb across wet paint.

Complementary colors: Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel.

Cornice: Horizontal molding at the top of a wall, often used to conceal drapery fixtures.

Decoupage: Cutouts of paper or other materials applied to various surfaces, then varnished for permanence.

Dhurrie: A traditional Indian woven carpet of cotton or silk.

Dragging: Technique for pulling a long-haired brush through wet paint or glaze to produce a series of fine lines.

Drier: A medium, or additive, that thins paints and speeds drying time.

Eclecticism: A style in which furnishings and accessories of various periods and styles are deftly and harmoniously combined.

Faux: French for "false" a term to describe something that is simulated.

Faux bois: French for simulated wood.

Flocked wallpaper: Wallpaper with a raised surface that looks and feels somewhat like velvet.

French Provincial: A term describing countrified versions of formal French furnishings of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Gilding: A technique for applying gold to furniture and other surfaces.

Glaze: Transparent or semi-transparent medium (oil- or water-based)

Glazing: A decorative paint technique whereby a film of color is applied to a painted surface to create a semi-transparent effect.

Gloss: A type of oil-based paint that dries to a high sheen.

Gold leaf: Wafer-thin sheets of gold used in gilding decorative objects.

Graining: A decorative paint technique to create the effect of wood graining.

Grass cloth: A type of wall covering made of woven reeds and dried grasses that are glued to paper or fabric.

Grout: Thin mortar used to fill joints between tiles.

Heading: The top part of a curtain or drape extending above the rod.

High tech: A design style employing materials and objects from industrial settings.

Hue: The name of a color, such as red, blue, or yellow.

Jabot: Vertical fabric sections in swag drapery treatments.

Knotting: A varnish used as a substitute for shellac.

Lacquer: A hard varnish that is applied in many layers then polished to a high sheen.

Lining paper: A plain, thin wall covering designed to provide a smooth surface for wallpaper or paint.

Malachite: A green-colored mineral used for ornamental objects.

Marbling: A decorative paint technique used to create the look of real marble.

Marquetry: Inlaid decorative detail on furniture and other surfaces using wood, metal, or other materials.

Matte: A flat paint finish with no shine or luster.

Moire: Fabric, usually silk, with a rippled, wavy pattern that gives a watered appearance.

Molding: Strips of wood, plaster or other materials applied to walls for decorative effect or to conceal structure elements.

Monochromatic scheme: A color scheme limited to one color in various tones.

Palette: Term used by artists and decorators to describe a range of colors.

Parquet: Inlaid geometric patterns of wood; used primarily in flooring.

Patina: The natural finish on a wood or metal surface that results from age and polishing.

Pickled finish: The result of rubbing white paint into previously stained and finished wood.

Plisse: Fabric with a puckered look.

Primary colors: Red, blue, and yellow, from which all colors are derived.

Primitives: Paintings and art of an unsophisticated culture.

Plumb line: A length of string with a weight tied to the bottom, used to obtain straight vertical lines down walls.

Polyurethane: Synthetic resin used on some paints and varnish.

Ragging: A textured effect produced by passing a crumpled rag over wet paint or glaze.

Refectory table: A long, narrow dining table; originally used in monasteries for community dining.

Reproduction: An exact, or nearly exact, copy of an original design.

Restoration: Anything that has been brought back to its original condition through reconstruction or replacement of missing parts.

Rococo: A highly elaborate form of decoration and architecture dating from the early 18th century in France.

Roman shade: A flat fabric shade that folds into neat horizontal pleats when raised.

Scale: A term referring to the size of objects in relation to each other and the human body; in decorating, good scale is the result of an eye-pleasing relationship between furnishings and other objects, and the space in which they are used.

Secondary colors: Colors reproduced by mixing two primary colors, such as yellow and blue to form green.

Shaker design: Furniture made by a religious sect of the same name; noted for its functional simplicity and austere beauty.

Shoji screens: Japanese-style room partitions or sliding panels usually made of translucent rice paper framed in black lacquered wood.

Size: An adhesive varnish with a drying time of between one and twelve hours, used to hold down metal leaf.

Skirting: A trim, usually of wood, between a wall and the floor.

Spackle: Ready mixed, all-purpose compound used for filling cracks or small holes in walls prior to painting.

Spattering: A decorative paint effect produced by tapping or flicking a loaded paintbrush onto a plain background.

Sponging: A paint technique involving the application layer after layer of opaque and translucent paint colors with a sponge.

Stippling: A technique used to soften and blend color, and eliminate brushstrokes.

Terrazzo: A hard-surface flooring material consisting of small chips of highly polished marble or stone.

Thixotropic: A term used to describe paint that returns to a gel state after mixing.

Ticking: A striped cotton or linen fabric used for mattress covers, slipcovers, and curtains.

Tieback: A fastener attached to the sides of a window to hold back curtains.

Tint: The lighter values of a particular color obtained by mixing the color with white.

Tone: The darkness or lightness of a color; different colors may be of the same tone.

Trompe l'oeil: French for "fool the eye"; a two-dimensional painting designed to look three-dimensional.

TSP: Trisodium phosphate, a concentrated, water-based cleanser that rinses clean without a residue.

Turn-of-the-century: Anything that was made around 1900.

Valance: A drapery treatment made of fabric or wood used as a heading.

Veneer: A thin layer of wood, usually of fine quality, that is bonded to a heavier surface of lesser quality wood. Most new furniture is made of veneer construction.

Verdigris: The green color produces as a result of naturally occuring corrosion on copper, bronze and brass.

Wainscoting: Wood paneling applied to walls from baseboards to the desired height.

Have any suggestions to add to our Decor Glossary?

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