Adirondack Style
Classic interior and architectural design inspired by the American wilderness
Adirondack Style is a distinctly American design tradition rooted in the rugged beauty of mountain landscapes and forest retreats. Emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the style reflects a desire to escape urban life and reconnect with nature—resulting in interiors and architecture that feel grounded, honest, and enduring.
This aesthetic can be found in the quiet, spartan grace of mountain towns in the Adirondacks and Great Smoky Mountains, as well as in the grand, lodge-like interiors of historic resort hotels and private camps built for America’s industrial elite. In both expressions, the style balances simplicity and comfort with craftsmanship and a deep respect for natural materials.
Characterized by exposed wood structures, handcrafted furnishings, and a palette drawn directly from the surrounding landscape, Adirondack Style celebrates imperfection and authenticity. Whether expressed through modest cabins or luxurious rustic retreats, the style remains timeless—offering warmth, durability, and a powerful sense of place that continues to resonate in modern mountain homes and wilderness-inspired interiors.
It takes a while to get there, up a winding road that seems to take you back in time as well as up the mountain. When you stop at a filling station, even the gas pumps are vintage red and yellow cylinders.
Along the road, barns and water towers lean at crazy angles, and you have the sense that life in these mist-shrouded mountains hasn’t changed much for two hundred years.
adirondack Style still lingers on small farms and in backwoods retreats. It’s in the spartan grace of a Great Smokies town, or the luxurious rusticity of a hundred year-old Adirondack resort.
But whether you picture yourself putting up preserves on a cast-iron stove or sipping a highball in a knotty-pine lodge, down-home Adirondack design means unpretentious comfort and natural beauty.
Woodwork is a good place to begin. Walls and floors of warm, plain pine boards, unfinished for a true pioneer look or stained for a more refined feeling, provide a backdrop for whatever homespun furnishings and accessories catch your fancy.
Practical items like old-fashioned cookware, rag rugs and antique quilts are both beautiful and useful. Old farm and household implements have a unique beauty, like the horse-drawn plow. A butter churn, a grain mill, an antique meat grinder, and, of course, a copper kettle are all good accent choices. Restored vintage ranges and refrigerators have become more easily available in recent years, and nothing says country like a cast-iron potbelly heating stove.
If you’re looking more for a turn-of-the-century “Great Camp” and less for a pioneer homestead, try antlers above a stone fireplace, knotty pine paneling, and (for the unsqueamish) hunting trophies and motifs.
A generous portion of luxury is appropriate: exquisite lace curtains, a beautifully restored old upright piano for evening sing-along. Don’t forget cozy nooks with leather armchairs in which to curl up with a book, and, if space permits, multiple fireplaces. And bearskin rugs may have fallen out of favor, but plush carpets scattered across wood or stone floors will keep out the chill mountain air.
Hand Painted Floor Cloth
Freshen any room with this creative checker board painted floor cloth.
The magic of a painted floor cloth can transform a common space into a unique and beautiful expression of you and your family’s personality. Use these versatile cloths for entrance floors, children's rooms, porches, or just about anywhere. Due to the hand painted nature of each floor cloth there is a great opportunity to customize an interior detail to the home, adding quirky elements and personal touches that help create these singularly unique painted floor cloths.
Stencil Brush 432
Stencil Brush Stencil brushes are special brushes with short firm bristles. When used properly they distribute a thin and even layer of paint. This reduces the chance of getting paint under the edge of the stencil. Made in Germany
Early American Style
Colonial Amercians drew inspriation from their European heritage. Curent design styles would filter across the ocean and become reinventedin early America. Proportion and scale took reign over ornementation, A neutral color palette of grey blue, greens and rose pinks is readily apparent.
Stucco Rustico - Aged Plaster
Stucco Rustico is a Traditional interior and exterior textured plaster that epitomizes the rustic old world charm commonly associated with Tuscan environments. I love this treatment for its ease of application and the natural, organic glazed appearance that results when using mineral based plasters and glazes. Whether a rough application or a smooth finish, this treatment holds true to the test of time and, in fact, feels as if time itself stopped to wash the walls personally.
The Rustic Color Palette
The Rustic Style color palette falls within a distinct range of color tones and is essential in creating a successful Rustic interior. By using the appropriate color tones you can create a variety of design styles ranging from Period and Historic, regional or thematic. Color helps define our experiences within an interior and exterior environment. It affects us on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level and can be calming and passive, expressive and vital.
Painted Floral Details
Floral patterns used as accents in fabrics and furniture are common place details in the English Country home. These graceful and organic patterns complement the cozy interior of this style and work particularly well with lace window treatments, an heirloom tea service set and the natural and rustic charm of wooden ceiling beams and slightly irregularly textured walls.