Get the Look

According to the wonderful Great Interior Design Challenge:

colonial: a bit of bamboo
rustic: some exposed wood
French: carved wood painted grey
modern Shaker: a light made out of a silver birch log
authentic:  either “with a Middle Eastern feel” or “an old door turned into a coffee table”

I’d describe my style as modern vintage with a hint of kitsch... I like everything to be quite minimal, but at the same time I really love period features... I’m light, bright and a little bit crazy. 

The client wants a “sophisticated boutique style”. She gets “French sunshine with hints of traditional and a bit of a contemporary feel to it”.

I really like the vintage contemporary look.

It’s very colonial, I can feel it! Bamboo and everything... (Her colonial scheme includes a feature wall of mirrors.)

She’s got to keep it classy – don’t go too themey!

This is rustic meets industrial because rustic is really on trend just now. (The contestant’s “industrial” touch consisted of painting a standard-lamp black because factories are full of black stuff, yeah?)

And from Ebay:
Vintage retro Art Deco Edwardian style

Large vintage convex mirror – copper Arts and Crafts with Regency style! (It looks like a porthole, with token vestigial “rivets”.)

I think that, to Americans, "colonial style" is 17th-18th century. To Brits, it means bungalows in Poona.

More here, and links to the rest.