Decorating: Santa Fe Style

Do you love Santa Fe style but don’t know how to pull it off in your own space? I know the feeling! When I bought my condo just off the Plaza, I wanted to embrace its Pueblo Revival architecture and go totally Santa Fe with the décor. The problem is, “Santa Fe style” isn’t one look. Like the town itself, it’s a blend of styles that draws inspiration from numerous cultures and a history that dates back more than 400 years. The minute I tried to pick the right look for me, my brain shut down; which surprised me.

As a former gallery owner, I have more than twenty years experience dealing in Western and Native American art. I’ve been to Santa Fe and throughout the Southwest many times. My family helped settle this region. I have one grandfather who worked for the Santa Fe Railroad and another who managed a Harvey House in the Rockey Mountains. I’m an artist with a natural aptitude for decorating. If anyone could pull off Santa Fe style without breaking a sweat, it should be me. Wrong.

The problem is, the options are endless. I had so many choices swirling through my head, I couldn’t make a single decision. Did I want to go with the colorful version of Santa Fe style, which can be festive, funky, and fun? Or did I want to go with earth tones that are rustic, timeless, and serene? Decorating my place taught me a lot about the numerous variations that lie between those two extremes.

So, if you’re interested in doing a whole room make over, or simply want to bring some Santa Fe style into your existing décor, let me help you break it down into steps. First, let’s look at the various cultures that make up Santa Fe style. They are:

Native American (Pueblo Revival)
Spanish Colonial (Mission Revival)
The Western Expansion
Mexican Heritage
And the Ever-Changing Art Community

Within each of these influences, you can move from bright and energized on one end of the spectrum to earthy and serene on the other. To complicate things more, Santa Fe style is about cultural fusion, so you can draw from a few of these or all of them. Or, you can introduce touches of one or more into a completely separate design style, like Traditional, Contemporary, or even Modern Minimalism. Yet, if you just start pulling at random from everything that falls into “Santa Fe style,” you can wind up with a jumbled mess.

So, before you start picking and mixing styles, think about what you want your final room to feel like. The scales below may help you figure that out. Pick a number from one to ten on each of the following.

1) When I finish, my room will be: Minimalist Modern 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Tasteful Opulence

(NOTE: Both Contemporary and Casual Country would a 5. Traditional and Western would be a 6.)

2) I want my room to: Energize Me 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sooth Me

3) I like: New Trends 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Timeless Traditions

4) For color and pattern, I want: Drama 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Subtlety

5) My room should be: Bright and Airy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dim and Relaxing

Now, add your numbers and divide by 5.

So, which styles will work for you?

In future hubs, I’ll delve deeper into the cultural influences I listed above. For now, use your number on the scales from 1 to 10 as a general guide. Remember, variations are endless and decorating is a process, not something set in stone.

If you have a low number, you may like...

Urban Chic: Use a few big Native American pieces like a Navajo rug hung on a large wall, pots with strong graphic patterns in black, white, and terracotta, and a drum as a coffee table paired with modern furniture. The juxtaposition will give you instant impact.

Playful and Fun: Look at the brightly colored Mexican pottery and Spanish Colonial crafts. Or pick vibrant paintings by modern artists. A lot of Southwest art draws heavily on impressionism and cubists styles. If you use a few big pieces sparingly you’ll get drama and sophistication along with the vibrant energy. If you use lots of smaller pieces, organize them in collections and vignettes so the room looks purposeful, not chaotic.

Contemporary Southwest: I actually think of this style as “Rustic Simplicity.” It uses architectural elements as much as furnishings to capture the feel of a high-end, Santa Fe home. You’ll need big, rough-hewn columns and beams paired with the glassy shine of plaster walls, high ceilings, and tile floors. An earthy tone-on-tone color palette and lack of clutter allow a few well placed pieces of art be the star. Mission furniture and rustic antiques are equal players.

If you have a mid-range number and you’re...

Blending Santa Fe Style with Contemporary, Traditional, or Country: You’ll want to hit the middle between bright colors and a palette that’s too earth tone. Go for more realism in the artwork, such as paintings depicting cowboys and Indians, Southwest landscapes, the gardens and gates of Santa Fe, or a still life. If you collect pottery, baskets, and katchinas, group them together in vignettes. Mixing in some hardcover books about the Southwest and vacation photos from the region in easel-back frames may help tie the vignettes to the rest of the room.

Going for the Wild, Wild West: The image that captures this style perfectly is an advertising poster for a Wild West show or a cowgirl pin up. If you’re doing this style anywhere other than a kitschy theme room, however, proceed with caution. You can use a few pieces in a Victorian Western room (described below), or incorporate a few focal pieces into an Urban Chic décor in place of the Native American crafts I mentioned above.

If your number is high, you may be shooting for...

European Opulence meets Rustic Elegance: While using a lot of the same architectural elements as Contemporary Southwest, this look is more formal. Rather than keeping your room minimal, fill it with plush furniture and rich fabrics. For art, look for pieces that go well in ornate gold frames. Keep the furnishings muted in color, but add lots of texture, interest, and places for your eye to land with Spanish Colonial objects such as candle sticks or wooden carvings.

Victorian Western: This style is more prevalent in the Rocky Mountain mining towns north of Santa Fe, but it can work here. Picture a saloon called The Double Muldoon, or a billiard parlor with oil men smoking cigars. The rooms are dark, ornate, filed with masculine leather furniture, and Tiffany lamps. The more traditional Native American crafts works beautifully, as do Edward Curtis photos, mounted animal trophies, and walls covered in framed art.

Santa Fe style comes in many flavors. Don’t be afraid to mix things up until you find the blend that’s right for you. Your room can evolve over time, just as Santa Fe is constantly evolving. It’s a journey, not a destination, and shopping for new pieces is what keeps your style alive!