There is often something utterly comforting about a house decorated in traditional style — a place where heirlooms are displayed, furniture is rich with heritage and every detail was attended to. But if your decorating style until now is transitional, contemporary or modern, it can be hard to know how to change to traditional without completely redecorating your whole house.

It is potential, though. Here are eight key changes you can make around the home to cultivate that traditional vibe, regardless of what your personality is right now.

Tim Barber Ltd Architecture

1. Seek sophisticated furniture shapes. Certain bits exude elegance — think backless sofas, swoop-arm sofas, demilune tables. Even a shapely detail, such as turned wood legs, can ramp up the timeless feel of a space.

Crisp Architects

2. Bring in traditional accessories and accent furniture pieces. Gilt mirrors and picture frames, ginger jar lamps, Oriental rugs and miniature antique furniture are traditional-style mainstays. You don’t have to fill an whole room with these bits; one or two can help your area immediately read as becoming more traditional.

Lucy Interior Design

3. Buy in pairs. Traditional design is based heavily on symmetry, so when you are out shopping, think in twos. A pair of matching armchairs, vases or lamps, is unquestionably better than one when it comes to traditional design.

Liz Carroll Interiors

4. Try a more formal window therapy. Traditional distances have a longstanding love affair with elaborate window treatments of all types. So rather than hanging up fundamental matchstick blinds or curtains and calling it a day, try something a little different — valances, pelmets, balloon shades and Roman shades are the darlings of the traditional audience.

Crisp Architects

5. Get a little matchy-matchy. A carefully planned and tightly edited colour palette is a hallmark of traditional style. Consider beginning with a cloth, such as the blue gingham used on the chairs here, and bring a swatch into the paint store to pull off your wall colour directly from the cloth. And if you love a certain fabric or colour, don’t be afraid to repeat it in fitting curtains, on Roman shades or on another piece of furniture.

Laura Martin Bovard

6. Believe “casual elegance” A traditional home should feel completely and effortlessly comfortable — yet in a really elegant way. As in cushy down-wrapped seat cushions on the couch, chubby tufted ottomans, great lighting and plush rugs.

Hemphill’s Rugs & Carpets

7. Attempt on a table skirt. Traditional rooms have a tendency to have fewer exposed legs. Give your console a demure cover-up, such as a tailored skirt which just brushes the floor. A sharp, tailored skirt, such as the one displayed here, can certainly mix with contemporary and modern furniture.

Patrick Sutton Associates

If you want a more relaxed traditional appearance, go for a loose floor-length fabric above a table. Obviously, you can always put your skirted table at a corner of the living space, as revealed here, but it would also produce a lovely entry table at a gracious foyer.

Kathleen Walsh Interiors, LLC

8. Choose details and luxurious finishes. A traditional residence, more than one in any other style, tends to be fully decorated, with no detail left to chance. If you want to go more traditional, look beyond your furniture into your walls, flooring, light fixtures and hardware. Think hefty brings kitchen cabinets, graceful pendant lights, hand-painted wallpaper, a patterned or painted ceiling, and marble counters.

Burnham Design

Tell us Have you gotten more traditional on your decorating style? What appeals to you most about traditional style? Share your thoughts in the Comments.

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