What is Dark and Moody Interior Design and How to Achieve it?
Dark and moody interior vibes is an approach to interior design that focuses on creating bold, dramatic spaces with deep colors, dramatic lighting, and luxe materials. The type of place that feels like Paris or Harlem in the 1920s. The type of place where cool people hang out and you need to know the password to gain entry. The type of place you would like to saunter into and has Davis’ Bitches Brew on repeat if you did not have to leave your comfy sofa and ever-growing stack of to-be-reads.
This type of interior design seeks to evoke feelings of mystery, and drama, in the home. Its elements embrace the use of dark colors such as black, navy blue, dark green, brown, and deep red to create an atmosphere that is both inviting, warm, and mysteriously cocoon-like. Exactly where you want to be found on a rainy Sunday.
We call it #darkanddecadent around here.
It also includes elements such as velvet furniture pieces, luxe fabrics, ornate mirrors, and statement light fixtures to enhance the look. If you are looking for a way to add more drama to your home decor then a dark and moody interior could be the perfect choice for you!
Rolling in the deep
Apprehensive about rolling into the deep end of the dark and moody aesthetic? Stick your toe in this bold and cozy feeling with a smaller, ancillary space in your home. Such as a powder room, transitional hallway, entry closet, or your bedroom. Make this space your design lab for experimentation. Smaller, controlled private spaces like these are the perfect places for the unexpected. A bit of design delight.
5 Ways to add a dark and moody feel to your home.
1. How to use texture to add the perfect dark and moody feel to your home.
Use rich dark textiles such as velvet and suede to add texture and depth to any room. Balance the dark tones with lighter accent pillows, and rugs to keep the overall look cohesive.
Think nubby textures like chenille, faux fur, tweeds, velvets, linen, and boucle. These textures are coupled with a rich smoky palette adding depth and layers. All contribute to the cozy, comfortable, mysterious vibe of the dark and moody aesthetic.
Placing a variety of these textures throughout the room invites the eye and hand to notice as the textures are experienced. Adding to the soothing warm and comfortable feeling of the room.
2. How to use lighting to add the perfect dark and moody vibe to your home.
Ambient lighting is essential for creating a cozy and inviting atmosphere. Lighting sets the mood for any occasion. To transform a space to a dark and moody environment with lighting without compromising comfort consider the function of the space.
If the space is a pass-through hallway or entry a few wall sconces or pin dot recessed fixtures down the hallway are enough to light the path while still creating drama.
Choosing the right ambient lighting for your home is an important decision that should be made carefully. There are many creative ways to add mood lighting to make your home feel cozy and inviting.
If unable to hardwire a wall sconce, use a battery-operated sconce. Or Candles in sconces that use batteries offer a soft flicker without the flame.
If you’re looking to add a darker, moodier feel to your home, lighting is one of the best tools in your arsenal.
Put all overhead light fixtures on dimmer control switches to control the intensity of light. I almost never turn overhead lights on to their full brightness level.
Light the perimeter of the room with table lamps. Countless lighting solutions are available to create an inviting atmosphere in your living space that reflects your personal style and preferences.
With the right combination of fixtures, lightbulbs, and dimmers you can easily customize the mood of your home in a way that best suits you.
To subscribe to the dark and cozy atmosphere use darker lampshades instead of the typical white linen or light shade. Even tinted or smokey glass bulbs, or Edison bulbs lend an air of mystique with a softer glow for shadeless fixtures.
3. How to use art to add the perfect dark and moody feel to your home.
Experiment with a different color palette or art medium when adding a dark and moody aesthetic to your home. If you typically like florals or landscapes try a floral print with a dark background.
Instead of a pastel watercolor landscape try a muted oil painting or charcoal sketched landscape rendered in earth tones. Or a seascape depicted on a rainy day.
Not ready to commit full-on to the dark side, yet? Purchase moodier art with intention and buy the largest size you can afford to make a dark and moody statement. Art is not only two-dimensional.
Don’t forget three-dimensional art objects like woven platters, ceramic plates, wood bowls, vessels, books, and trays in all manner of textures, colors, and finishes.
I have a client who loves to travel to tropical islands. She and her husband live high-stress jobs in the D.C. area so vacation for them is almost always beachside.
This particular year the travel destination was the Dominican Republic and the wife was totally smitten with this huge, pointy, straw hat she discovered in the local straw market.
Needless to say, it was not going to fit into any of their luggage and the wife had to wear the hat tied to her back through international airports and customs.
Picturing this 5′ tall lady with this big straw hat under the exasperated eye of her husband trudging through the airport still cracks me up.
When it came to styling the wall above a console table in the family room a gallery wall was decided upon. On one end of the table was a tall lamp, a stack of travel books, and a few small mementos.
The huge, pointy, straw-market hat prominently hung on the wall above the travel alter table……..Vindicatedddddd!!!
4. How to use low contrast to add the perfect dark and moody vibes to your home.
The dark and moody aesthetic is typically characterized by a low contrasting palette with very very subtle variations. This is considered a monochromatic color scheme. The color does not have to be all the same color but subtle shifts in color like a paint strip in a painter’s fan deck, where the color gets darker and darker the further down the paint strip you go. To stay in the same color intensity, the third position down on the fan deck has a similar hue intensity as all of the other third-position colors throughout the fan deck, in theory.
I won’t bore you to tears with color theory but if you were so led to use a hunter-green grasscloth wallpaper behind your olive green upholstered headboard this is what is meant by using low-contrast elements to practice the dark and moody vibe.
5. How to use paint/wallpaper to add the perfect dark and moody feel to your home.
Gotcha! You thought I was going to start this whole dark and moody shebang off with paint, didn’t ya? Well, sort of….but do as I say, not as I do. with this story.
*Melinda was a pharmaceuticals rep and wanted to interject a fresh, new feeling into her townhome, keeping most of her existing furniture except for one or two items and she was expecting to see a big change. One caveat was *Melinda did not want to paint and did not like color. Her entire house and wardrobe were all beige on beige, on beige.
I get it, there is too much to think about and you set yourself up for success by eliminating options and streamlining everything down to the basics to make your life easier and be professional. In the name of efficiency, you strip your personality out of your home and you find yourself living in a gelatinous beige box.
Until a global pandemic comes along…..And you realize that the beige box of safety is too constricting.
After much deliberation and back and forth with *Melinda we decide to stay in her comfort zone of beige, but move waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down the fan deck to Benjamin Moore’s Forest Brown to paint the one wall behind her oatmeal-ish colored sofa.
Do you want to know what happened?
*Melinda. Absolutely. LOVED. ITTTTTTT!!
Like Happy Tears loved it and wished she had done it sooner.
For dark and moody you don’t have to go all Wednesday Addams. No shade to Wednesday. ( I think she might be my long-lost Meyers-Brigg twin.) Whimsical Goth is not for everybody but we can still play in the dark and moody coffers.
Another option to add some moody coziness to your walls is peel-and-stick wallpaper. There are a gazillion and ten patterns, options, and color stories to try. Even if you are giving the old ‘peel and stick’ a skeptical side-eye on how easy it is to really not ruin your walls-you can always put the wallpaper on a large canvas or thin wood panels and use 3M command strips to hang the wallpapered panels on the wall.
DO NOT GO OUT AND RANDOMLY SELECT A DARK PAINT COLOR. <<<<<< Surefire way to absolutely hate your new dark and moody vibe.
Intentionally select a color based on an inspirational or beloved fabric swatch, area rug, piece of art, throw blanket, or photograph…….. Whatever it is. And you know how back when you were all #teamlightandbright and select the lightest hue in the fabric to paint with? Well, since we are here in our chosen Experimental Design Lab Space it is Opposite Day and we are going to get a sample paint swatch of one of the deeper, moody colors in our inspirational item and see how it feels.
Live with it. Look at it during different times of the day. Lick it. JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!
I wanted to see if you were still paying attention. But seriously, if you love it, then go ahead and paint the whole wall, or get wild and paint the whole room!!
- Names have been changed to protect those uninitiated to the dark side.
This isn’t just about trends and what is in or out. We never follow all that noise.
This is about being seen and finding your people.
This is about finally following an aesthetic you love and carving out a space in your own home for it.
To learn more about how to add a dark and moody vibe to your home. 👇
Click to continue to follow along with this dark and moody design series- When Elle Freezes Over.
See you on the Dark Side.🖤
