Robert Adam Style. Classic interior and architecture design styles.          

Adam style is named for Robert Adam, the most famous architect of the British eighteenth century, who revolutionized Neoclassical design and created a style remarkable for its freshness, fluidity, and grace.

Adam, born in 1728, traveled Europe as a young man, studying the architecture of Roman antiquity. When he returned to England, ready to reinterpret classical principles for a modern audience, he set up an architecture firm with his brother James.

The Adams’ work became enormously influential in England and America, where it was known as Federal style and remained the dominant mode in domestic architecture from the 1790s to the 1830s.

Adam style architecture

Taking inspiration from Roman art, Adam challenged the somewhat rigid pragmatism of the Georgian and neo-Palladian design that preceded him. Where Georgian design was angular, even stolid, Adam style was graceful and curvilinear. Under Adam’s influence, oval shapes began to appear everywhere, from drawer pulls to entire oval rooms. And where Georgian style confined itself to ancient Greek and Roman designs, Adam was eclectic in his influences, taking decorative elements from Byzantine, Italian Baroque, and Etruscan tradition.

The heart of the Adam revolution was in the details. Under Adam’s influence, decorative ornament exploded into a new exuberance. He brought classical architectural elements indoors, decorating domestic interiors with swags, garlands, vines, medallions, scrolls, and ribbons, painted in delicate or vibrant colors, always balanced with the overall classical proportions of the space.


Along with abundant classical ornament, an Adam room will have graceful, delicately proportioned furniture in the style of Hepplewhite, Chippendale, or Thomas Sheraton. The furniture is also decorated with classical motifs: swags, lyres, urns, medallions, sheaves of wheat.

Color is very important to the Robert Adam design style -- think pastel-hued blues, greens, lilacs, and corals, with white or cream trim. Textures should be refined and smooth: gleaming furniture, satiny wood floors covered with refined area rugs, possibly with classical motifs. Draperies and upholstery should be luxurious, in silk, brocade, and damask.

historic plaster medallion and ornamentDiscover more architectural plaster features.
Adam Style architectural details and ornamentation!

Ceiling medallions, cornices and moldings. Authentic Period and Historic Home architectural ornamentation. All crafted in genuine plaster. For commercial and residential environments.

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Blending Traditional and Contemporary Design
Venetian Plaster

Stucco Veneziano - Venetian Plaster!

Inspired by the ornate plaster-work of Renaissance Italy, decorative plaster has a millennial history, with origins dating back to the Rome of the Caesars and in the art of Ancient Greece.

It was Andrea Palladio, a famous Italian architect, who in the XVI century re-discovered it through his studies and re-proposed it in the splendid Venetian villas that are still to this day the distinguishing mark of his career. Stucco Veneziano is an aesthetic solution that step by step, conquered Venice and Lombardy, then Italy, and finally entire Europe in the XVII century. Today, venetian plaster Stucco Veneziano restores the splendor of a classic and prestigious finish.

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Antiquing Video Tutorial

Turn ordinary objects into heirlooms! Creating the 'Classic Antique' glaze finish for objects, furniture, walls and more. This detailed step-by-step tutorial shows how to mix the right colors to create the perfect antiquing solution for any object, furniture, picture frame and more.


polished plaster marmarino

Lithos Venetian Plaster

Finishing Venetian Plaster with natural polished marble effect

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Lithos is the contemporary version of the famous ancient Stucco Veneziano. It is a beautiful and highly refined decorative finish for hotels, offices, shops, exhibition halls, living rooms, etc. Ideal for all types of interior surfaces such as cement renders, Gypsum plasters, prefabricated panels wood and its by-products, as long as sufficiently smooth. With the range of colours and the applicator’s capacity and inspiration, it is possible to attain a variety of designs and chromatic effects. The resulting coating, in addition to being highly attractive, is abrasion resistant and washable.

Spread rate: 35 to 45 sq. ft. per quart.

0.8 - 1.0 kg/m² (for a recommended dry film thickness of 1,0 mm)

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Elements of Adam Style

Rustic earth tones

Vibrant, colorful patterns underlie this design style.

Feature tutorial.

The Parchment colorwash. Creating the impression of aged walls, the Parchment finish evokes a feeling of history and old world charm. The color density varies over the finished surface and creates appearances of lightly mottled parchment. A soft and airy finish, the Parchment glaze is an ideal way to create mood and character in any room. I’ve found it to be an ideal solution for finishing irregular or textured wall surfaces.

parchment color wash paint finish

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