The graceful and sophisticated Tuscan home decor originates in Tuscany – one of the most beautiful and historical regions on earth. This region is also the birthplace of the renaissance and was home to Leonardo DaVinci, Michaelangelo, and Dante. Some of the most iconic buildings in all of Europe are situated here, including the leaning tower of Pisa and the Duomo Cathedral. No wonder Tuscan home decor is so popular throughout the world evoking dreams of a beautiful place and bringing back memories of a wonderful vacation.

The basic colors of Tuscan home decor are centered on earth tones. The land in Tuscany is fertile and rich brown, planted with olive trees, crops and evergreens. These colors of brown, olive, and dark green comprise the basics. Accent colors include brick red and beige mottled like old stucco. Tuscan style paintings and accessories are often simple landscapes depicting this natural beauty.

Beginning in the fourteenth century, European architecture began to change. Italian architect-artists like Giotto and Brunelleschi learned how to make buildings taller, covered them with wide domes, and supported them with the most slender columns. They loved symmetry, heavy ornament, scrolling ironwork, and floor mosaics. These principles are where Tuscan home decor takes its inspiration from.

Since Roman times Tuscany has been a place for travel and trade; this is how Tuscan designers got influenced by foreign styles from Egypt to India. In that vein, Tuscan home decor often features chairs or stools on an X-shaped base, or planters on pedestals just like those from ancient Greece.

Furniture in Tuscan home decor often includes many architectural elements. Chair and table legs are carved like columns. Table stretchers and chair backs are often carved exactly like the arches on renaissance buildings. The style, though geometric, is full of movement and ornamentation.

Pieces of Tuscan home decor are often covered with mosaics: little pictures made of colored tiles or pebbles cemented into a tabletop or floor. These mosaics remind of Tuscan cathedrals, which themselves took inspiration from Roman cathedral mosaics.

Textures of famous Tuscan architecture are very much used in Tuscan home decor. Solid marble and brown stone used in architecture can be used for wall colors. If the budget allows, real marble accessories like countertops might be used. Stacked stone in the yard or a rustic stone fireplace make the decor feel even more authentic.