Building your house is much more than just setting up the place you are going to live in. Usually, people want their homes to feature timeless design, look great, and in the same time be very functional, a task that is not always easy to achieve. If you have been in such situation, have you considered looking for solution in Ancient Rome? After all, Ancient Romans were known as stellar architects, and some of their works still grace the cities across the former Empire. Let us see how we can spice up our houses with Roman flavor.
Vestibulum
In all Roman homes emphasis is put on prestige and things don’t seem to be much different today. Ancient Roman Domus would rarely open directly onto the road, but rather into a small passageway, or even better – a foyer which lead visitors into the entrance hall so if you want your home to look Roman, start with the very entrance.
Atrium
The heart and soul of every Roman house, and the place where hosts greeted their guests, atrium was a space surrounded by high-ceiling porticoes and placed under the mandatory roof opening. Atriums featured rectangular drain pools lined with marble which served the purpose of collecting the rainfall, but if you want to give your Roman house a modern twist you can use this space for the full blown swimming pool instead.
Peristylum
Usually separated from atrium with small room or passageway, and in its nature very similar to the previous room, peristylum was a columned courtyard which featured an internal house garden (very similar to Spanish haciendas). If you don’t have enough space to have a big Roman-style garden, use a few pallets, nails, and useful sidchrome tool box to make a few simple flower pots which can hold all your herbs and flowers. It is going to be lovely to look at and it allows you to have your private garden far from public eye. Everybody needs a little bit of heaven, and by having your own green corner you can get exactly that.
Interior Décor
The rest of the Roman house was basically laid around these three central rooms, so feel free to organize them however you see fitting, but to make the most out of this flavor make sure that that they feature a lot of floor tiles (ornamented marble is probably the best possible solution, but in this case you will probably need a floor heating too), columns, interior windows looking at the courtyard, and, of course, old Roman-like art. All of these elements can be incorporated into almost any style so you should have no problem finding the right solution whether you like minimalistic urban look, or you are supporter of something more vibrant.
Exterior Décor
No matter how hard the Romans tried to make their homes lavish from the inside, from the outside they were pretty straightforward affairs – one or two-story buildings with flat façade, very few ornaments, and very shallow tile roof – so you should have no doubts which way to go. If you, however, want to give your own twist to this design, you can go with purposefully rustic, brick veneer, or exaggerated neo-classic look. Urban crowd, on the other side, will probably appreciate dark colors with a lot of glass elements the most.
You know how they say – “All roads lead to Rome”. We would add – For a good reason too. Roman architecture is both timeless and beautiful, so if you had any doubts how your house should look, we say that the visual style of the “Eternal City” is a very good place to start your considerations.
