Santa Fe-Style Home Design: 11 Tips to Master the Style

Santa Fe evokes a distinct feeling. The city is an intersection of ancient traditions and Western expansion that created something unmistakably Southwestern. It’s no surprise that the unique aesthetics of Santa Fe-style homes inspire interior design for homes far beyond New Mexico.

The Pueblo tradition of sun-dried adobe bricks evolved into a design melting pot, blending diverse regional cultures and ideas. Because the style is so widespread, even modern Santa Fe buildings incorporate traditional elements, forming a cohesive aesthetic with individually distinct homes. 

If you’re curious about the latest desert modern design ideas, you’ll definitely want to dig into the history and characteristics of Santa Fe-inspired interiors. 

What Is a Santa Fe-Style Home?

A Santa Fe-style home blends Pueblo, Spanish, and Territorial influences through adobe construction, thick walls for natural insulation, flat roofs with exposed wooden beams, rounded corners, and earthy colors. They also feature decorative elements like arches and Spanish-style courtyards that connect indoor and outdoor living spaces.

They’re a living symbol of Santa Fe’s rich history. The region was largely inhabited by the Pueblo people, who were known to have been in it as early as 1050 AD. In the early 1600s, Spanish conquistadors led by Don Pedro de Peralta founded Santa Fe, the nation’s oldest capital, predating the Mayflower Pilgrims. 

Semi-nomadic Apache tribes occasionally passed through the area. However, as Spanish missionaries settled in the area, they blended the different regional styles with their European aesthetic. 

The Territorial architectural style emerged in the early 1700s and gained popularity through the 1820s. It combined Adobe walls, flat roofs, rounded corners, and wooden beams with classical European features like columns, arches, decorative trim, and Spanish-style courtyards. A 1912 tourism campaign following New Mexico’s statehood promoted the Pueblo-Spanish and Territorial Revival styles, which soared in popularity by the 1920s. 

With the region’s climate variations, natives developed architectural ways to improve natural insulation. Traditional adobe walls—often over a foot thick—helped regulate indoor temperatures, keeping homes cooler in summer. Straw insulation was usually added, and the adobe was sealed with stucco or plaster. 

Modern Santa Fe design, like broader Southwestern styles, emphasizes connecting with the landscape through earthy, natural elements, Southwestern-inspired color palettes, and indoor-outdoor living spaces. 

However, Santa Fe varies slightly, with a more pointed aesthetic drawing primarily from the Pueblo and Spanish styles. Southwestern is more inclusive, incorporating elements from wider regional influences, including Mexican, Native American, and Californian Mission design. 

Characteristics of Santa Fe-Style Homes Interior Design

• Adobe or stucco exterior walls
• Flat roofs with protruding wooden beams (vigas)
• Rounded corners and organic shapes
• Earth-tone colors reflecting the desert landscape
• Thick walls that provide natural insulation
• Spanish-style interior courtyards
• Arched doorways and windows
• Decorative wooden elements (carved doors, window frames)
• Territorial influences, including columns and decorative trim
• Indoor-outdoor living spaces that connect with the landscape
• Kiva fireplaces (beehive-shaped)
• Tile flooring (often terracotta)
• Rustic wooden furniture and fixtures
• Native American and Spanish-inspired textiles and artwork
• Hand-plastered interior walls

Wall Art Inspired by Santa Fe-Style Architecture

The Color Palette of Santa Fe Design

The traditional Santa Fe palette features earth tones drawn from the surrounding landscape. Warm reddish-browns of adobe, burnt orange tiles, and sandy tans contrast with shades of green from plants and turquoise from traditional jewelry. 

The color scheme is balanced out by cool ivories and other soft neutrals, with the dusky orange/pink/purple colors of the sunset often used as accents. 

Historically, pigments were made from a combination of plants, minerals, and animal sources. Some Southwest tribes also imbued colors with religious significance, particularly for the Four Directions: white signified east and air, blue represents the south and water, yellow is west and earth, and black stood for north and fire. 

Inspire your color palette by looking at your local landscape, observing interactions between dominant hues and eye-catching accents.

Architectural Elements

Though Santa Fe homes draw from many influences, there are a few defining structural features of the overall design style. 

Rounded Fireplaces

At around 7,200 feet, Santa Fe is the highest capital city in the country. It is located in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. While days are generally warm and dry, nights can be very cold, and fireplaces have always been fundamental to home design. 

Santa Fe-style fireplaces are referred to as “kivas” (or beehives), a Hopi term for the round underground ceremonial rooms. Traditionally angled into a corner, the rounded surround, arched opening, and tapering chimney are usually covered in smooth stucco. The raised firebox and bench invite gatherings, while the rounded shape and shallow firebox help circulate the air, requiring only a medium-sized fire to heat the room.

Because they’re so complex, modern kivas are often built using kits. Lightweight materials and modern construction methods, like pre-made fireboxes and chimney inserts, also make the process quicker and simpler. 

Wood-Beam Ceilings

Pulling from Pueblo design tradition, Santa Fe-style homes feature log poles and cross-beams (vigas), with lath slats (latillas) attached to the ceiling joists. Originally for structure and stability, vigas are sometimes visible poking out through the exterior adobe. Traditionally, ponderosa pines are usually left in their natural, unfinished state.

Latillas are wooden slats, historically made from sticks, spaced between the vigas. Along with structural support, they also diffused and reflected light as it bounced off the odd angles of the branches or boards.

Today, they’re mostly decorative—sometimes even faux. Modern designs also play with the styling of the latillas, some choosing more modern herringbone patterns, or, in some cases, skipping the slats altogether for a smoother-looking ceiling. 

Wall Treatments & Textures

The traditional hand-plastered look of Santa Fe-style interior walls is a mark of pride for many artisans. Unlike the smooth stucco kiva finish, hand-troweled plaster is applied in layers for a thick, rustic texture. 

Contemporary plasterers often use a modern plaster base like gypsum and add in materials like sand to vary the surface. Artists can also tint the plaster using a wide variety of pigments, applying color to the walls with the plaster instead of using paint. 

It’s not just what’s added to the walls—it’s also what’s carved out. Small arched cutouts in the wall called nichos are traditional throughout Southwestern architecture, including in Santa Fe. Niches intended for displaying objects are often used as shrines for religious icons. 

Interior Features 

A complete Santa Fe design style embraces the crossroads of all of the region’s different design influences. Rather than a uniform approach, it’s the pairing of the multiple, almost contradictory design ideals that makes a style uniquely Santa Fe. 

Furniture Selection

Unlike the California Mission/Stickley style, Santa Fe’s dark wood furniture is more rustic and hand-hewn. Although it often incorporates metal or leather, especially in trim or seating, most wood is also left in its natural state or lightly sealed. Even modern pieces attempt to look roughly handcrafted. 

It does embrace painted furniture, though. While paint colors generally fall within the earthen Santa Fe palette, incorporating turquoise provides cultural significance and a pop of color. 

Overall, Santa Fe designers customarily choose larger, heavier, low-slung furniture, emphasizing comfort and relaxation. Designers should also select furniture erring on the “less-is-more” side, so as to maintain an open and airy space. 

Lighting Elements

The magical light of Santa Fe is as important inside as outside. Designers should aim to accentuate the light streaming in from the outdoors, with an eye on how the light progresses throughout the house during the day. 

Touches of Spanish influence are also visible in the lighting selections. Wrought iron candelabras, sconces, and hanging lamps, as well as rustic wooden lamp bases, are equally at home. 

Punched tin lanterns are a tradition that has a long history in New Mexico. Settlers on the Santa Fe Trail in the 1800s carried many goods packaged in tin. Silver was rare and expensive, so locals began to reuse the tin cans for other purposes. Eventually, a cadre of tinwork artists developed techniques and tools to punch holes and create designs in the reworked tin. Influenced by Spanish silverwork, their products included tin lanterns and punched holes that let light escape in a designed pattern.

Textiles and Fabrics

Santa Fe's wealth of native and artisan textile traditions provides a bounty of choices. Hand-woven blankets, traditional Navajo rugs, decorative clothing, and household textiles all bring both culture and color to a room. These elements needn’t be exclusive to Santa Fe, but Southwestern styles often harmonize better.

Too many patterns can overwhelm the eye, so it can help to layer in something neutral but texturally interesting in between to give the eyes a rest. 

Art and Décor

With the Santa Fe-style emphasis on nature and culture, an ideal design would incorporate both in some way. An easy way to bring the outdoors in is to decorate with local plants and flowers. 

Dried flower arrangements, in particular, would draw parallels to the arid desert landscape. Other naturally “found” materials like rocks, interesting wood pieces, or other desert relics similarly accentuate those design qualities. 

Santa Fe has a rich arts tradition, with over 200 galleries and museums. The otherworldly landscapes, rare colors, and stunning lighting drew many famous Southwestern painters to the city.

Georgia O’Keeffe spent the final 40 years of her life in New Mexico, making Santa Fe her final home. Her work is a love letter to the Southwest, particularly New Mexico, often featuring scenes highlighting the landscape. While original O’Keeffe works may be costly, prints or similarly inspired pieces by Contemporary artists can enrich any Santa Fe-style space. 

Plant and Landscape Art Perfect for Santa Fe-Style Homes

Outdoor Living Spaces

Santa Fe’s sunny weather and great climate are ideal for indoor-outdoor living. The high altitude means fewer bugs, and low humidity makes summer heat tolerable. Do plan for shady areas via plantings or pergolas, though, so the courtyard can be used on hot, sunny days. 

A tradition introduced by the Spaniards, courtyards are an extension of the home in Santa Fe. Doors often lead into the main living spaces, and many courtyards include outdoor kitchens and dining tables. Because the courtyard and the home are integrated, the patio design should coordinate and accentuate the features of the house as well.

Many plants can’t survive Santa Fe’s arid landscape and temperature shifts, where it can get into the teens at night in the winter. Therefore, ideally, only native plants that are tolerant of drought and changing weather should be planted. Alternatively, plant in pots that can be moved and protected during extreme months. Native plantings will also more seamlessly integrate with the rest of the Santa Fe landscape.

Bring the Beauty of Santa Fe to Your Home

No single style defines Santa Fe design. There isn’t one word, one element, or one characteristic that screams, “This is it.” Rather, it’s that connection to the region’s unique heritage, the history, and the people who have lived and traveled through the area, that makes up the whole. It’s the colors of nature, the light in the sky, and the influence of American Southwest art that give Santa Fe its irreplaceable essence. 

Balance and simplicity are key to a successful Santa Fe interior, rather than leaning heavily on one particular aspect. 

There’s truly nothing else like it.