90s Ralph Lauren Style in an Apartment

Have you ever walked into a space you were about to move into and thought, “This is so basic.” White walls, no architectural details, nothing to work with. And then you see those gorgeous Ralph Lauren Style rooms online and you think, there is absolutely no way I can pull that off in here.

Here’s the thing though. You actually can. And I’m going to show you exactly how with a real client example.

The Challenge: Getting the Old Money Look in a Rental

I’ve been hearing from a lot of people lately that the Old Money Style of the ’90s is exactly what they’re after. That dark, moody, layered look that feels like you’ve been collecting things for years. The problem is most of the inspiration photos you find online are set in rooms with incredible architecture. Giant windows, high ceilings, elaborate moldings. And if you’re renting a white box apartment, that can feel pretty discouraging.

But here’s what I want you to hear: you do not need any of that to get the Ralph Lauren Aesthetic. I’m going to prove it to you.

This particular client reached out to me because she was getting ready to move into a new New York City apartment and had one major item on her wish list: that ’90s Ralph Lauren look. She had two non-negotiable requirements. Everything had to be portable, and there could be no paint on the walls because she wasn’t sure how long she’d be staying. Not just portable either, but easily reusable in a future apartment down the line.

The Secret to Dark and Moody Without Painting the Walls

When you look at true Ralph Lauren inspiration photos, one of the first things you notice is the bold, dark wall color. Those deep greens, navies, and rich burgundies are a huge part of what makes those rooms feel so cozy and enveloping. So how do you get that same feeling without touching the walls?

You concentrate those dark, moody colors in the bigger elements of the room instead. Your rug, your window treatments, your main furniture pieces. When enough of the large surfaces in a room are carrying that depth of color, you get the same sense of enclosure and coziness that the wall color would have given you. The white walls essentially disappear.

Start with a Floor Plan (Always)

Before we looked at a single piece of furniture, we started with a floor plan. This is something I do with every single project because it makes no sense to start shopping until you know exactly what sizes will fit your space. I use the free tool at floorplanner.com, and I’ve done a couple of other videos walking through how to use it. There’s also a paper template linked below if you prefer to do it by hand.

In this case, the room was serving as both the living room and dining room, which is pretty common in a New York City apartment. The TV wasn’t a top priority for her in the traditional sense. She wanted one, but she wanted it to feel like part of the art installation. More on that in a minute.

Building the Color Palette Around the Rug

Once we had the floor plan sorted and knew the aesthetic we were going for, it was time to build the mood board. I almost always start with the rug because it sets the entire color story for the room.

For this project I chose a rug with a lot of rich, deep color: blues and greens mostly. That rug became the anchor for everything else. Every color we pulled into the room came from somewhere in that rug. That’s the approach that keeps a maximalist room from looking chaotic.

The Furniture: Chesterfield Sofa, Leather Chairs and a Campaign Style Coffee Table

With the color palette established, it was time to pick the big anchor pieces.

A Chesterfield sofa was a natural choice here. It’s a classic silhouette that has never gone out of style, and pretty much every furniture brand makes a version of it at different price points. We went with a fern green Chesterfield, which pulled directly from the rug. It’s also a piece that could move to any future living room and look just as good.

And of course, you have to have something in leather if you’re going for the Ralph Lauren look. We chose two leather armchairs with a little bit of nail head detail around the edges. That detail adds a subtle richness that really elevates the chairs.

For the coffee table, we found one with a campaign chest feeling. It has those little brass corner details, which gave us a jumping off point for bringing brass into other parts of the room.

Window Treatments and Textiles

The windows are one of the best places to introduce a big hit of color, especially when you can’t paint. We went with a steel blue cotton velvet for the drapes. Ralph Lauren doesn’t typically use a lot of pattern on windows, but plaid is always somewhere in the room. We saved that for the accessories instead.

Speaking of textiles, this is where the Ralph Lauren Aesthetic really comes to life. The style is inherently maximalist, but it’s a very focused kind of maximalism. Everything stays within a pretty tight color palette so the layers of texture and pattern feel intentional rather than cluttered.

We brought in throw pillows in both plaid and solid fabrics, and layered in several throw blankets. Lots of textiles is a signature of this look. It’s part of what gives it that lived-in, well-traveled feeling.

Lighting: Three Sources in Every Room

Every room needs three sources of light beyond the overhead fixture, and this room was no exception. We used a floor lamp, a table lamp, and sconces. All of the lighting was brass to pick up on those little brass details from the coffee table and tie everything together.

The goal is to be able to turn off the overhead light entirely and rely on these three sources for atmosphere. It makes an enormous difference in how a room feels at night.

Accessories: Books, Art, Sculpture and Plants

This is where the room really gets its personality. Coffee table books are all over this space, and most of them came from secondhand sources. They’re on the coffee table, on the bookshelves, on the credenza. Any flat surface is fair game.

For the artwork, the centerpiece is actually a frame TV, but not a standard Samsung frame. There’s an Etsy seller who makes really chunky, substantial TV frames that go on any smart TV. The result looks much more like a piece of artwork than a television. Since she doesn’t watch much TV, it lives on an equestrian art image most of the time, which fits perfectly with the rest of the room.

Ralph Lauren spaces also almost always include something sculptural, not just flat art on the walls. In this case it was some small statues on the shelving, but it could be anything three-dimensional sitting on a shelf or a coffee table.

And finally, plants. A fern and some fresh flowers on the coffee table to bring in a little life.

The Feeling Is What You’re Really After

The ’90s Ralph Lauren look is less of a decorating style and more of a feeling. It’s dark and moody and layered. It feels like the British countryside. Like someone who has traveled a lot and kept all their favorite things. Like a room that has been lived in and loved for a long time.

Once you understand the feeling you’re trying to create, you can replicate it anywhere. A white box rental apartment. A builder grade suburban home. The architectural features in the inspiration photos are nice, but they are not the point. The point is the color, the texture, the layering and the intention behind every piece you bring in.

That is completely within reach no matter what your walls look like. Here are the links to all the pieces on the mood board (I earn a small commission if you purchase through these links at no cost to you.

• rug https://rstyle.me/+1w2cMuMQuPsO-bdm3j7RlA
• sofa https://rstyle.me/+MWUJUJiXV2gAE-q3PVkdkA
• Credenza https://rstyle.me/+1eyPUsez3IpVVGhArTUrjQ
• Leather chair https://rstyle.me/+W29gZI3VpJkhTNIxDNivYA
• set of curtains  https://rstyle.me/+3qVMEcblHraeeVsdPHO1Ow
• Brass floor lamp  https://rstyle.me/+wNHcepanYaidIPvpcqIZMw
• plug in sconce  https://rstyle.me/+sMNRswwcP7F5qNzdOaYs6A
• Palm tree  https://rstyle.me/+20GL7X9P510A-A1wxuPAjQ
• Table lamp https://rstyle.me/+vNTgolcnZyGXCs3ThSAQZw
• bookshelf  https://rstyle.me/+4SseZZ0v1w_2dxFP98JGRg
• TV Frame https://rstyle.me/+HHHlCQkiJ5vbU07UcFooog

Stay tuned for my next video where I break down how to source all of these pieces secondhand and on a budget, including all the green Chesterfield sofas I found on Facebook Marketplace (you won’t believe how many there were).