Art Deco Modern Interior Design . Both styles were popular in europe and the united states, but art nouveau flourished earlier, between 1890 and 1910; White or cream wallpaper with a black feather print would look stunning in an art deco living room and a tiger or zebra print rug wouldn't look out of. Deco is elegant, functional and modern, and though it dates back to the 1920s, this is still the perfect combination for the contemporary home. Like art deco, art nouveau is an ornamental style applied to such media as architecture, interior design, jewelry, and illustration. Art deco styling was most common in architecture, interior design, poster art, furniture, jewellery, textiles, fashion and industrial design, although it was also applied to the visual arts such as painting, and graphics.in architecture, the art deco look signalled something of a return to the symmetry and simplicity of neoclassicism, but without its classical regularity.