What it is: Eclectic design is the fantastic equalizer. It reshuffles the rule book, mixing and matching new and old, East and West, luxe and humble, showy and silent. It lets you fill out a room with items you love and special finds that strike your fancy. Simply put, it is you, curated.
What it isn’t, nevertheless, is a free-for-all. If you toss a bit of this, a bit of that along with a dash of another into an area at random, it’ll look like exactly what it is: a mess. The freedom and leeway which make diverse style so appealing can also make it tricky — you’ll want to be careful not to trip on the thin line between comparison and chaos.
Why it works: When it is done well, diverse décor broadcasts your confidence on your own personality yet still adheres to the fundamentals of good design. You do not need to choose between periods or profiles; there’s room for a range of favorites. Plus, is not it fun to feel like you are getting away with something?
You’ll love it if… you’re able to put together a smashing outfit out of a mess of sale-rack finds. Your iTunes mix skips from Bach to Bob Marley to the Black Keys. Matching furniture collections make you itchy. Friends tease you which you can never make your mind up. Purebreds are pretty, but mutts capture your heart.
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Style Secret: Methodical Mismatching
Eclecticism wears its lack of pedigree proudly and draws its power out of comparison. The trick is to find enough common ground to create a room gel. The dining room area shown here weaves with a narrow palette and subtle glow, from the dining table to the frames to the chandelier. No two chairs match, but all of them have strong silhouettes and roughly the same proportions.
Road-test it: The very best method to master the medley: Dive in. Choose a couple must-haves to anchor the space, then experimentation with rugs, artwork, lighting, colors as well as other elements. Play light against dark, honed against glossy, rustic against tasteful — but look for opportunities to create parallels. And be firm about editing; you can not stuff every piece you love to a single room.
When you find the right balance, you are going to feel it instinctively. But if you have doubts, try this trick: Snap a photo of your space, wait awhile, then examine it. What yells at you? Winnow out some discordant elements and try again.
Kailey J. Flynn Photography
Style Secret: Repetition
Visual echoes, from color to form to complete, help an eclectic space find its rhythm. Look carefully: This living room is basically a series of rectangles, from the windows and the framed artwork to the coffee tables and vintage café sign. And the accent pieces reiterate the brilliant yellow of the room’s focal-point chest.
Road-test itPick a few basic pieces to anchor your distance, and survey the architecture as well. Then consider which elements you are able to repeat. Do you have a large, round ottoman paired with Eileen Gray side tables? Pull the circle theme to the space: a round mirror, a vintage schoolhouse wall clock, a collection of straw orbs. Throw in a few contrasting shapes for balance and you’ll ignite an engaging combination.
Nichole Loiacono Design
Style Secret: Scale, Proportion, Composition
These tenets are crucial to any well-designed space, but they’re especially important in a space with so many disparate parts. Paying special attention to basic principles helps make sure that every element feels of a piece. In less skillful hands, this living room could have looked just like a garage sale gone mad, but peek closer and you’ll see how well balanced it is. Dramatic draperies maintain their own against the daybed couch, along with the coffee and breakfast tables include just enough existence without fighting for the spotlight. Despite the fall of accessories and artwork, there’s nothing accidental about this distance.
Road-test it Before you bring a piece into an eclectic room, consider its connection to the setting. Does it overwhelm everything else, get lost in a sea of openness or audience the distance? If so, maybe there’s a better place in the house for it.
Lisa Borgnes Giramonti
Style Secret: Layered Textures
Texture gives an eclectic space its own depth. Just about any surface in this living room brings something different to the party: the nubbly Oriental rug over rough sisal; the abundant wood of the floors and trim; the thick, lush upholstery fabrics and sleek desk. A rich collection of textural elements makes a room appeal to our senses and resonate to a visceral level.
Road-test it This one’s easy — play with the principle of opposites. If you have shiny pieces, add matte ones. Offset metal with wood and plastic with porcelain. Marry smooth silk with rough burlap. Use your hands as much as your eyes to estimate the level of textural interplay you’ve attained.
Erika Bierman Photography
Style Secret: A Clean Background
Working the diverse look is similar to seats guests at a dinner party: Put the chatterboxes next to the bashful types and everybody’s happy. This style begs to get a blend of strong, singular pieces, so keep the backdrop — walls, floors, windows — simple in order to prevent competition.
Road-test itErr on the side of impartial and build the background from there. You’ll rarely fail with pristine white walls in an eclectic space, but should they look too bland for you, make use of an abysmal hue such as chamois, smoky gray or light blue. Still not enough? Pick a color that is already in the room and try it out on an accent wall or on the ceiling. Or you could simply hang more artwork, mount colorful window treatments and toss a vibrant rug — all fast fixes which are easy to reverse as the space evolves.
Chronicle Books
Style Secret: Cohesive Color and Pattern
Within an eclectic room, you almost have carte blanche with the color wheel — almost. Pair bright citrus hues with bashful pastels, mix and match each shade of green, restrict the palette to basic black and white. Likewise, it is possible to combine sassy stripes with a mod floral and overscale chevrons. Conventional wisdom wags its finger at you? Bahwe state.
Road-test itBut also this is a large nevertheless, the scheme should make sense. If you attempt to bring in each and every shade you love, or if you pile up patterns without a restraint, then you are going to be left with a mess. For instance, the bedroom here has a great deal happening, from the bold print coverlet to the zigzag rug. Now imagine adding a patterned background or paint that is vivid. Feel the headache coming on? Instead, a couple of strong colors and motifs enliven it without overwhelming it.
Style Secret: Unexpected Accents
In what other decorating design could you create a weathered sideboard, an Oriental rug along with a wall of vintage ads get along? The fun of diverse design can be found in the element of surprise. This is the opportunity to get personal: Showcase mementos out of your visit to India this past year; fetch out the faded concert pictures of your favourite group; pile books within your Radio Flyer wagon from youth.
Road-test it You can go overboard with quirkiness in a rush. If you have a vintage bicycle next to an old dentist’s chair next to a surfboard next to a… well, you get the picture. Use really outlandish pieces because you’d exclamation points: judiciously. Tempering them with a couple simple, classic furnishings can elevate the look without diluting its bizarre charm.
Niche Interiors
Style Secret: The Odd One Out
Eclectic decorating invites cross-pollination between wildly different design periods. What exactly do you do if you have a piece that you are crazy about, but it does not seem to gel with its counterparts? Give it pride of place. Do not attempt to blend it into the background. Consider it as the room’s black sheep: You love it for who it is rather than trying to make it something that it is not.
Road-test itThis approach is best used sparingly. In this bedroom, the more chartreuse tulip chair works because the remainder of the space allows it to take center stage. An entire room filled with strong statement pieces similar to this one could be overkill. At a pinch, you can always rotate: your prized Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair one time; another, a classic bergère updated with a zebra print.
What’s your take on diverse style? Inform us about it in the comments.
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