There must have been hundreds of times that you have seen a traditional or modern designed living room or bedroom, with furniture matching and often dictating the atmosphere and the era that wants to be portrayed. Not so often, you saw mixed furniture styles that were matched in such a manner that they give a completely new feel to the room with dynamic and lively atmosphere. Even thou this seems hard to achieve, it is far easier if you follow these tips on how to successfully mix and match different furniture styles.
Ratio
Even thou a mixture of different styles is being discussed here in order for it to be successful it needs to rely on a certain ratio. One style needs to be dominant and enriched by items of different style for optimum blend. If you opt for too many styles it is highly unlikely that you will manage to create a compact whole.
Uniformity
This strong term may at first seem like the very thing you wanted to escape by choosing the mix and match approach. However, for you mix to be successful, it needs to match, as simple as that. Therefore, there needs to be at least a single connecting line for all your pieces of furniture, be it color, pattern or material.
Center piece
After you decide which style would be dominant, you need to pick a center piece, one furniture item that will provide guidelines you will follow while picking up accompanying items. Naturally, this should be an item that is dominant in size, too. A wardrobe, and armchair or a bed would be the usual choices.
Color
If you opt for color as a connecting guideline you can, color theory is what you should base your choices on. The safest choice would be dominant use of neutral colored elements whose dynamics is boosted by addition of items that are contrastingly colored. The overall atmosphere would be elegantly dynamic and you will easily control it and change it by adding different contrasting items, as well as taking away some when needed.
Shape
Shape is another guideline. For example, if oval is your dominant choice for bathroom by adding rectangular vanity or tub pedestal you will change the dynamics and at the same time emphasize the dominant shape instead of taking away from it.
Materials
Wood, metal, glass and plastic are the most common materials used. The only combination that should in fact be avoided is wood and plastic, all other mixtures are functional and can be stylish if you keep to the ratio principle we discussed earlier. Also, if wood is your dominant choice, make sure that the stains match. That way you will have a required uniformity and more freedom in picking accompanying elements of different material.
Pattern
This is another suitable and creative guideline. If the majority of your furniture pieces have similar patterns you will have a very dynamic and yet compact mixing and matching style. The best starting point for this approach would surely be the rug choice. The most practical way is to look for Sydney rugs and go through abundance of patterns offered, finding a connecting line for other furniture you have in mind or already own and plan to use. Therefore, ornamented with ornamented, striped with striped and so on.
Less is more
However successful the choices you made concerning dominant style, pattern and color are, if you clutter your room and do not allow your chosen mixture of matched furniture styles to shine in its full light, all the work you had done would be in vain. Therefore, let your room breathe and allow all furniture to be clearly visible, each item needs to have its place, otherwise do not use it at all.
Even thou it would be much easier opting for a single style, challenging yourself from time to time certainly is a fun and above all creative thing. By following these instructions you will surely be able to create a successful mix of different furniture style, making a unique and well matched combination which will allow you to play with dynamics whenever you feel like changing something again, without having to completely rearrange your room.
