How to Mix Different Styles of Furniture

If you are building a new home, renovating or moving to a new apartment, there is a common urge to mix your old & new furniture styles to create a beautiful environment. Luckily, when it comes to decorating the interior of your home, you are not limited to one design. 

However, whichever styles you choose, you want to blend and create something cohesive that reflects your creativity and personality harmoniously. You must be keen to strike a balance (without being too much) between the different designs, so you don't end up looking ridiculous. 

You can easily achieve a balance by first identifying the furniture style that you lean towards more strongly. This will be the dominant main style, and it will influence your decision on what to mix in. 

Below we provide you with professional tips on how to mix different furniture styles and ensure they work together instead of confronting each other:  

Colour is the biggest unifier when mixing different styles in your space. You want to ensure a cohesive colour scheme that blends with your unique style. The most significant benefit of color in designing is that it creates harmony even in a room that features numerous styles. 

You can limit yourself to two or three shades. But if you're blending a variety of  furniture styles, then it's best to stick to one shade so that your space does not look 'too busy and overly involved.' 

If your dominant furniture style is modern, you can break the monotony by adding a mid-century armchair. You can never go wrong with these old pieces that seem to never run out of style. Adding the simple style of any furniture inspired by the glorious past decades in any modern room will always create a fantastic ambience. 

Whichever upholstery style you go for, coloured, patterned or plain, it all boils down to personal preference. But note that your choice will influence the overall appearance of your home.

Maintaining a link or a common thread between different materials within your space works wonders in designing. Perhaps you're blending more than two styles? Then it's a great idea to mix item colours or styles  randomly. This creates a rhythm, cohesive look and visual balance. 

For instance, you can match your marble clock with another marble item within the room like the coffee table, flower vases or lamps. Another fantastic link is mixing the hue of the armchair in your dining with the colour of the cushions in the living room. Any visitor's eyes will connect these delicate links and perceive the unified beauty. 

You can create links in any room by incorporating textures like linen, cotton or woven fabrics.  For instance, you can blend the patterned design of the linen on your couch with matching patterns on the legs of your coffee table. This effect creates a rhythm and enhances a visual tempo between different elements while echoing delicate designs that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Perhaps you have a piece of art or any artistic creation with high aesthetic value, like a unique lantern or an astounding chandelier? In that case, you need to be careful not to add another item that competes with it. Let it create a theme while its aesthetic beauty grabs all attention to a deeper level. 

The dominant centrepiece should be the main focus and it should determine your other choices like colour palette, wall arts, and flooring. You can also create a thread using the dominant piece. For instance, you can match a small detail in your chandelier with something familiar on the coffee table. 

You can also match the table colour with that of your great-looking lantern. It takes some level of creative thinking, be patient, study your room, and try to imagine how you can link different items to create a perfect match. 

The best way to ensure that you strike an ideal balance in your room is by considering the scale. What is the scale exactly? Scale simply refers to the proportions or the comparative size of objects in your space.

It's all about aiming for a perfect balance. Consider this; You could place your beautiful giant lantern on a small table- it's your house, after all. However, while this may give you and your house a ridiculous look, it also overshadows the appeal of both your lantern and the table. 

Placing your oversized modern couch next to the smaller vintage armchairs also overshadows their beauty and spoils the whole look. Alternatively, you can put two differently styled or coloured pieces together while ensuring a balance in their sizes so that one does not overtake the others' aesthetic appeal. 

You can never go wrong with some basic research. The more you educate yourself, the more creative you get and the better the ideas. Learn if any of your pieces have a specific meaning in the history of design and find out how to mix your different furniture styles cohesively.