Eclectic Design: Your Home, Your Style

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This sofa from the Fine Upholstery Collection of FFDM is oozing with eclecticism.

Imagine finding a streamlined L-shaped couch and a lovely shag carpet in the middle of your living room. These can provide the modern side to an eclectic home while any wooden piece will lend the eclectic vibe. The eclectic design is a spectrum of many different styles. It is the gathering of different elements coming from various sources then used together in perfect harmony. This style, however, is not an easy one to replicate more so to create. You need to learn to mix and match certain interior design and decorative elements coming from different themes.

Yeah, this is not as easy as it seems since taking different elements from your favorite styles and throwing them all together is not the way to go. So whether you will design a bungalow or a much wider space, make sure that you have an eye for balance and harmony. Now going back to that L-shaped couch and the wooden center table, such pairing will become acceptable if the background features neutral or any light-colored wall or floor-to-ceiling curtains.

Though you may like different elements separately, these may not look great when brought together. If you want to avoid creating design mess, then you have to be careful about your choices. Moderation is key to creating the contrasts that you need. Variety and contrasts, after all, are what comprise eclectic interior design.

What Strikes Your Fancy?

Think of eclectic as the union of the luxurious and simple; neutral and bright; even the East and the West. The leeway that you enjoy is what makes this whole design scheme tricky. Keep in mind that the borderline between chaos and acceptable contrast is very thin. The leeway that you enjoy is what makes this whole design scheme tricky.

Do you think you have the skill to mismatch something systematically? This is the very core of eclecticism. Find enough elements that will become the foundation. This common ground will be responsible for harmonizing everything else.

Any room, for instance, can showcase wooden furniture pieces that can give your home a rustic and earthy feel. Yet they could also turn out to be overpowering or monotonously boring if you do not use them carefully. Find decor pieces that will soften the overall look of your home (bright throw pillows or colorful area rugs for instance).

Don’t bother about matching chairs. Use a narrow palette and a dash of both shimmer and silhouette. Find artwork, accents, rugs, and lighting elements that play well with your background. Use light against the dark, flat and glossy, traditional and modern. Always look for prospects of creating analogous unions.

This inspiring dining set from the FFDM American Cherry Collection is a powerful anchor to the ornate carpet.

Another great rule of eclecticism is to edit as you go. It will be impossible to cram all your ideas in one room. As you go along, you will observe that finding the right balance becomes easier. Establish optical marriages of furniture and artwork, shapes and finishes, even focal point and accent pieces.

The fundamental pieces should serve as the anchor to your whole theme. Architectural elements can be repeated throughout, say, a gold-colored chair propped against a distressed white desk in your home office, all against pearly white painted walls, trim and door posts.

Before bringing any piece to a room, consider its relationship to the rest of the design elements. Will it overwhelm or become a dull addition? If this is so, then it is certain that your furniture piece should go someplace else.

Accessories Uttermost Iced Trees Abstract Art 31304 is a frameless masterpiece that spells eclectic throughout. This artwork will surely leap to life in any room.

Scale, composition and proportion are always important when it comes to interior design, however, they become crucial the moment they are used in a home with incongruent design elements. Pay attention to the mixture of artwork and accessories as there should be nothing unintentional in your space.

Lastly, eclectic design is also about texture layering. Create depth by bringing in on Oriental carpet onto a wooden flooring and trim. Upholstery pieces look great when paired with sleek desks. Different textures can create visual sensations that will surely excite the senses.

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2016 at 8:06 pm and is filed under Interior Design 101, Interior Design Themes, Interior Design Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.