It’s OK to mix it up, just plan first

“The beautiful souls are they that are universal, open, and ready for all things.” Montaigne (also known as Michel Eyquem de Montaigne) (1533-1592), French Renaissance writer, “Of Presumption,” Essays (1580-88)

Q: Once again, my friends and I are having the discussion about matching furniture. Supposedly it’s OK to have different woods and different patterns, but it’s very confusing to the average consumer. How do you know what’s OK to mix and what’s not? It seems that if there were no guidelines, your house would just look like a garage sale with items from many different people. Can you offer guidance on how to mix things up so that it looks like it was planned?

A: Excellent question! And you are correct, I have seen homes where eclectic design wasn’t working. You can certainly mix and match styles and materials, but there must be a little consideration given to those pieces you choose.

Many people feel the bedroom is the safest place to begin mix-matching furniture. Even as innocuous as bedside tables are, there still needs to be some cohesion in choices made. A round, skirted table and a small chest can share bedside duties, as long as they as similar in size. Additionally, there needs to be something to tie the two together, and in this case, it could be matching lamps.

Bedside furniture is fun to do because there are so many choices. The skirted table, small chest and standard nightstand pieces obviously work well, but also consider a small desk or any number of occasional tables for one side. Just make sure they are close in size and try to blend your styles.

The dining room is another great place to mix and match. Most are familiar with using different chair styles — captain’s chairs for the ends and smaller ones for the sides. Upholstered chairs also are great at the heads and matched with wooden chairs. Upholstery is a great matching device. Chairs can all be the same with a different pattern on the head chairs.

At a table for four, two chairs of one color fabric and two of another is a great choice. Or, if the room is very modern with a lot of color in accessories, you can even do four different colors, but the chair must be the same.

In a less formal dining room, a dark table can easily blend with painted chairs or even white ones. A dark cherry table would not be the best match, however, with modern blond chairs around it.

Mixing and matching wooden pieces adds life and excitement to any space. When you walk into a room where everything matches, it is a little off-putting. It appears very formal, and if a homeowner is striving for that look, a little kick is easy to achieve. Even in the most formal rooms, add a mirrored chest or a hand-painted Asian screen or table, and, voila, you have just turned up the room a notch or two.

The living room shown here is a perfect example of mixing styles, and doing it well. The Stanley Furniture folks got it right. They have mixed a large white, painted table with dark leather furniture. It doesn’t sound like a good mix, but as you can see from the photo it is. Here’s why it works. While the sofas are dark and heavy, the wall color, carpet, fireplace wall and the large planter are all light colored. They tie the table in with some greenery, picking up the green from the pillows on the sofa. If the carpet was brown or if the fireplace wall was painted red, the look wouldn’t work.

Mixing and matching just for the sake of doing it is not a good idea. Beautiful eclectic rooms don’t just happen, they are well-planned. Look through catalogs and surf the Web to see layouts and mixes that would work in your home. Remember a few simple rules and you can make your home a brilliant mix to match your personality.

Carolyn Muse Grant is the editor of Southern Nevada Home & Garden magazine. Her Inside Spaces column appears weekly in the Home section of the Review-Journal. Check out other decorating tips in Southern Nevada Home & Garden magazine, which is published the first Saturday of each month. Send questions to cgrant@reviewjournal.com.