5 Expert tips on mixing a LOT of the styles

22 mar.

We all like different and unique styles, and even more when it comes to our home. Nowadays we are continuously blasted with everyone’s homes, and different styles, so we can easily get overwhelmed with too much information on our heads. With both what we like, and what we do not like.

In most of the projects I work on, I speak with someone that goes through all the different styles he/she likes and how there’s no way to make them work nicely together. Or also a couple that fancies different design expressions, or a family that wants to serve all their members’ needs. And of course, a home HAS TO accommodate and represent all the parties that will live in it.

When we refer to different styles, you set your own boundaries as there are currently names for everything:

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Mediterranean
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Contemporary
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English pub
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post-modern art 
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Eclectic
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scandinavian
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…
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When you want to mix different styles, it seems like there’s no way everything will work together. In this article, I want to discuss five tips that have been really useful for me when it comes to blending ALL the styles you can think of.

For reference, let's consider the first style with more bold lines, and a second one with natural fibres. Representing each style with a rug, these are my best 5 tips to make sense of all the styles you might fancy, so the final result is coherent:

PICK YOUR MAIN STYLE AND SPICE IT UP

It's good practice to choose one main style and have the second one work as a contrast, so they enhance each other. So the magic number would be to follow an 80/20 proportion instead of a 50/50.

Following these criteria, we’ll get a main dominant style and a second one that will add some visual dynamism. This will hopefully make all parties happy, you just need to play “stone, paper, scissor” to decide on the main style 😁.

2. STYLE TRIO

If you have to stir more than three styles together, it's better to use a 40/40/20 proportion instead of the aforementioned 80/20. On a style trio, two of the styles are directly related and work as a base for a more contrasting style that spices things up.

Let’s consider for example a more minimal expression and a Japanese one (now called japandi), seasoned with a more rustic touch.

With this same rule, you can mix more than three styles, but when working with four or five expression lines it might make the result too loud. The more styles you want to combine, the bigger the challenge, but of course everything is possible, you set your own boundaries.

3. Unifying shades

If the composition still looks a bit off, you could also opt for keeping the main elements to one shade. So use a main colour that creates unity.

I still have to discuss the colour theory here on Simple Domus. But you’ll now anyway that most colours will work together if you stick to one shade, but also if you take the opposed one on the colour wheel (a complementary colour).

4. Do not group, scatter

If you choose to group all the different items together, the contrast might be too strong and obvious.
The best solution is to blend all the elements into the main style, so they melt into it.

5. Same vibe

Even if the shape and aspect of the different styles do not look alike, they must keep the same language.
So if you’re trying to get a more relaxed ambient, do not use a stiff and uncomfortable one even if it is the same style.

Considering these main tips, let’s take for reference the composition below.
We could say that these groups of furniture are to different styles, one with natural fibres for the dining area and another one with bolder lines. They are both nice and work nicely by themselves, but together they kind of clash and row in different directions. How can we blend them and make them work together? Applying the aforementioned five tips.

* products linked at the end of this post 😚