Mix and Match Furniture: Apartment Dweller’s Guide to Style

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Mix and Match Furniture: Apartment Dweller’s Guide to Style

Staff Writer · Jan 6, 2011

With mix match furniture, you can enjoy an eclectic decor in your apartment. Learning a little about the design elements involved in achieving this type of decor can lend a style to your apartment that’s uniquely you.

Learning to Express Yourself

Your don’t have to be eccentric or think way outside the box to mix and match furniture. By incorporating varied and interesting pieces in your decor, you are merely putting your own individualistic signature on the look you are trying to achieve in your apartment. Therefore, especially when you are selecting “mix match” furniture pieces, choose furnishings you really like and can appreciate. Just make sure that the items you select, whether they are antique or modern, will coordinate well together.

Choose Items that are Shaped Similarly

For example, when you mix and match furniture, whether it’s a piece from a thrift store or a furnishing you managed to buy on sale at an upscale retailer, maintain a sense of proportion by choosing items that are formed similarly. For example, choose all your end tables and coffee tables in the same geometric style—squares and rectangles. Or, perhaps choose ovals and circles or pieces with interesting, intricate patterns.

Choose Furnishings that Have the Proper Sense of Scale

When mixing and matching furniture, you’ll also want to choose pieces that do not contrast too greatly as you have more of a mix of styles. Therefore, make sure that all your furniture is either smaller or larger in dimension. For a bit of contrast, you could, say, pick one or two large pieces of furniture among smaller-sized furnishings.

Choose Fabrics for Furnishings that Match or Contrast Well

Make sure, when you are mixing and matching furniture, that you also maintain the same type color scheme or, at least, make sure the colors contrast nicely. For example, you may want to choose warm colors such as red, yellow and orange for your color scheme. Or, perhaps, you’d prefer a cooler color grouping of light blues and purples. You may even want to opt for a contrasting but harmonizing scheme, such as red and green, purple and yellow or blue and orange. Mixing patterns can be a little challenging. Therefore, you may want to choose a furnishing with a pattern you like as your focus and use harmonizing patterns and colors to back up the look.

Once You’ve Established Lines, Scale and Colors, Choose from a Variety of Furnishings

If you keep the shape of your furnishings similar, make sure they have the right sense of scale and select colors and patterns that work well together, you will achieve a stylish, eclectic look. Following some of the aforementioned guidelines ensures that your can choose from a number of styles without undue concern. Pick from Art Deco furniture, antique furnishings, vintage furniture, shabby chic styles, country cottage, modern and even tudor styles. Include various fabrics and textures as well, such as velvet, cotton or brocade.

You can achieve a stylish look for your apartment without the appearance that it was thrown together recklessly. Keep the above information in mind and you’ll be able to buy the furniture you really like and maintain a sense of style at the same time.

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