How to mix and match home décor
The darker shade of emerald sofa sets with cream cushions blend with the curtains and floor tiles. PHOTO/ Esther Bridget Nakalya.
What you need to know:
When mixing design styles, putting function first is your secret weapon. Let functional pieces such as furniture carry the room then go wild with the accessories.
Most people shy away from combining different styles for the fear that it might not turn out right. However, interior designer Leah Odeke’s chose to incorporate various styles and aesthetics for interior her home and is proud of her handiwork.
What catches your attention as you enter her home is the abundance of natural light, the well-matched floor length curtains and various ornaments that tie the whole look together.
Odeke who loves multi-purpose décor reveals that she chose her elegant chandelier because in addition to giving illumination, it also plays music. This feature, she explains allows for her living room occupants to relax on soothing music.
“I did not want to clutter my space with speakers or hoofers. With this option, all I have to do is connect Bluetooth to the chandelier and I will have quality sound,” she explains.
She can also control the amount of light the long chandelier with sparkling crystals gives.
“I like dimming it down when we are having dinner and increasing the light when we are doing things that require bright light such as reading,” she reveals.
From the well-light room, the long curtains aligned together, the ornaments that stood on different furniture to the fascinating floor details.
There was quite a handful to please one’s eyes, as everything was well-put together. Odeke shares with us how her interior designs meet her needs.
Furniture
To play around with colours, Odeke chose a darker shade of emerald sofa sets with cream cushions. These colours, she says blend with the curtains and floor tiles.
For the dining room, the interior design enthusiast picked out a magnificent rectangular table with well raised and heavily cushioned seats.
“The shape of the table was chosen to fit in the rectangular space. I also chose a snow white sink and a mirror to diffuse the brown shade,” she shares. In addition to the dining table she added a console table she uses as buffet table.
Ornaments
Unlike some designers who shy away from mixing types, Odeke combines the use of both artificial and natural plants to bring a green element in her home.
“I usually pick small plants for my indoor because they are easier to maintain since there is limited light indoor and the plants require a lot of care to thrive indoor,” she explains. Her plants grow in medium circular ceramic vases and are placed in corners. She also uses plastic fruits and blossoms for different areas.
Flooring
Odeke’s home has cream medium ceramic tiles because they are easy to clean and maintain. The calm colour has a soothing and relaxing effect. The size of the tiles make her space look more spacious and neat because bigger tiles mean lesser grout lines the living room. The tiles also have a more modern and stylish look as compared to smaller tiles.
Advice
Odeke urges putting into consideration basic design elements in order to pull off a successful eclectic look like hers. Separate your negative space from the positive space. According to the décor enthusiast a negative space is the empty space while a positive one is an occupied one. She encourages the use of negative spaces as design element because it allows the space to breath.
When mixing design styles, putting function first is your secret weapon. Let functional pieces such as furniture carry the room. Make sure the elements you choose work together rather than fighting against each other.
Follow the 80/20 rule, let the style you identify with most become more dominant. This will influence over your choice of colours, furniture, lighting and flooring among others. Your other style can feature in accessories such as statement pieces of furniture, lighting fixtures and art.
Every room should include design elements that have common threads to pull them together. The most successful mixed designs are the ones that have similarities. The easiest thread can be a common colour shade.
Making it work.
Regardless of how broad one’s décor ideas may be, home spaces need to be proportioned in an organised but well distributed way. Odeke advices,
”Ensure that you separate your negative space from the positive space.” According to décor lover and expert, positive space is that which one uses to position their items, whereas the negative space is that which has nothing going on to allow usage of the room by occupants. Also she adds it avoids congestion in the room.
