Mixing Traditional and Chic, Modern and Antique: Creating an Eclectic Look

Celebrity designer Vern Yip offers advice on how to make your home a unique reflection of you while avoiding the appearance of a perfectly matched rip-off of a showroom floor. Nearly everyone has that eclectic, signature piece, possibly a family heirloom or an item found on a special vacation that must be kept on display. No, it doesn?t match anything you own, but you just have to make it work with the décor. For the mixing and matching designs that give your home its personality, Vern offers some guidelines that will make pulling your room together a little less painful.

?Everything in your room doesn?t necessarily have to match in color,? said celebrity designer Vern Yip, ?but part of pulling together an eclectic space successfully is that the elements have to work together in some way.? Vern advises using one unifying factor to tie a room together. ?A unifying factor will allow you a huge amount of flexibility in mixing up your pieces,? he said.

One unifying factor to build on is tone. Vern says using colors in the same tonal family can make even the most unlikely pair a dynamic duo. ?If you decide, for example, to have a very modern-looking chair next to a very traditional chair, pull the look together with upholstery of the same tonal value,? he said. ?Whether it?s with tonal value, upholstery color or similarity in line, there should be a link to unify the pieces.?

Vern also suggests using floor space to unify your décor. ?The floor is a very important surface in the home that a lot of people tend to overlook,? he said. ?It can convey any design style. Many carpets today have a modern interpretation of traditional designs, and those are always wonderful in both eclectic and traditional spaces.? Vern says that some traditional floral patterns, for example, can be portrayed in multi-level loops, creating a more monochromatic take on a traditional space. STAINMASTER® carpet is available in many different styles and colors that will work with any home decor, says Vern.

For those looking to incorporate both trendy and traditional, Vern suggests layering carpet. ?We?re seeing more and more people with wall-to-wall carpeting lay down a rug to create a defined space,? he said. ?This can create a much more eclectic feel if you want to do a clean, simple, contemporary wall-to-wall look, but still want the ability to have pattern in the room. You could layer a more heavily patterned, bound piece of carpet or rug on a neutral carpet so you?re not committed to that pattern.?

One element that won?t affect the style of your room, Vern says, is shape. ?Shape doesn?t have anything to do with style, in my opinion,? said Vern. ?A lot of things have to come into harmony to create a well-designed space. You want a balance between everything - straight lines, angles and things that are more round.?