Design Confidently, Live Comfortably
| January/February 2005 Find Your Eclectic Style Designer tips for mixing periods, styles, and cultures to create a home that reflects your personality by Lori Erenberg Eclectic style is all about imagination, unexpected contrasts, and delightful surprises. Furnishing your home in a variety of periods, styles, and cultures is a popular design approach these days. Rooms incorporating pieces collected over time, however, sometimes seem fragmented. On the other hand, safe, familiar solutions—like buying sets of matching furniture—can result in rooms devoid of personality. |
 |
 Eclectic designs have personal touches and intriguing contrasts, a mix of eras and cultures tied together by complementary color, pattern, and texture. Here, Zuber wallpaper handprinted from 18th-century woodblocks is paired with 20th-century Heywood-Wakefield furniture. A 1960s spiky brass chandelier adds dimension and a bit of surprise to the room. |
While there are no strict rules for decorating in an eclectic style, it’s not just a matter of throwing together some mismatched furnishings. You must carefully consider the basic building blocks of any decorative scheme—color, pattern, texture, and composition (see page 5). Curvilinear shapes focus the living room. Three curved sofas surround a round coffee table—all are mid-century originals designed by Edward Wormly and made by Dunbar. A vintage globe lamp continues the circular theme, lending height and a sculptural quality to the room. A carved-wood screen and throw pillows in a variety of shapes, colors, and textures add to the non-traditional feel of the space. When I work with clients, I show them why certain pieces or styles work together, and I encourage them to continue refining their eclectic aesthetic. On the following pages, I’ll walk you through the homes of three of my clients and show you how we incorporated collected pieces in various styles into rooms that reflect each homeowner’s personality. And I’ll give you tips on how you can do the same in your own home. NEXT: A Barn Home Turns Artsy |
|
PHOTOS: JENNIFER CHEUNG
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
