FURNITURE MASH-UPS
Blending styles creates personality without breaking the bank
From combining households, to inheriting heirlooms to the realities of a tight renovation budget, there are many reasons why we’ve ditched the idea of furniture sets and embraced a mix-and-match attitude with our decor.
“Mixing styles is quickly becoming the essential go-to look,” says Dean Large of Astro Design Centre. “(It’s) far less contrived than just sticking to all modern, all midcentury or all traditional.”
Large says he is seeing a return to buying fewer but higher quality pieces, rather than endless throwaway items. And the only way to make sure those investments don’t grow tired is to draw inspiration from many styles, making it difficult to tell when the home was designed.
Plus, all that blending gives a space character.
“It’s so much more interesting to design and live in a space with blended items,” says decorator Emily Tait, whose projects often revolve around an item a client wants to refurbish and give new life to.
“It either has a story or memory attached to it, something with meaning, which is so important when styling your own home.”
Designer Michael Courdin says he has always preferred to blend styles. “It shows interest and diversity,” he says, “and not lack of imagination.”
That blending is particularly evident in his own home. “In my living room, I have an antique Chinese rug, a fabulous 1940s lounge chair, a Biedermeier-style chair (and) a 1950s chair (paired with) a modern coffee table and a contemporary sofa.”
Designer Henrietta Southam has a penchant for blending styles in her home as well, marrying pieces she inherited from her mother, her father and her Norwegian grand- mother with her own more modern style.
A 19th-century tobacco jar-turned-lamp, for instance, is combined with Russian painted boxes.
“People say it’s eclectic, but to me it looks very much the same. It all works,” she says.
Decorator Maureen Coates also takes a mix-and-match approach in her condo, where her living and dining room combines antique, vintage and contemporary pieces.
“A space has more personality and perhaps more function when blended styles are mixed cohesively and with intention,” she says.
The same goes even for the kitchen, where we typically think everything should have the same style or finish.
“Throwing in elements that juxtapose in style adds a unique feel to the space,” says Nathan Kyle of Astro Design Centre. “Feel free to throw in an antiqued armoire for your pantry among a sleek slew of cabinetry.” Or, Kyle suggests, replace a fixed island with movable wood or metal tables.
And for lighting, hardware and faucets, “mixing metals is a welcome change,” he adds.
When it comes to renovations, often so much is put into the construction that there’s little left in the budget for new furnishings, designer Penny Southam says. Pieces are repurposed and reupholstered, and the decorator must find new ways for them to be incorporated.
“Mixing old with new, breaking the rules, thinking outside the box — you never know until you try it,” she says. “If you don’t like it, move it and try a new grouping.”
Ultimately, there’s no right or wrong, as long as a look works for you, says Kristi Blok of Kiki Interiors.
“Through the hybrid looks,” Blok says, “you’re really able to get a comfortable, yet still very attractive, style.”