Decorating Styles Part IV: Eclectic

Decorating Styles 

    by Powell Brower Home 

By now you've figured out you may be Traditional, Contemporary or Country, with all their trendy additional names, but what if you are NONE of those?  Then my guess is you are ECLECTIC in your decorating tastes.  That means you like something of each style, all pulled together.  It doesn't really work well if you just collect and buy without a plan, so first and foremost with this style is to 1. start with a plan (an eboard, for example) and 2. pick a color scheme.  You may take inspiration from these interiors:


                         Part IV:  Eclectic

                                              

These are fairly extreme examples, even cluttered. "Eclectic"can also be simple:

As you can see, there's a pattern -big play on words- with these rooms.  Eclectic style is:

• bold
• vibrant
• globe trotting
• tribal, ethnic
• bohemian
• mix of patterns
• whimsical
• mixture of all styles 
• comfortable
• working environment, not 'untouchable'
• unmatched, collected pieces
• timeless

Some suggestions to help you make some sense out of an eclectic mix of furnishings and accessories is to start with a neutral backdrop and just add color in your accents; style areas that give the eye a rest from the busy-ness of the other parts of the room, as in a console table vignette. You want your room to look fun and evocative, not chaotic. Real Simple has some good tips on this subject.  

From your comments on the other parts of the series, it sounds like many of you are traditional with some eclectic mixed in.  Let's see tomorrow how we pull all the styles together and make any style up-to-date.

Is your style eclectic?

Nancy

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