Tips to manage Eclecticism!

While designing a house there are various opinions from different family members which needs to be considered may not always match with each other. In such cases we derive the best of each opinion and assort it into the space which is basically eclectic ism. Designers take the best elements of various design styles and arrange it in such a way that it blends yet stands out unique.

As much as this can be fun, there is a huge risk where we might overdo it creating visual chaos. So it is better to know a certain things prior to design.

The first and foremost is that designing an eclectic interior requires a lot of pre-production work like working on the color palette, prints and basically any design element. While this may sound lame, as this is the basic step into designing any interior, it is very crucial in case of eclecticism. As in other design styles there are already a set of elements which are pre-selected and all we need to do is choose from them but the eclectic palette derives elements from almost all design styles which needs to be carefully examined and selected in order to reduce confusion while the execution.

Although the output is going to be a blend of various elements there are three ways, to help out a beginner, in which you can carry out the design easily. The first is balancing two mismatched design styles to create a harmonious match and contrast effect. For example a combination of bohemian and midcentury modern where the former is a free spirited design style with lots of natural elements and light breezy colors and the latter completely contrast mid-century modern, comprising clean lines, bold colors, simple and sleek approach. While the mid-century helps in keep things minimalistic and sleek the bohemian gives the much needed edge and chic vibe.

Second is to choose three different design styles and segregate them into three different degrees namely dominant, recessive and accent. The design which you choose to be dominant will have comparatively the maximum visual proportion followed by the recessive design style with the third one used as a bridge and to accentuate the overall look of the space. The output is little more assorted then the former and the designer gets a lot of choices to choose from.

The third approach includes segregating the design styles into various design elements. For example the furniture can be inspired from Victorian wile the color scheme is derived from Spanish revival and the lighting is an extension from Scandinavian. Compared to the three approaches, this might be the trickiest one and hardest to master but by making the right choices the output will definitely surpass the resultants of the previous two approaches.

A house is made into a home with what we design and hence it is very important to add personal touches and derive elements from personal tastes which may not belong to any design style, but isn’t that the whole point to create a house as imperfectly perfect as we are?!

Happy designing!!! :)