EP 160 // Want An Eclectic Home Without The Chaos? My Secrets To Getting It Right

Cara Baker (0:00)

Do you love eclectic interiors, but worry your room could tip from brilliantly mixed to complete jumble? Mixing color, pattern, old, new, quirky finds and unexpected pieces takes a bit more thought than simply throwing everything you love into one room. I'm sharing the secrets behind making eclectic home decor look intentional, interesting and pulled together.

Let's get into it.

Welcome to the Daring Home Decor Podcast. Are you tired of playing it safe with your interior design? Are you overwhelmed with choice and just want simple steps to pull off cohesive and unique decor?

I'm your host, Cara Baker, Virtual Interior Designer and Bold Decor Coach. I'll help you get brave, find your style and create a home with pizzazz. So grab your paintbrush, put on those overalls and let's get decorating.

Hello and welcome to the show. I'm so happy to have you here. And today I'm going to be talking about my secrets to getting an eclectic home right without creating chaos. Because eclectic interior design isn't just about owning lots of random stuff. There's a bit more to it than that. And I would definitely describe my style as eclectic because I like mixing styles, colors, patterns, old pieces, new pieces, unexpected finds. And I think the reason why I'm drawing to this is just that it doesn't limit me.

I don't like to be limited to just one kind of style because, I don't know, I suppose I would get a little bit bored of that. And I know that you may feel the same, which is why I've made this podcast episode. And I think the trick is knowing what holds all these differences together. So what is the glue that holds everything together? So firstly, I don't try to make everything match. I give it something in common. So maybe I would repeat a color, a shape, a material or pattern somewhere else in the room. So for example, in my living room, I've got various different items, colors and variations of the same geometric triangle shape. I've got it in my wallpaper, my rug, my sideboard. So they're all completely different pieces, but with something in common. Two items can be completely different in style, but still feel connected. Number two, I mix eras deliberately.

So I don't let one period take over unless that's the look that I was going for. Pair old with new so the contrast feels intentional. Don't, for example, have a room where everything is uber modern and then you've got one antique piece looking very out of place. You need to make sure there's a balance there. And when you've got a balance, a modern piece can make something vintage look even more interesting and vice versa. This is actually one of the reasons I bang on about color palettes so much because I love mixing things that probably weren't designed to live together. Old with new, pattern with pattern. Something quite elegant next to something a bit bonkers, but there still has to be something holding it all together. Otherwise, you get that horrible stage where you've got loads of things you genuinely love, but the room still looks like a collection of separate decisions. That's the problem I'm solving with the Digital Decor Kit. Not giving you a room full of matching things, but giving you a strong enough direction that allows us to bring in the unusual lamp, the vintage chair, the patterned wallpaper, and the completely unnecessary but fabulous thing you found on holiday without wondering why the room's gone rogue. If that's the bit you struggle with, you'll find the Digital Decor Kit at daringhomedecor.co.uk/digitaldecorkit.

And I've definitely helped a number of my clients in the past incorporate pieces that they've already got into the room that I'm creating for them. And if you have listened to the podcast before, you will also know that the Digital Decor Kit includes a color palette. And color is one of the easiest ways to create that connection, especially when you're mixing pieces that come from completely different styles and eras. So the third thing that I do is I use color as the thread. A strong whole home color palette gives you far more freedom to mix. You can introduce quirky furniture, different patterns and unusual accessories because the repeated colors keep talking to each other. They create the cohesiveness. I've said this before, go and stand in the doorway between two rooms and look from one room to the other. Do they look like they belong together? Or do you feel a disconnection? When I, if I take a picture from, say, for example, my hallway into my guest room, they look like they belong together. They're cohesive because I've got that same color palette running through the house, running room, running through the whole house. You know, it's not all totally the same, but the thread is there. Just remember, that's what you need. Okay, so the fourth thing I do is I vary the scale.