Moving in with another person — be it a partner, a family member, or a friend — is an exciting time. In addition to the thrill that comes with beginning a new chapter together, there’s also excitement to be had from merging two uniquely different aesthetic styles into your home’s interior design.
At first, as you uncover boxes of your partner’s (perhaps questionable) figurines and (potentially jarring) artworks, you might begin to panic. How could these pieces possibly work with your aesthetics? Instead of letting your head spin, see this as an exciting opportunity to bring together and blend your different styles, crafting a unique space that represents both your individual personalities as one.
Here’s how to seamlessly merge design styles in your home, and how wooden furniture is key to shaping that harmonious balance.
Pick a Core Colour Palette
Lay out your favorite decorative pieces — framed prints, ornaments, sculptures, or pillows. Look for a cohesive color scheme that runs through each of these items. This could be two or three individual colors or tones.
Once you’ve found unifying shades, carry them through the rest of the space. Paint the walls in one of the hues, drape color-coordinated throw blankets over couches and armchairs, and lay a rug that picks up some of those select colors. One uniting color or pattern can immediately pull a room together, distracting from contrasts found elsewhere.
Opt for Cohesive Finishes
If some of your pieces have metallic finishes, like the base of a lamp, feet on a footstool, or decorative vases and candle stick holders, take time to partner with metals that complement one another. Warm metals like copper and gold work together, while cool chrome and industrial dark irons can be effective in partnership.
Just be selective when doing this. If you add too many different colored metals to one room, they’ll add a layer of busyness that creates an aesthetic disconnect to the space.
Invest in Grounding Furniture
A mishmash of conflicting furniture pieces in different mediums, like mid-century modern bookshelves, shabby-chic coffee tables, and industrial sideboards can look chaotic and cluttered. It will overwhelm a room, leaving it looking aimless.
If you cannot find cohesion between your furniture pieces, consider investing in solid wood furniture from Woodcraft (for one). Here, you can choose between different types of wood — like maple, oak, and pine — and different stains, allowing you to find furniture that suits both your styles and your individual style preferences.
Having core pieces of furniture in a room will help to ground the space. Solid furniture that melds seamlessly between design aesthetics and won’t compete with your stylized décor gives you the opportunity to add decorative flair elsewhere.
Reframe Artwork
Using the type and finish of wood from your furniture for inspiration, reframe your artwork and photos in frames that match. While the artwork and the subject matter will likely conflict, the wooden frames will create a buffer that softens the divide, allowing you both to display your favorite artwork as you’d like.
Takeaway
Contrasting styles can work well together. Choosing a core color scheme — whether it’s two colour combinations or more — knowing which knickknacks to display, and understanding when to invest in new furniture that pulls the room together means you’re one step closer to creating a home that works visually, while still representing both of your unique styles.
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