How To Mix and Match Sofas and Chairs Like a Pro
Mixing and matching sofas and chairs in your home can be an intimidating task. But never fear, you don’t have to be a professional interior designer to learn how to mix and match sofas and chairs beautifully.
In this post, I’ll share all the tips and tricks you need to get started.
What Does It Mean To Mix and Match Furniture?
Now, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this. What exactly does it mean to mix and match furniture?
To mix and match furniture means that you are carefully curating pieces of furniture for a room with a variety of textures, patterns, colors, or styles.
For example, a sofa with a solid beige upholstery may be paired with patterned pillows or a striped armchair.
Have you ever heard someone say “it looks too matchy-matchy”?
This means that everything looks the same, to the point where the space feels sterile and uninviting.
A home or a room that is “too matchy-matchy” lacks warmth and looks like it’s straight out of a catalog or set up for a showroom.
These are all things that professional interior designers and decorators aim to avoid in a residential space.
Unfortunately, it’s very easy to fall into this trap since furniture stores often sell their pieces in highly discounted sets. All of the pieces feature the same fabric or same wood tone and carving detail.
While this does make it easy to furnish a home quickly, you’re often left with a look that lacks sophistication and careful styling.
Mixing and matching furniture breaks up that cookie-cutter showroom look and helps you to create a beautiful, welcoming place for you, your family, and your guests.
Why You Should Mix and Match
There are several reasons why learning how to mix and match furniture in your home is a good idea.
1. Mixing and matching makes it easier to change your interior style later on down the line
Believe it or not, there are some economical and logistical benefits to mixing and matching furniture.
There will be times in your life when you simply outgrow the interior style you were once crazy about.
And instead of having to replace a full furniture set, the mix and match approach allows you to update only a few key pieces to change your dominant style.
2. Careful curation of furniture gives a room a luxurious look
Combining different styles, colors, patterns, and materials is the hallmark of a carefully curated space. This will give off a luxurious look.
If you want your room to have a sophisticated, luxe look go for a mix and match style over shiny metal and mirrored accessories.
Read more about creating a luxurious-looking room in the post, “How To Create a Luxurious Looking Interior on a Budget”.
3. The full living room and bedroom collections are outdated
Even traditional furniture showrooms encourage mixing and matching these days. But they don’t do it well.
Here’s the thing… full bedroom and living room collections are built around color, fabric, and pattern themes.
Showrooms highlight a single collection.
You won’t see Cindy Crawford Home mixed in with Sofia Vergara.
Instead, we see the sofa, chair, loveseat, and tables that were made to go together.
The throw pillows are likely made of the same pattern as the accent chair, and the end tables are shaped and structured the same way as the coffee table.
Because the patterns, colors, and fabrics will be restricted to those chosen for that collection it gives the entire display an outdated and artificial aesthetic.
And while the pieces may look lovely together, the general practice of purchasing everything from a single collection is outdated.
In the end, your house will look less like a home and more like it was staged for display (because it was).
How To Mix and Match Sofas and Chairs
Styling your home by mixing and matching sofas and chairs and carefully considering accessories, fabrics, florals, and greenery is the way to go.
Here are a few pointers on how to mix and match the right way.
1. Keep your colors complementary and balance silhouettes
For colors, keep them complementary. You can consult the color wheel to see which ones go well with the palette that you have chosen.
You can choose a grounding color palette such as neutrals or earth tones, and then select a pop of color for accent.
As for furniture, learn to balance it out.
If you have one piece of furniture that is bulky or features a lot of ornate detail create contrast by opting for something with a simple silhouette to balance it out.
2. Mix textures and patterns
The practice of mixing and matching goes beyond furniture color and silhouette. Your choice of fabric and pattern is important as well.
Use accessories such as pillows and blankets to infuse a mix of textures and prints into your space.
This is also a good way to manage your decorating budget.
For instance, you may want to mix smooth leather with touchable faux fur. Well, instead of shelling out big bucks on a leather sofa, you can opt for leather or suede throw pillows with a faux leather ottoman for half the price.
3. Balance the size and scale of your furniture
Balancing size and scale is key when mixing and matching furniture.
While you may have expertly chosen colors, patterns, and textures, your whole look can fall apart if the scale of your pieces is off.
A few examples of this would be pairing a large sectional sofa with small poufs or footstools. Or selecting a coffee table that’s too small for the length of your couch.
Choosing the right size for accessories like floor plants and baskets is another common stumbling block.
This is something I used to get wrong all the time when it came to styling tabletops and nightstands.
Check out Erikka Fogleman’s course Design is in the Details: How to Accessorize Like a Pro on Skillshare if you’re having trouble accessorizing as well. It was really helpful.
Conclusion
Don’t be afraid to get creative when it comes to mixing and matching. Sofas and chairs can be mixed and matched freely as long as there are a few common elements tying them together.
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