Collected Look Essentials Archives

Collected Look Essentials #5 – Style Mix

Today, I thought I would do the final installment of my series that I started a few months ago on how to get a “collected look” for your home. So far, I’ve touched on four essentials for achieving this:

1. Have at least one modern piece in a room 2. Have real antiques or vintage furniture, not just newly made pieces 3. Have some sort of collection 4. Have at least a few pieces of real artNow I’m going to touch on the fifth (and possibly, final) thing I think you need to give your house that collected look, and that is a “style mix.” In order to get the depth and character that you want here, you have to have a collection of different furniture styles and finishes. That means no dining room or bedroom “sets,” and that you should definitely not care if all the woods in the room are matching. In fact, it’s better if they don’t match. The best rooms, and probably most of the ones you admire in magazines, are a wonderful mix of eras, styles, and woods, creating a personal and eclectic space that is unique. And by it’s very nature, if you mix styles and finishes, it will look like you’ve acquired the pieces over time, something that buying a “set” could never achieve. Let’s look at some examples of a style mix….

A favorite room! I see two different brown woods, gold and glass, and a gray wash on the chairs – but it all works beautifully together! Design by Billet-Collins.

Dark and medium wood here, as well as painted white chairs and a grey table. Home of the artist John Monks.

One of my all-time favorite rooms! Designer Donna Temple Brown’s spaces feel so collected and lived in, as if they’ve always been there. French and Swedish styles as well as different finishes all meld into one beautiful room.

Love this contrast of the antique gold mirror with the clean modern lines of the coffee table and side chair. Via House Beautiful.

This room seems so approachable to me! Couches are clean lined as is the modern console table, but then they have a dark brown wood traditional demilune table and an antique French barometer. Love, love, love this mix! Via Veranda magazine.

Via Veranda magazine.

Designer Dana Lyon.

Via Veranda magazine.

Via BHG.

There is literally every shade of furniture in this room! White painted surfaces, greys, dark woods, gilt chairs, as well as different styles and eras. Via House Beautiful.

By Madeline Stuart.

I’ve included this photo to illustrate my point about timelessness. This room could be today, but it was designed in 1999! Would you ever have guessed that?! I love it, and I think it all still looks as good today as it did then. Designed by Babs Watkins.

By Suzanne Kasler.

In bedrooms, it’s actually pretty easy to mix it up, as long as you don’t buy a matching set. Your nightstands can match, but then maybe your bed frame is different as is the dresser. Or, you can even do two different night stands which will automatically make for a more individual look.

Here designer Tara Shaw uses two different night stands, as well as several different wood finishes and a very contemporary canopy bed.

Two different night stands again, and both different than that gorgeous bed frame. By Suzanne Rheinstein.

Very pretty! Luxe Living Interiors.

Design by Shannon Bowers.

I’ve always loved this bedroom! An antique armoire mixed with a vintage painted wood wine table and a metal nightstand.

Via Elle Decor.

And probably my favorite place to mix it up has to be the dining room. I guess because we all grew up with our parents matching dining “sets” it thrills me to no end to see the opposite of that now! I love a dark table with light chairs, or vice versa. And the buffet or sideboard can be the same as one of the table elements, or be a third different iteration altogether. It’s so much more charming to see a combination of styles and finishes!

Just stunning! Design by Tara Shaw.

Yawn Design Studio.

Designer Jane Moore.

This is another image that is very old. I have an actual paper tear out of this from years ago (I’m not even sure of the date, but at least 10 years ago!) Love the mix of the white painted chairs, the burl wood buffet and that glass table. Via House and Home.

Love light chairs with a dark table. Design by Loi Thai.

This dining room is so cute! Love the mix of finishes in this room. From the blog Nubury Lane.

Via Ballard Designs.

I hope that this series has helped you to see the amount of character and individuality you can add to your home, simply by executing a few of these tips. I really believe if you concentrate on making your house a reflection of you, and all of your uniqueness, that when it’s finished, not only will it truly reflect you, but you will be happier in the long run. The end result should feel timeless, like it’s an innate part of who you are. In fact, when you want to change things up or do some updating, you may find that your collections stay, your antique pieces just move to a different room, and all you have to do is add a few up-to-date pieces, maybe re-paint, and buy some new pillows and you will have a whole new room! But one that will still be representative of =&0=&. And isn’t that what we all want? Sheila

Joining at these fabulous blogs this week: read more

Collected Look Essentials #4 – Artwork

Today I want to continue to talk about the series I started a couple of months ago on how to achieve a house with a “collected” look. To me, the ideal house is one which looks personal, and unique, and not like someone just ordered everything from a catalog. Just to refresh, in the first three posts I talked about how every room needs something vintage and/or antique, that even the most antique-y rooms need something modern, and lastly, how every house needs a collection (or two) to help achieve that “collected over time” look. That leads us to today. And today, I’m talking about art (something I’m quite a fan of, actually!) I think every house needs at least some real art. I know that it’s very much the trend right now to have only other items on the walls; mirrors, letters, numbers, plates, or wood or plaster fragments, and although I love all of those items, I still believe a house should have some actual art. I have spoken to quite a few people about this and what seems to be the case is that they are actually afraid! They might buy a print at Home Goods, but they don’t know how, or where to start, in buying real art. Now lest you think I mean expensive, I definitely don’t. True genuine paintings, whether they be oil or watercolor, can be purchased very inexpensively if you shop antiques or resale stores, buy on Ebay, or even at garage sales. In fact, many times they are the same, or even less money, than buying a print at a catalog store. There is something that art brings to a space that, literally, nothing else can do. First of all, there is color. Most of the things above don’t bring color to a room. Since I personally have a mostly white and/or neutral house, many times the colors in the artwork are one of the few ways I’ve brought color to the room. Art also brings a depth that inanimate objects simply don’t have. Art is alive. A piece (or two) of art in a room can make the room! When I was growing up (and certainly before), people decorated only with art. You couldn’t go to a Home Goods or World Market and buy a cute reproduction map, or a cool mirror, or giant letters. And I will grant you that many houses in the past had too much art (it can definitely go the other way!). But a mix of new and found wall decor that isn’t art, mixed in with real, actual paintings, well, it just doesn’t get any better than that! Shall we take a look? read more

Collected Look Essentials #3 – Collections

In one of my recent posts, I talked about the fact that I think any room needs a touch of something antique, no matter the style of room. And recently, I also spoke of rooms that rely heavily on antiques and vintage items (like mine), really needing a touch of something modern in the room to break it all up. Since then, I’ve had several people comment or send me emails, either asking me to clarify (it seems confusing!) or stating that I’ve contradicted myself! And to some, it may seem that I have contradicted myself, but I assure you, I have not. Both of these articles exemplify my style of decorating, as well as some of what I feel to be the most important decorating tenants needed to make your house a collected home. I feel strongly that the best rooms really are the ones that take time to build, and that are not completed in a week. Houses should seem like they evolved naturally; like they took years to accumulate, and curate, and get right. They will have a comfort and familiarity that way, as well as speak volumes about those who live there. So since I had so many questions, and I think it can be confusing for some who really want to get that look and don’t know quite how to do it, I decided to put together a list of what I think are some of the most important essentials a home needs for it to feel real and true to you. These are only my opinion, not written in stone, of course, but they are the things that I think make a home feel “collected” rather than “decorated.” It is how I’ve tried to do my own home, and it is how the most written about and beautiful homes are designed. Almost every respected designer talks about having a house be personal for you, and I think if you add a collection that speaks to you, it will add patina and warmth to your home. read more

Collected Look Essentials #2 – Antiques

A couple of years ago a friend and I went to one of those Holiday Home Tours, you know the kind where you go to 5 or 6 houses and walk around oohing and aahing and looking at how they’ve decorated. One of the houses was clearly a standout above the rest. As we were walking through one of the houses, my friend commented, “I want my house to look like this! I think I need more antiques.” And it was true. Though many of the houses were pretty, most of them (this is the suburbs, after all) didn’t have a single piece of vintage or antique furniture of any kind in the entire house! Though I always suspected that an antique piece adds much needed character to a room, her comment really cemented in my mind how very important they are. There was a clear difference between the house that was truly gorgeous, and the other ones that were just nice. They were all decorated by professionals (most likely) and they were all large houses, so in this case, it was not about the money spent. It was about what the money was spent on. This is the part where I lose some of my friends, though. They think that if they add an antique, their house will look too old-fashioned. Or, they assume “antiques” are all really expensive. And really, nothing could be further from the truth. Of course a house that is all antiques, with old fashioned finishes and heavily patterned drapes, will look very outdated. And there are uber-expensive antiques out there. But there is definitely a way to add a piece (or two) without it going too “grandma-y” or breaking the bank. Kind of how I think a mostly antique room needs a modern piece to bring it to life (you can read my thoughts on that here), I also think every room can benefit from at least one antique or vintage piece. It makes the whole room look more collected, less catalog-y. And it’s better if there is a little character to the piece; the chippier the better, in my opinion. The texture is important here. You can use reproduction if you like (they do add some character), but I think in the end you are better off with the real thing. In fact, if you look closely, even catalogs like Pottery Barn add vintage items to their rooms in the photos. I’ve often loved something in their catalog, only to realize it’s not actually their item! They’ve added it because the rooms look better for it. The space is less predictable and more unique. It adds depth and character, yet the room still remains hip and contemporary. It can be done! read more

Collected Look Essentials #1 – Touch of Mod

I have always considered myself someone who loved a mostly antique room when it came to decor. I’ve never been into sleek modern looks, metal, plastic, or even leather, no matter how “hot” it got. I have never liked “modern”, most especially mid-century. And that has not changed. I think because I grew up in a house full of mid-century modern furniture, it just doesn’t speak to me. However, I am realizing that I really gravitate to a room that has a piece of something modern or contemporary in style in the room. Whether that be the sofa or just one table, I love the idea of at least one piece of furniture in the room having really clean lines. I think a room full of antiques, and only antiques, can start to look a little fussy. Even, dare I say it, when it’s a room full of French antiques. If one clean-lined piece is added, it adds depth that just isn’t there otherwise. And I really mean one. If there were more, at least for me, that would be too much. I want the the room to still have that antique soul, but with a little edge. read more

The Latest from Instagram