You have all these pieces that you absolutely love, but you just can’t seem to get them to work together.
Blending decor, especially across design styles, takes time and effort to get just right. Sometimes to do things right, it helps to figure out where you may be going wrong.
With that in mind, we’re going to look at seven reasons why your decor isn’t blending as well as you’d like it to.
Any combination of these things could be messing up the flow of your entire design. It only takes one to throw everything off.
Let’s figure out what you can change to help your decor blend seamlessly together.
1. You Don’t Have a Theme
The fastest way to make a room seem chaotic is to try incorporating too many themes and vibes all at once.
If you’re going for a casual mood, keep it casual. Or go all out with formal flare.
While your theme can be as simple as neutral colors, it can also be as specific as “cozy log cabin nestled in the mountains.” The more specific you get, the more critical it is to stay on theme.
You run into trouble when you start trying to mesh two totally different themes into one room.
Different rooms in your house can have different themes. But if you’re trying to mix nautical pieces with barnyard chic in your living room, things will start getting confusing to the eye.
If your theme is consistent throughout the room, your styles will blend much better.
2. There’s Too Much Going On
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but there can definitely be too much of a good thing — even when you’re shopping for decor.
There are so many beautiful, unique pieces in the world. They all make their own statement and speak to you in different ways.
Therein lies the problem.
When everything you own stands out — nothing fits in. It’s practically impossible for your decor to blend well when it’s all competing for your attention. The result ends up feeling clunky.
Try to limit yourself to a handful of unique items that you love per room and then use the rest of your accessories to compliment them.
Find clean, simple pieces that go with your theme and look good without being too loud. Having these basic items in the background will help keep the eye moving from one statement piece to the next effortlessly.
3. You Lack Balance
Balance is key to decorating any space.
When you’re attempting to blend two different decor styles, you can’t keep them clearly separated. The divide will stick out and, honestly, look pretty awkward.
Make sure if you place some of your industrial pieces on the left side of the room, you put some on the right side as well.
You can try using the 80/20 rule to balance out how much of each style you incorporate in your overall design.
Let your favorite and most prominent style make up 80% of the decor in the room. The second style will account for the other 20% of your pieces. Both styles are still present, with one sprinkled into the other.
This is just a general rule and a good place to start, but don’t worry about sticking too strictly to it. Find the right balance of styles for you and roll with it!
4. You Use Too Many Colors
Even if two things don’t come from the same style, getting them in the same color will make them feel cohesive.
Color is a great unifier.
If you don’t have a relatively simple color scheme for your space, it’s going to look far too busy and disjointed. You can’t expect your decor to blend well if you’ve got the entire rainbow going on in the same small space.
Choose your color palette and stick to it as well as you can except for a few pieces in an accent color that pops — if you want to be bold.
The same idea applies to stains on anything made of wood.
Keeping your space cohesive is a lot easier when you have a consistent color of wood throughout. No matter the style, it will still seem like everything goes together. That’s the goal.
5. Too Many Individual Displays
Don’t set all your pieces out on their own. Give them buddies that they have something in common with to form little groups.
It doesn’t matter how different they really are as long as they relate to one another somehow. This common thread can be a pattern, color, size, or texture.
Makeshift collections improve your decor’s flow and help your two styles blend by putting like pieces side by side.
If you have an actual collection that belongs together, consider making it into a focal point by displaying it all at once. It’ll make a more significant impact this way than if you scatter it throughout the room.
6. You Have One Awkward Piece
Even if you’ve done an excellent job at blending most of your decor, just one piece that looks like it doesn’t belong can throw the whole thing off.
It’s even worse if you try to shove it off to the side and hide it.
That’s a sure way to make it painfully obvious — especially to yourself.
Instead of putting it away, take advantage of the uniqueness of that out loud chair by turning it into a focal point. Go ahead and make it into the star of the space.
The beauty of a focal point is that it should stand out. It’s the place where everything else leads to, and it naturally draws the eye. So it makes sense to use your oddball piece as a statement.
By intentionally singling it out, it can’t bring your room down by not blending in.
7. You’re Trying Too Hard
At the end of the day, you’re the one that’s going to have to live in your home.
What really matters about your home is that you like the way it looks. Even if someone else doesn’t think your soft pastel color scheme goes with industrial elements, it doesn’t mean they’re right.
Have a good time decorating your space.
Play with ratios and placement. Bring stuff in and take others out. Keep going until it looks harmonious to you, and you’re ultimately happy with it.
Conclusion
Creating the perfect space isn’t so easy when you try throwing too many elements from different decor styles together.
You knew it didn’t look quite right, but before you couldn’t put your finger on why or how to fix it.
Hopefully, you’ve gained some insight into your problem from this list of seven reasons, and you can get up and fix it right away!
Aaron Hunt is the Property Manager for The Urban, a student housing community near Ohio State University.
