If you love mixing up different styles, patterns, and colours in your outfits, your artwork and other situations in life, then you probably want to convey that in your home. However, there’s a fine line between showing off your love of eclectic styles, to making your home look like you threw everything together with your eyes closed and just hoped for the best.

Now, it might scare you to know that eclectic décor is actually one of the hardest designs to pull off in your home. This is because it’s all too easy for it to begin looking a mish-mash. That being said, once you do it and make your home look a way that makes you happy, you’ll know you have a design that nobody else can imitate. That’s the great thing about eclectic design! It’s easy to make your home look like a show home, but where’s the fun in that? It can be just plain boring and not very exciting to spend time in!

There are rules and things you can do to nail the eclectic look in your home, and here, we’re going to discuss a few of them. In this guide you should find something to suit any space and any budget, so read on if achieving this is something that interests you!

Without further ado: here’s the ultimate guide to nailing the eclectic look in your home…

Know the meaning of eclectic

First of all, make sure you know the meaning of ‘eclectic’ and what it actually entails. Make a Pinterest board and get a feel of the styles and things you really like – you should begin noticing a common theme and accessories that will work well in your very own eclectic design. You should notice colours, patterns, textures and maybe even accessories that you have pinned a lot so you have a good idea of what you should buy.

Eclectic is the art of being able to mix unusual accessories, colours, and patterns from modern day and past eras. This can create a timeless style of which you’ll never get bored. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is purchasing everything from the same modern era – your home will begin to look dated in a couple of years!

So, how do you truly identify an eclectic looking home? Take a look below:

• Calm mix of periods and styles
• Uniqueness in art and furnishings
• Neutral background colours to stop things looking too busy and crazy
• Unexpected use of materials and/or items
• Old seamlessly mixed in with new
• Handmade items or items with sentimental value

By simply looking at eclectic designs online, in magazines and on Pinterest, you should get a really good idea of what this look is all about.

Don’t forget about your layout – keep it balanced and symmetrical.

Now, when you first start your eclectic design you can get too caught up in the colours, patterns and textures you’re going to include. These things are important, but it’s also crucial to make sure you focus on your layout. Importance should be put on balance and symmetry to ensure that the colours and patterns not only work together, but the different lines and shapes of the furniture, too.

The reason for this? Symmetry helps our minds to simplify the design. It won’t look too busy or overwhelming if we ensure balance and symmetry in the layout, even if many different patterns and colours are used.

Make sure the function of a room is easy to identify, and your eyes will relax and focus on the beauty of a room, rather than seeing it as busy or cluttered.

Create a focal point/feature wall

Every home should have a focal point, and in an eclectic styled home you have a lot of room to get creative. Creating your focal point is very personal, so there are no set or definitive rules on how to do it. You can use frames from Frames.co.uk to encase your favourite artwork, pictures of loved ones or even magazine cut outs to create a gallery wall. Frames of different sizes and shapes can work really well, even frames of different styles.

Your focal point can include paint colour, wallpaper, fireplace, books, clocks, plants and just about any accessory you can think of. Make sure you choose the right space and, if you choose to make your focal point a feature wall, don’t do the same in every room as it can get a little bit much.

Make sure each room flows well

It’s important to remember that, although you’re going for an eclectic design, you shouldn’t have each room in your home completely different, as it’ll be too jarring going from room to room. Instead, make sure each room flows smoothly into the other. You can make them different, but make sure you choose elements that help them to work as a whole, too. This could be a specific colour, your favourite décor style, or something else. You can even incorporate similar things into every room so that they don’t look strange and out of place.

Pick a ‘go to’ colour

You can use lots of colours in an eclectic home design, but you should make sure you choose your favourite as your go to colour. This acts as a unifying thread that you can always come back to if you’re struggling to bring certain elements together the right way.

Bear in mind that neutral colours used in the background always help to bring an eclectic look together without it hurting your brain.

Put a limit on the number of styles in each room

Although you can choose to have multiple styles in each room, you should still put a limit on the amount that you introduce. This is when things will begin to look a mish-mash and messy if you’re not careful. Two or three styles should be plenty. Make sure you spread them around evenly – you wouldn’t have one corner dedicated to the 50s era and the rest the 70s, for example. You’d make sure everything is evenly distributed. For instance, you’d put a modern table next to an old ornate mirror, and a vintage side table with a modern lamp. You wouldn’t put the modern lamp with the modern table. Do feel free to experiment and see what looks best to you, though, as there are no set rules.

Although you should attempt to distribute your styles evenly across the rooms, make sure you don’t use them in the same amounts. It’s a better idea to use more of one and less of another. It’s a similar idea to the rule of patterns, which works like this:

• Use 10% of one pattern
• Use 30% of another pattern
• Use 60% of another pattern

This helps to stop things from looking unprofessional and haphazard. Keeping things uneven yet balanced is the key to a great eclectic interior – it sounds complicated, and it can be. This is why it’s one of the hardest styles to pull off. However, it’s so worth it once you get it right!

Choose fewer pieces that make a big statement

Your accessories should be chosen carefully. You don’t want to clutter the place up, so take your time when selecting them. Know what you’re looking for and how large you’d like them to be. Lots of small accessories can make your home look crowded and overwhelming. By choosing fewer pieces that make a big statement, you’ll make a greater impact with your home design and won’t get that cluttered feeling in a room.

Often, people choose small accessories and pieces because they don’t have much space and they feel that this is the right thing to do, but this isn’t always the case. In fact, it’s sometimes better to choose larger accessories for smaller spaces, as they help to fill up the space visually and make it look well put together. You need to find the balance when it comes to space. You don’t want so much that it’s overpowering, but you don’t want too little either.

Make sure you love every single piece

You shouldn’t bring a piece into your eclectic interior if you don’t love it. It can be too tempting to choose something just because it looks like it’s the right sort of shape or size, when really, you don’t actually like it that much. Make sure you take your time to source pieces that really speak to your heart so that you enjoy spending time in your home and it becomes a space of which you’re really proud.

Anybody can nail the eclectic look in their home with a little patience and a keen eye for detail. It’s tough, but if you do this, you can be sure you have one of the most unique interiors imaginable, that your home is filled with items you adore, and that you won’t end up decorating every few years as your design is timeless!

Will you be decorating your home in an eclectic style? Leave your own thoughts and comments below!

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