Pulling off eclectic requires:

1) An eye for scale, both in the sense of the pieces harmonizing with others and the particular circumstances and space involved; and also in the sense of balancing the over-all decorative tone with the right amount of juxtaposition with a contrasting tone.

2) Willingness to try things (and edit them back out, if necessary).

3) High tolerance for the dissonance when your own choices go against the conventional wisdom; in other words firm confidence in what you like.

In my opinion more rooms "fail" the attractiveness test (if there is such thing) when the owners have let popular, i.e. common, ideas rule rather than those where owners have clearly arranged things to express their own tastes and needs. Too much cultural focus on the rich and notorious isn't doing us any good, on so many levels.

L

My two cents on how to do this:

1. Listen to William Morris (Have nothing in your house that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful).

2. Don't expect or seek validation from internet forums.

Just to clarify #2 a little: the whole point of internet forums is to express pithily. This tends to lead to a lot of new "rules" within any given community, I think, where in conversation there would be a lot more leeway offered (see my previous post and also google "one true kitchen", and also check out the decorating forum here--many of them have more rules than any ten ASID members put together).

As a thought experiment, then, take these shapes. They are not all furniture, of course, but just focusing on the styles and motifs. What combinations of these can you see looking ''right'' together in a room? How might you do it?

A

B

C

D

E

As presented, they are all 1) black and white 2) have something curvilinear and 3) appear similar in scale.

I can see any 2 or 3 working. But not all 5.

If eclectic is bad, then lock me away ;)

I like to think that our belongings look "evolved" as I have stuff from the early 1800s to 1940s with only a smattering of newer stuff. A few items are lucky to have something paired with them that match. Most are strays that I inherited or acquired along the way.

I choose items that are appealing to me and will play well with others. We have more dressers in our house than a small hotel, yet I manage to use them in different ways, in different rooms. If something is well made and attractive, I try to work it in. I have managed to make the lot of them work in whichever apartment, then house I have lived in since being on my own years ago. My husband brought very little with him when we got together because he still lived with my in-laws when we met, so that made it simple. In each home we have been in, the majority of the same stuff has been with us, but has looked different due to differences in layout, flooring and colors of walls. Context can make a huge change to the same set of items.

If a house looks like it was all bought new the day it was built, it lacks a feeling of depth to me. People should have items that have meaning to them and come from somewhere other than one big furniture store. The nicest pieces in most houses I see were from a mom or grandmother and have been passed along. As a real estate agent, I often ask if the furniture is being sold if I sense that it might be. Usually, the piece (or 2) that I covet is the one item that is not for sale. Occasionally, I get lucky and so my collection grows. The houses with nothing noteworthy in them are the ones that have more current stuff that looks like it can be easily replaced at any local big brand furniture store. Most new designs in furniture either copy old ones or each other and are not as well made, IMHO.

I can understand your s.o.'s wanting a new piece to coexist with the incumbents, but maybe you just need to figure out where your newest find can slip in without causing such a huge stir. Maybe if you discuss how every single piece in the living room (for example) reflects her taste and leaves you out of the mix she will realize she has been monopolizing things. Sometimes, a person with a vision needs to be reminded that the home is for the entire family and each person needs to feel a part of it. When we embarked on our reno/extension, my dh let me run with the ball most of the way. On the rare occasion he had a strong feeling for or against something, I did my best to give him the decision since I made so many of them. I want him to feel as happy with the outcome as I do. Some of his input was a plus and some I was skeptical about, but our new look reflects us both and that is important.

BTW - I'd be careful about tossing the word "widow" around. You don't want to give her any ideas, lol!

OK. I'll play. But, as the French say "chacun son gout"...to each his own taste.
I'm confident that I could use ANY two of those together in a room in a pleasing and harmonious way, with the following exceptions: A and E, B and E, and A and D. And I'm not even sure if someone with a better eye and more experience than me couldn't put them together in a way that works pleasingly as well.

It helps that the Wright-like window has that single curved piece, which prevents it from being totally angular. The others are all united by the curviness, despite being from wildly disparate eras. I could imagine for example, a room with the ornate carved victorian piece (which I see as a large piece of furniture) against a colorful, plain wall...a focal point in a rather sleek, large open room with the modern abstract (assuming it�s large scale) as a large swath of fabric on a huge sofa (sectional?).

I could see the Wright-like window in a similar room, but somewhat smaller scale and less open, uses the modern abstract (in a smaller scale) as a fabric on furniture too.
I could see the Art Nouveau (?) mirror (at least that�s what I see that piece as) in a room with any of the other pieces.

I can even see the modern abstract as a huge wall hanging/painting in the moorish building...in a large open area with very, very high (2 floors?) ceilings, colorful tile floors with typical arabesque type designs, plain stone or plaster walls and modern furniture...tubular steel and solid colored upholstered low chaises, chairs...sort of a modern take on a harem look.

Now some of these looks, mind you, I wouldn't choose to live in. But I'd find them, done right, to be a pleasant place to visit.

How have you balanced diversity against disarray? What mixes of eras or styles have you found to be harmonius, and which are hard to get right?

MCM and contemporary can both work very well with an Asian esthetic. Excuse me, I should say "Japanese," because usually when we speak of "Asian" interior design we mean the Japanese Zen-ish look.

If we were talking about the imperial Chinese esthetic--which I love; I really hope to one day have a dark carved wood Chinese desk with big coily 3D dragons spiraling up the legs and an entire rural village complete with peasants and cattle carved into the backsplash, with myriad drawers ingeniously disguised as village buildings, and so on--that would work a lot better in Victorian surroundings than MCM ones. Both imperial Chinese and Victorian are incredibly rococo, just as MCM/Danish modern and Zen are all very spare--they share a theme, or a fundamental esthetic value, and that's what makes them work together.

Although a Chinese desk like that could work in an otherwise Zen interior, if you wanted to make the desk the centerpiece--it would function as a sort of permanent flower arrangement, the one wildly organic shape amid all the straight lines. But I don't think the reverse is true; I doubt a Danish modern desk could look right in a Victorian interior. Its only function would be to make everything else look cluttered. Maybe the only way you could make simple straight lines work in a Victorian room is if you had one Japanese piece that had those lines but looked antique; then it would look like something the Victorian adventurer brought home from Japan. Still, it would need to tie into the rest in some way--the easiest way being color.

Looking out at our quite eclectic living room, I see that one unifying feature is curves. The coffee table is oval with legs that curve in and flare back out, the table beside the (very curvy) chaise longue (with curvy little legs) is a darker-stained version of this (modern repro of art nouveau original):

...so its leg shape echos the coffee table's. The dragonfly table is near a Craftsman-style bookcase some Amish people made for us, but the top shelf of the bookcase has a sort of curved frame (like this one--click to see close up), but our bookcase is half as tall and twice as wide, so it actually has two curved frames side by side. But otherwise it's all straight lines, and I think it works because it balances out the other curvy, slightly rococo pieces--too much rococo and you start feeling claustrophobic, as in those overdone Victorian parlors where the ceiling alone has three different outlandish wallpapers and every surface is upholstered in a different wild pattern. The few straight lines we have frame all the craziness, without totally rejecting it since they themselves have some curves too.

The other unifying theme is color. The walls, floor and furniture in the living room are all in warm colors, in the gold-brown-reddish brown-burnt orange range, with a spot of red (my armchair) and a little ivory thrown in. The woods don't match: golden oak floor, quartersawn Craftsman-style bookcase and TV stand, mahogany-colored dragonfly table, similarly dark coffee table, and to top it off, a couple of cherry bookcases (I believe I've said elsewhere we have a lot of books) and a cherry or at least cherry-colored antique Victorian washstand, used as an end table by the couch.

So nothing matches, but it's all warm in tone and at least slightly curvy and a little busy. (The fact I am referring to that dragonfly table as only "a little busy" should tell you which way my esthetic leans.) I think unless the eclectic mix you're going for is MCM/Danish modern/Zen, you have to like more rococo or busy styles in order for eclectic to work for you.

Another interesting thread by John. I am not sure how I would classify my decorating style, except that I spend a long time picking things out for their quality and beauty. I like colors and patterns. I don't even know enough to classify what chair is which era, but I know what I love when I see it. Then I have lust. In my great room, I have a large framed photo of Bob Marley, which probably isn't very traditional, but I think it's fascinating because of the colors and it's one of those prints that uses album covers to come up with a cohesive image. That is intriguing to me. Also in that corner, we keep one of our acoustic guitars, so it's easily accessible for anyone who wants to play. With our semi open floor plan I was constrained in these main living areas since each is visible from the others. I think I achieved a cohesive vision with the kitchen renovation. At the very least the spaces put me at ease and are comforting to me. I'm not sure if it is eclectic or not?

I wouldn't know what to do with the black and white decor that John posted. I do find each of them attractive, especially because each has some curve/organic nature to it, but I would be flummoxed on how to incorporate it into my home. As for combining the above...I wouldn't be able to do it. I'd have to use each one independently because I think each of them speaks very strongly. I would want softer support elements. The only 2 that would work for me would be fabric in B and the design of C. But I would think someone else, with a more trained eye, could pull a lot more spectacular and appealing groups.

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Interesting...I wasn't "reading" John's photos as black and white, with the possible exception of the moorish building. Everything else I just saw as whatever color looked right in the context I was mentally placing them in. I kept seeing B for example in what I think of as modern "pop" colors....combinations of orange, lime green, bright aqua, etc. The ornate victorian piece, I thought was dark mahogany, and the wright window...ambers, greens, etc.

jlo in the kitchen reno:
Focus on the major questions, big stuff, structure, layout, and flow. Deactivate those parts of the brain that see all the things you see, and channel your thinking around flow and then layout, layout and then structure.
Give in on the details.
You'll still manage to get a ceiling mounted contraption in there.

I like A, C, and E together. C and E are easy, but A gives it a bit of a contemporary spin...notice they all have a design that is wider at the bottom than it is at the top? I think that's why I would choose them.

B is completely out of place and D would probably work with C, if you turned D sideways. Just my two cents :)

Must be me but the" naturally SWMBO" and the " old lady"/ " old widow" are all so insulting and demeaning...I doubt that you mean them this way but I have a hard time taking you seriously . Your posts go on and on...week in and week out. c

I wouldn't use any of those pieces with the others. The only thing they have in common is their black and white and their distinctive strong pattern. If you look at my "how many clowns in a room" posting some time ago, you get my logic. Eclectic does not mean "competing." One of these strong forms is one clown. Two or more of these in a single space, especially a small space, is more than arithmetic, it's logarithmic.

Choose one, then add items from another period or aesthetic. Let's try, oh, say, mounting the nouveau mirror over a quiet but dignified American pine case furniture piece with a white ceramic drawer knob(s). Add a fat ginger jar or other roundish form lamp in dark green (or black that suits the mirror frame) with a clean white shade, perhaps one with a scallopy face. Use an authentic nouveau embroidered multicolor coarse whitish linen "doily" with a lot of rounded lines in brown that complements the pine brown and some greens and maybe a black. Paint the wall med green. Add a black painted stencil near ceiling with nouveau curvilinear motifs. Okay to add some of the warm pine brown in stencil and maybe the white. You might even put a zebra rug or a wooly dark rya rug on the floor once the curves and textures and colors are set, but it has to play fair and not compete.

Let's see - I have to do it by imagination because I don't have a warehouse of furnishing from different eras to mix and match.

A and B work well together, for me. A feels not a huge jump from Mondrian, and from there Op Art feels close by. I can also see most of the classic Bauhaus-era chairs working with A&C (the Eames, Mies Van der Rohr, Breuer, Sarineen, etc designs).

C is hard for me to place with anything, partly because I don't like the frilly, spindly sort of Victorian very much. We have some quasi-Victorian furniture, which seems to have found its way to the least conspicuous parts of the house (the loveseat is a Lego Star Wars base and the rocker is a hanger for dirty clothes, yes it is a shame).

D is tough because I have never had any Art Nouveau pieces. I like the style so much that I think I'd use it anyway and be blind to any visual clash. I think it could work with A and/or with B, but am not confident.

E is the hardest for me, maybe because it is a building (Doge's Palace), not an interior piece, so I'm having a hard time imagining. I think it could work with C and with B.

I suppose the only conclusion I'm getting is that I seem to like almost any other style paired with B. Which makes me wonder why we don't have any ''modern'' furniture in the house. SWMBO has long agreed that I may have a pair of Wassily chairs (below), but alas I find them unrestful to actually sit in.

We used to have a knock-off Eames lounger (below) but it broke and I got rid of it all too lightly.

trailrunner, that was actually a real discussion between SWMBO and I. Are we becoming old fuddy-duddies, living in an old fuddy-duddy house . . . believe me, she wasn't pleased about some of my arguments either.

ideagirl2, I'd like to see your rooms someday! Sounds like I could take some lessons there.

"Don't expect or seek validation from internet forums."

Ha!

Becky, who thanks her late father for making her an H. Rider Haggard and Rumpole fan...

(PS to bring this back, sort of, to eclectic decor, the 1935 movie version of "She" has marvelous Art Deco sets, and in the Arctic no less...)

Eclectic is not just "all my stuff has curves." Or "none of my stuff matches but I like it and everything is subjective so it's good." Neither one.

Rooms have to be tied together somehow. The easy ways are period or style. When you wipe out the easy ways, you make it harder on yourself. You have to find commonalities that you might not even be able to name. Eclecticism also relies on each piece being of very high quality, because each piece has a more separate identity; you might say top quality is a way to hold a room together. Color works, too, and it's not quite as elusive.

Of your examples, B and C go together quite well. The others not really. A is too contemporary and rectilinear. It doesn't have a lot to say. D is not strong enough--in Art Nouveau it's the fluidity of the motion that's important, and the lines are often very delicate, like this one is. The modern image is not about motion; it is heavy and blocky and strong. The Victorian piece is very much about black defining white negative space, which is either the same thing the modern graphic is doing, or the opposite; either way, they're quite similar that way. There are also more subtle similarities that you don't see right away; that hairflip on the crown of the Victorian sideboard or whatever is very similar to that black convex triangle in between the curvy modern squares. Wish I could point to the part I mean! I think pieces that have conversations with each other outside your conscious attention are particularly well suited to go together, even more than pieces chosen for obvious similarities.

Anyway, that's my vote!

[Trailrunner, learn some manners or be quiet.]

I like A with E because they both have a lot of height. I can imagine putting the images in two frames and hanging them side by side.

Personally, I have a lot of danish modern and Japanese elements mixed together at my house, and I think it works. I don't know if this means I'm eclectic. I like pairing looks that, in theory, have nothing in common, but in reality, look good together. It makes one think.

For me the two that go together best are B and D, although I think they could all coexist in a room together depending on what they are and how large they are. As long as they have a good anchoring framework that holds the room together. These examples could be incidental design features in the same room such as a stained glass window (A), a contemporary rug or perhaps a pillow (B), a picture frame (C), an Art Nouveau mirror (D) and an interesting frame on a painting (E).

To me eclectic is having it your way and darn anyone else's sense of style.
What makes a house a home to me is touches of whimsy. The goofy-faced eggseparator that lives on the kitchen windowsill holding pencils. The toad on the hearth doubles as a door stop. My DH humors me in that as I humor him with the stereo console and coffee table from 40 or 50 years ago.
My take is that two people live in my house and two people should be happy with it.

To my eye, here's what works together:
C and D
C and E
Even B and E could work together, assuming they were in complementary colors, because they're SO different that they almost seem to comment on or highlight each other. I can easily see a wall or walkway of a Gothic cathedral in France temporarily decorated with fabric or lighting in the B pattern--again, assuming complementary colors.

It's hard for me to see A with any of the others. Maybe D, in certain circumstances.

Eclectic is not just "all my stuff has curves."

Uh, thanks, Marcolo. Perhaps that came out as more snarky than you intended it?

My idea of eclectic is mixing stuff I like that I have acquired over the years with newer things, some of which are used and some not. Some of my newer things are inexpensive and can be changed out when I get bored with it. I have used the same color scheme for years but I sometimes want some of the accent colors to dominate and sometimes not. I have my key pieces like framed tapestries and art that I work off. Often my pieces have a color relation that helps it all work. I'm not always good at arranging but I do like how I mix. My rooms are there to make me happy and not everyone's taste others rooms are often not my taste so I do what I like. However, I am consistent with the way I mix throughout the house (excluding young adult's room) and I think the general overall feeling is comfortable and interesting to others when they visit. Unfortunately though with all my other diy projects I have not had the time or energy to perfect living areas as I have in the past but I'm getting there.

OT - Florantha - I love your dining room - it reminds me of our space - we also have a ton of bookcases. Do you have pictures of your kitchen? I cannot recall ever seeing it. Thanks!

Oh yes, I meant to comment on Florantha's DR--it reminds me of a dear friend's house where we go every New Year's Day for brunch. They collect antique maps and books and silver, and every time I go there, there's something old and intriguing to see and examine. I'll take that over a trendily decorated room out of a fashion mag any day.

Although it was in a thread labeled "modest and funky," the decidedly immodest kitchen put together by Sandyponder seems like the joyous end of "eclectic" epitomized.

She seems to have had an overall feel in mind, then tromped around looking for orphan pieces that she could make contribute to that look. I fear that most of the rest of us creep around waiting to be inspired and hoping that the 19th century flatwall cabinet the devil made us buy at auction can learn to play nicely with the unmovable bits of our kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sandyponder's kitchen

Courage.

A general rule of thumb that I follow is 1/3 and 2/3. And another one is all vs. almost nothing.

1/3 to 2/3 means that the ratio of distinctly different styles should not start to veer toward half and half. So if you are mixing high Victorian excess with spare modern one of the other clearly has to predominate. This does not include furniture eras or styles that are clearly compatible and referential to each other across periods, like the curvy but spare Regency, Beidermeier,and Art Deco that play well together, or Shaker, Aesthetic Movement, MCM, Bucks County School that play well together, imo.

The all and almost nothing means the motivation piece, or the conversation piece of the room that is clearly different than anything else and stands alone. So if you had an over the top Rococo Italian console you could throw it in a room with DeSede everything else and call it done. Likewise a Nakashima Free edge table with antiques. However, both the Rococo piece and the Nakashima piece are going to raise the bar for the room as a whole.

In well done eclecticism the design of each piece has to hold its own. That doesn't mean it can't be a well designed piece from IKEA or the like. But I don't see a reclining sofa with cup holders working well in an eclectic room. It may be ok in a room with other furniture of its kind, but in a room with well designed pieces, it will diminish them, and they will diminish it.

All out eclecticism is also a possibility but it is extremely difficult to pull off well. Its better to have some rule of thumb to help make choices.

Using the pics you submitted, I see the following: First, ditch the last one, WAY TOO MUCH! Carries too much weight and would throw the entire room off. A, B, C and D all work in the same space. I see the Wright as a line of colorful stained glass windows flanking the entire length of one wall - numerous tall and narrow ones, starting approx. 42" from the floor - they are all trimmed in thick, simple fir trim. The wall beneath them is painted a soft, warm cream. The floor is a mid-tone wood plank, maybe an aged antique Fir. The room is long and narrow, and B is a large Mid-Mod area rug - beige background with darker brown circles, at the front section, with two walls forming an "L" painted cream (across from window wall). D - the Art Nouveau mirror - is on the shorter, front wall of the "L" (next to where you enter the room). This is a seating area with a dark brown leather sectional on the perimeter (in the corner, front feet on the rug). There is a long deep red ottoman / coffee table in front of it. Between this section of the room and the far wall is a large headered opening leading to another room (wall across from window wall) - this visually separates this long narrow space into two sections. The far wall (end of room - what you see when you walk in) is painted a deep red, and C is a large piece of ornate furniture (China cabinet?) that takes up 1/3 the width of the wall (each side red wall) and goes almost all the way to the ceiling. In front of the wall of stained glass Wright windows are a couple mid-tone wood barrel chairs with cream upholstery and a matching round table between them - low - not much higher than the bottoms of the windows. These face into the next room through the opening. That next room will have a round table with seating - take your pick on style. Accessories will be deep red to tie in, trim will be the same Fir, the walls are a steel-blue-grey and if the table is dark it will sit on a cream or beige round area rug, but if the table is light it will sit on charcoal grey or deep red.

OK, I kind of cheated: I imagined the items you gave us in my current "ecclectic" Living Room that connects to the Breakfast Room through a big archway. I just turned the "bones" into classic Wright - straight lines and natural Fir trim. My "bones" are more "Cape Cottage meets Craftsman." When you enter from the front and stand in front of the stairs looking into the living room the far wall is the original fireplace/mantle with floor-to-ceiling bookcases (bottoms have doors) on each side. All the trim is a warm white, but the wall above the mantle and behind the bookcases is a deep red. The bookshelves are filled with books and lots of EGGS (I LOVE EGGS! I noticed you mentioned EGGS in your original post!) - all different eggs - ceramic, Ukrainian, pressed glass, Mid Mod desk lamp that looks like an egg. Even an old back-painted hinged glass egg that hides a cordial set. I LOVE EGGS! Above the mantle is a large antique ornate gold mirror, a Lennox horse, a Chinoiserie jar, a carved metal plate and some candles (changes with the holidays). The Living room walls are painted a very pale, soft yellow. The floor is oak. The front wall has 6 -8 ft. long windows in the center, and the window treatments (in both rooms) are pintucked brown ultrasuede side panels with a valance at the top that goes from the ceiling to just below the start of the windows - it is mostly a deep red with little gold dragonflies embroidered on it, with a narrow 2" deep skirt peeking out from the bottom that is deep red, yellow and cream stripes. Over the windows are simple cream shears. In front of the window are 2 antique Louis??? (I can NEVER remember the names of these pieces) chairs - they are actually the two arm chairs that match the dining room chairs (opposite side of house - we have 2 antique Art Deco chairs at the head of the table) - the small (not bulky) style with fluted legs, a bit of carving where the legs meet the chair, open wood arms with just a bit of upholstery where your lower arm hits, upholstered seat, and separate upholstered back - the front and back is separated by a carved wood frame. They still have their original olive green and gold (very subtle) striped silk velvet, but I bought some (VERY EXPENSIVE - Just bought enough to do the backs, not the seats) stunning aqua silk that is embroidered with deep red and pink flowers. Seats will be aqua ultrasuede. On each side of the fireplace sits a different antique chair (big and comfy) - one has carved English Mahogany legs and armfronts, the other is a curved channel-back. These still have to be re-upholstered as well - the channel back will be either a golden herringbone or olive herringbone - hints of menswear. This chair sits between the windows and bookcase; on the wall behind it is the antique Cuckoo Clock my Grandparents brought over from Germany, surrounded by black and white photos of both sides of grandparents as kids and their wedding photos. The carved chair on the other side of the fireplace will be this subtle Morrocan-under-French occupation print (Morrocan pattern, but very subtle, subdued hues). This chair sits just inside the archway, next to the bookcase with a round leather table next to it. On the "L" wall (to the side of the staircase when you walk in) is a large "magic carpet" sleigh bed frame that serves as the sofa (the sides curve in, not out). The seat is a golden-olive upholstery, and it has over a dozen pillows along the back (it's 39" deep) made of all different fabrics in shades of red, steel blue, yellow, cream. This sits on a deep red Morrocan patterned area rug and a deep red modern tufted leather ottoman sits in front of it. On the wall behind it is an antique triptych of equestrian scenes. On the wall right below the stairrail is my grandmother's antique sewing machine. Across from this (when you enter), on the other side of the windows, is an antique desk with different wood inlays (narrow fluted legs, so it's not heavy in the space). There is a lot of color, but because a lot of the walls are left bare and it is very pale yallow, it does not look too busy. The key is repeating the deep red throughout. The breakfast room through the archway has 4' high Mission wainscotting painted the warm trim white, and the walls above are painted a pale steel-blue-grey (but that side of the archway is the warm white trim color because it is between two walls on that side). The furniture is all oak - an antique quartersawn Secretary in the angled corner, a more country China Babinet / display hutch on the other side of the window (filled with Hummels and EGGS!), and a round table with lions heads and claw feet that my mother had made for the room by a furniture shop in Brooklyn back in the 1980's. There are 4 chairs around it - two dark brown leather Parson's chairs, and two carved-back Rosewood chairs from Indonesia (sounds totally crazy, but it actually works!) Above the table is a stunning ceiling fan that has the affect of a chandelier - it is a brushed nickel Art Nouveau style with mottled yellow / cream Italian art glass shades and walnut blades (I went through 8 different ceiling fans until I found the PERFECT one!) The table sits on a beige and pale blue round area rug. The two rooms both contrast (different wall colors) and blend together (same trim color throughout, same window treatments). The living room has just a wee bit of the pale blue here and there, and the breakfast room has just enough red, that they flow. All the oak in the breakfast room and yellow glass shades tie in to the yellow walls from the living room. So, it can work, you just have to limit your colors to 3 so it doesn't get too chaotic. Oh yeah, DO NOT clutter your WALLS with lots of stuff if you have very ecclectic furniture! Having a lot of empty wall space where just the paint colors shine through allows your eyes to visually rest.

honorbiltkit-

Thank you so much for referencing my kitchen, I am very flattered that you remember it! It really is almost done now, and I will post a few pics this week, there is a lot of stuff hung up and the trim is all in. Of course now I am thinking of repainting the walls and a couple of the cabs, but at the moment it's just a glean in my eye, for the summer it will stay as is. (I am a serial painter, it's a sickness.)

WRT the moniker of "eclectic", I didn't know there is a definition, rules, proportions or other requirements to be called "eclectic", but I'm not much for rules or what others think, so I'll just keep adding color, texture and pattern to my house in whatever proportions or way that suits us and not worry what anyone else calls it or thinks of it.

Thanks again, honorbiltkit, for the shout out.

sandyponder

Off Topic to honorbiltkit: good job of describing the SandyPonder aesthetic.

Off Topic for Anna Chosak, Glad you have a friend's place to visit that gives you great feeling of place. Our friends claim to enjoy coming here.

Apparently you haven't endured my project in its evolution: a G-shaped working kitchen addition plus new front lobby with 8-foot closet plus new driveway and geothermal system and new siding and imminent landscaping and a lot of checks written on the home equity loan--for empty nesters, of all things. House cost us $20,500 in 1972 near St. Paul, MN. This is the third major revision of the place, originally built 1954 or 1952 depending on who you trust.
Wanna see the carnage? Flickr has the whole saga but will only show you the last 200 photos because I can't afford to pay for the balance of the stuff (including off topic stuff dealing with the watershed of our lake). Remember, I warned you--this might not be an efficient use of your time. In link below I plunk you into the functional kitchen as of last October. There is a lot more older stuff to the right and some newer stuff to the right. The long-suffering DH is the primary worker on all this but Drake the Wonder Lab is also a willing participant. No photos of actual money changing hands; I'll leave that to your imagination.

I apologize to all who have seen or read more than enough of the Florantha Mansion already. (And the terrible story of the hunter's wife and her ongoing revenges.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Florantha's Flickr Saga of kitchen part of project

Well, I asked SWMBO to go through a book of ''modern'' chairs - all sorts of chairs from roughly 1920-present, and mark which ones she would permit in the living room. One chair got marked. It was wood. It was fantastic. A replica would cost $5,000 if I could even find it. So much for Plan A.

Plan B is to brush the leather club armchairs with essence de tuna until the cats destroy them, then resolutely reject every replacement candidate until that Eames lounger (or carbon fiber racing bucket) comes along. Until then, we'd sit on milk crates or something.

I dunno, this may be too big of a battle to fight. It may be easier to just get a Ducati and sit on that. Plan D.

You know, the husband's Ducati was only $10,000 and he can take it out of the house for a spin if he's so inclined. Granted, it was hard to find the right wall color to go with the yellow but we persevered. ;)

Florantha - I loved your kitchen saga, and especially your pretty finished kitchen! The wall color, wood and granite are lovely together - and I bet Drake the Wonder Lab was a big help! Thaanks for posting - sal.

Johnliu,

I was thinking about your DSWMBO today. I was looking through a high end design magazine and was stunned at how few of the chairs looked like one could be happy sitting in them. I was helping a big guy buy small occasionally chairs for his living room a bit over a year ago. I made him sit test every option. He's never going to sit in the accent chairs, but it was important to me that he be able to!! There are lots of different sizes and shapes of chairs that make for good sitting. Some are very beautiful. Some are really ugly. But way way too many designer chairs are, um, interesting and painful looking!

One of the great things about Sam Maloof's chairs, besides the simplicity of form and exquisite craftsmanship, is that they're comfortable! Bare wood, but shaped well, so that a large variety of sitters can be at their ease.

I might be wrong, but since you've said your kitchen is very small, I'm extrapolating that your living space isn't vast. So, perhaps you don't have houseroom for "sculptural" chairs. The only time I've been tempted by that, they were Rauschenbergs and orders of magnitude away from anything I could have afforded even if I had the houseroom for them. Well, those, and the "arboreal" chair that later turned up in Lt. Worf's quarters. :) Those require extra tall ceilings. :)

So...how about sitting in a bunch of good looking chairs and see if you can agree on something nice that way?

O.T. SallySue, thanks for kind words. Just want to correct the record. Kitchen countertop is Ikea butcherblock and Formica 180FX.
Am trying to train the Wonder Lab with the command "Go Lobby!" to do his doggy stuff on the adjacent tile floor, not DH's precious wood floor, things like destroying yogurt containers and unwinding hide chews. He heeds pretty well now, but hates to leave area that has 3 heat vents.

O.T. JohnLiu, Here's your moment to be eclectic: each of you gets to choose half of the chairs. But you both must approve all chairs for comfort.
I hadn't realized until just now that our party mix of Mission chairs and Danish modern ones shown above qualifies as eclectic. It's not a mismatch it's a feature! I could even reupholster them all in same fabric since I have to pay someone to fix the broken ones anyway. (btw: At our place, dining table chairs have to be comfortable enough for 2-4 hrs sitting. Sometimes we have a 7th inning stretch though. Oh and they have to allow me to tuck my legs under me to perch when I get restless. And there have to be sturdy chairs for some large, very strong guests. Nothing delicate. Function over form is important in seating.)

OK, if I had any style, it would be Functional, or maybe Utilitarian. It requires going to several furniture stores and sitting in a lot of chairs. You buy the most comfortable ones. Hopefully they sort of go together. You can often order the upholstery so at least you can get coordinating colors.

Case in point...the dining room set. Would you rather have your guests sitting in comfortable chairs and enjoying the meal you just cooked for them, or have them squirm uncomfortably in the period chairs that match the rest of the house?

plllog et al, sorry I didn't come back to this thread right away - have been busy.

I agree, some of the most modern chairs are not comfortable. It seems to me that, in order to get the sculptural lines, the cushions are often over-firm. I'm thinking more of the classic 20's-40's designs with the names we all know - Eames, Breuer, Mies Van der Rohe, and so on.

I have a reasonable amount of space to work with. There are some pictures of the ground floor of my house at the end of the "Rest of the house" thread, for context. One issue is that the house is pretty much full-up with furnishings, so I'd need to kick out a piece - thus we get into the ''don't fix what isn't broke'' thing. SWMBO is a thrifty girl :-(

Perhaps I need to build out the basement, to get a room that needs furnishing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rest Of The House thread

Johnliu, had not seen your "rest of house" before this. I sure appreciate seeing your home context. Does Ms Deneuve know that you are a mere stuff-obsessed human like the rest of us or have you convinced her you are a disciplined superhuman decorator as well as cook? Not sure where that Eames stuff will go in your space. Yeah, you better head to the basement.

Are you the one who wanted a fleur de lis in kitchen? I can imagine that, esp in floor medallion.

Thanks to all posters. This thread is a good one for my current dilemmas. Went to look at upholstery for my eclectic dining chairs. Hard to decide how to match up that oriental rug with the two dissimilar but relatively modern chair sets. Do I go with an ironically formal woven-in black small print with mauve threads or practical salt and pepper (or maroon pepper) with a nap or ultrasuede solid greymauve? Lots of fun to think about. Do I want even more eclecticism (to reinforce room as an eccentric's hang-out, which is is) or should I keep focusing on the irony of formal room within a less formal house? And do I still want to haul around a small old tv and plunk it right on dining table occasionally or concede to inevitable and buy something with a flat screen to sit obnoxiously somewhere among the wonderful old and vintage stuff like a brooding black rectangle? In a couple years I hope to have the fireplace wall redone and can hide a modest t.v. inside some sort of larger context piece. TV will never reign in my dining room--that much I can assure myself. (The room has two side-by-side focal points already--fireplace and lake view. What kind of dope designed that room? A drunken committee of men, that's who.)
__

Going back to pitfalls (in title of thread) I'd say that a difficulty of eclectic decor is difficulty in deciding. I like that percentage ratio commentary in Palimpsest's posting above. Good to think about. I agree that there should not be a duel by two dominating styles. Another pitfall is that eclecticism is dependent on serendipity, whether that means an old family piece you just happened to inherit or a lucky find at a sale that becomes a centerpiece--the vintage range or the beat up rosemaled 18th century cabinet from Sweden (which I did not bid high enough on at auction, sigh) or the mint condition Ohio corner cabinet (ditto at auction) or an unusual new piece which you stumble upon and can afford. Scale is also important--not everything can be equally small or equally large. You need some little stuff that has counterpoint, something big that deserves attention, and a lot of in-between items with careful variation.

Eclectic style also needs some constants--color or texture or repeating elements with obvious sameness--and as noted by many above, some pieces that refuse to take center stage but are content to remain in the chorus.

Eclectic style may also employ variation for different usages--lighting is unlike rest of room OR seating OR rug OR artwork. (You could have 100% of the art be Rothko and the rest all be Elizabethan / Pilgrim if that's what you can carry off. But it's safer to pair Andrew Wyeth with Danish Modern or Shaker.)

Eclectic...hmmm, when I win the lottery I would love these Scott Morrison chair's. How or what would you mix with this pretty? The thing I love about these sorts of posts is learning about different designer's and furniture makers. In my google search images on the above mention of Sam Mallof I came across Morrison's chairs, love!

http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/?action=view¤t=scottmorrison.jpg"; target="_blank">

See, I can see that chair in john's house. Somewhere. Foyer maybe? Attic? Hatchback? I mean, it works with the style of the house.

BTW, it is transparently obvious that you need to buy that ginormous Aga at Green Demolitions ASAP and then around it build a craftsman Tudor arch niche like the one between your entry and LR.

What I really want to do is, furnish my living room and foyer like a cocktail lounge / jazz club. Club chairs in twos and threes, around small round tables, with shaded lights and deep shadows, Dusty Springfield on the hi-fi, and well-trained mute children serving drinks. I'm tired of the couch and armchairs around the fireplace thing.

Yeah, I had a college dorm room like that once. We refinished the '30s woodwork, believe it or not. Set up a lounge. Got some vintage shakers. Became a very, very comfortable place to sit and have a sip. Nearly ended in professional intervention, IIRC.

OT to florantha: your house is so charming! i love that the outside is red, and a very nice red it is. :)

OT to johnliu... i loved Rumpole, so "SWMBO" is fine by me. and you just keep goin' on, because i'm in the crowd who enjoys reading. :)

sorry i can't contribute to the topic, but i'm taking it in (without inhaling).

"What I really want to do is, furnish my living room and foyer like a cocktail lounge / jazz club. Club chairs in twos and threes, around small round tables, with shaded lights and deep shadows"

I was in a less hazy/jazzy version of that sort of room once, at a lake cabin -- a big dim room, cool after the bright summer sun outside. Four chairs around a table for cards here. Two chairs facing the lake there. A baby grand piano. Solo chairs with stacks of books at their feet. Floor lamps everywhere. And yes, two chairs by the fireplace. You had to weave to get across the room. It was wonderful. Thirty years later, I still remember it as one of the best rooms I've ever been in.

Here, by the way, is an example of an imperial Chinese desk that I LOVE because it is so over the top:

This desk would almost automatically have to be in an eclectic decor, because an entire room furnished like this would just be overwhelming.

OMG!!!!! Ideagirl, that is THE most over the top, well crafted kitsch I've ever seen!!! I love the bridge!! Absolutely to the eclectic decor, as in you'd need to dilute it. I think it would be great with some angular, chromed out MCMly rigid leather slings and outrageous arrows.

John said, What I really want to do is, furnish my living room and foyer like a cocktail lounge / jazz club. Club chairs in twos and threes, around small round tables, with shaded lights and deep shadows, Dusty Springfield on the hi-fi, and well-trained mute children serving drinks. I'm tired of the couch and armchairs around the fireplace thing.

I totally get that! I think I went to college with Marcolo's West Coast counterpart. Have to say, however, that the current living room furniture in the picture goes rather perfectly with the elephant columns and craftsman built-ins. I know many people who try to achieve that kind of look in similar houses and get the proportions all wrong and it doesn't work. Yours does.

Children who make airplanes and death stars are more interesting than mute serving shrimps too. :)

Eames chairs are pretty uncomfortable too.

How about adding in exquisite pieces as you find them, on the basis of their artistic contribution to the house, and redo the rest when you have them all collected? By then, the noisy, messy children will be grown up and away, so you can have your perfect lounge in between visits from the grandchildren.

I can imagine Hello Kitty walking across the little bridge on that desk.

I can imagine Hello Kitty walking across the little bridge on that desk.

Yeah, yeah! But to be authentic, it would need to be the Hello Kitty dressed in traditional Chinese wedding outfits (see link).

Or if we were going to be eclectic, maybe Japanese anime figures. Maybe Princess Mononoke and her weird little forest creatures.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chinese wedding Hello Kitty

I love eclectic decor I think there are so many great pieces from all different eras and it is hard, for me at least, to pick one and stick with it. Then again, I don't have a favorite color or song because I like all colors and I listen to all genres of music and there are just to many to pick a favorite.

That being said this is my take on how I would use A,B,C,D, and E in a room. A and E would need to be canvas art, C would need to be a complete piece of furniture not just a top, and the room would be open concept where you can see the living room and dining room from the foyer and all the walls would be white. I would take D and hang it in the foyer either horizontally or vertically depending on the wall space and put underneath it a leggy piece of painted furniture. B would be in the living room paired with mid century modern furniture. I would put C in the dining room as the buffet with a glass table so they wouldn't compete with each other. A and E I would hang on the wall with other architectural canvas art. I am not sure I would put any wood tones in the room other than the floor because all the pieces read cold to me and stick with gray, black, and white as the colors.