For me the architecture and the interior design go hand in hand...to a point. There are many styles which can be incorporated beautifully with one another. However, this isn't answering your question. If my style is very traditional, I wouldn't be attracted to a modern all glass house in the first place.

In one of my internet travels today I saw a very traditional, formal room with an antique French Provincial dining table with ghost chairs. It was a fabulous look.

I'm rambling...maybe what is primary is the talent of the person decorating the house. Good taste can make anything work.

Enjoy this article.

https://blog.modsy.com/home-design-tips-guides/tips-guides/combine-modern-traditional-furniture/

Very nice article. Thanks for sharing!

You can absolutely mix antique and modern, but I think it takes really special pieces and a talented decorator to do it well.

I noticed it's way easier to take an old home and let either modern or antique/traditional furniture dominate. Or a combo of both:

What's really challenging is adding antiques to modern surroundings. So difficult, I fail to even find any good examples of it right now. I know it when I see it, but it's rare. Most of the time it winds up looking like this horror show:

If you listen and observe a house and its rooms it will tell you what it wants to be and not what you want to force it to be.

Mix and match as you like. Just don't do anything too visually offensive to the exterior that will pain your neighbors when looking out the window.

Holding on to the idea that modern architecture and florals (or any other combo) can’t exist peacefully together or are in opposition to each other is a fallacy to begin with because no one style exists in a void, they have all bubbled up out of another style. You can’t understand what a curve is without also understanding what a straight line is. Related yet very different, and having both in a single space doesn’t diminish the subtlety of one or the austerity of the other, they compliment each other.

I guess the 'work' is to educate? If you go with their wishes it's pretty certain once finished they will be unhappy, fairly quickly and then GET IT. But the only way for the client to comprehend your dilemma might just be to have them spend the money. Too bad your name will be on it--and friends will blame YOU no doubt (bad decorator) but if you are lucky they will give the re-do to you too.

It's usually very, very edited when well done. ........a standout piece, or high quality.........and often both. Purposeful............if you will. Not haphazard.

Millions of Parisian apartments ( images ) with mid cen furniture, art etc exist. The reverse is harder to find. Or find well done.

And floral ? fresh as a brand new day........

I can't think of a mid cen leaning client who would let me do it.

not even in a bedroom..

Answer would be " Too pretty for me" . Pretty being a distasteful word lol

I have never believed the interior needs to match the exterior in style but it needs a good designer to pull off either direction. I think staying true to the neighborhood is probably a good idea with the exterior and our lasthouse was built in 1905 we did very little to disrupt the exterior but the interior we actually added back the trim that had been removed in the 60s kept the beutiful coved ceiling in the LR/ DR where we had removed a wall and then decorated in very contemporary style . The kitchen we did very contemporay since it had no redeeming qualities that worked for our life. I have seen many contemporary loft apartments with beautiful antiques just needs a gentle hand to do well

I’m really asking for myself - I have a MCM home, but I don’t like MCM sofas, for example. In fact, I don’t like a sofa on legs. I like it to appear solid and ready for impact! I prefer skirted sofas. Love a skirted sofa! But in a room like this???

I did put in a modern kitchen, bc - once again - I felt it was appropriate for the house. Do I like modern kitchens? Sure, but not as much as I love Christopher Peacock kitchens lol. Anyways, I’m here in this modern home, trying to make it mine while also listening to the house, and to the site, and all the things.

Many people grow very attached to some pieces of furniture. Traditional china cabinets come to mind. Not everyone wants to throw out their furniture when they have to move cross country every few years and buy a house in whatever style is or was popular in that area. Keep what you love if it fits your new life.

I would say that within the contexts of something being proper scale for the environment, and in most ordinary houses which are not dictatorial (like Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are), my rule of thumb is that if you can carry it in and carry it out and it's not nailed to the structure, you can probably make it work. The problem with Victorian and Edwardian furniture and modern houses is usually one of scale, so it's not so much that it overwhelms the modern house by its design as it does by it's size. Even Fallingwater has 19th c. Italian peasant chairs at the dining table. Wright hated them because he didn't design them but they don't look terrible in the house.

I was wondering why you bought the house until you posted the picture showing the view. :-) Maybe a skirted sofa with square instead of round arms? Let the view be the focal point and stay with a neutral color palette? I'm not a pro, so I'm winging it!

"I’m really asking for myself - I have a MCM home, but I don’t like MCM sofas, for example. In fact, I don’t like a sofa on legs. I like it to appear solid and ready for impact! I prefer skirted sofas. Love a skirted sofa! But in a room like this???"

LOTS of sofas are transitional enough , neither too modern or traditional, nor leggy...... and even skirted. or not. but planted

@SeattleMCM, would you mind explaining more what makes your 2nd example a "horror show"? I enjoy learning so much from these discussion boards. I do think that room looks wrong but I don't know exactly why.

I'd love to hear anyone's comments on it.

I have a modern house and I use primitive antiques and it works well.

I think decorating has become more like fashion. Things go in and out of style periodically - not instantly but fairly quickly. Will french and floral look old and dated in a few years to the person who loves it today? I say yes. Otherwise why do we opine on Houzz? Why do we need kitchen islands? ETC, ETC.

thanks for posting the gorgeous photos if your living room. i dont think tradional would be out of place but it depends what type of sofas you like. could see some slipcovered on hardwood floors and shiplap walls working well here. maybe give the group an idea of sofas you lean toward?

but you must paint, and if within budget put in wood floors imo. carpet gives with mid century in my mind but overall cant imagine it with traditional sofas

Jessica, yes it now has the same hardwood as the rest of the downstairs. And I was thinking the Miramar soda from Serena and Lily.

I have a bar at one end.

Someone asked..........

"would you mind explaining more what makes your 2nd example a "horror show"? I enjoy learning so much from these discussion boards. I do think that room looks wrong but I don't know exactly why.

I'd love to hear anyone's comments on it.

It IS hard to explain. . I'd add this chair to this room in a split second. ........a fine old antique.

What feels off about the "horror"? Despite the unity of white.....There's too MUCH" of the reproduction old. Perhaps an unexpected fabric, a print may have allowed either chair or sofa to work. But the room looks as if someone said, Tough! This is what I have and I'm using it. As to just above? I could love a really beat cigar chair.....

In a much earlier career of mine ? ( Fashion ) We had a joke...."Does this work ? These boots with this skirt?" Yes........if you PAID enough !!! For the boots : ) "

So, to a degree? Pedigree matters. Editing matters, Juxtapositions are positively wonderful, mish mash not so much. There comes an "it" factor to the room, just as you know it when you see that "it" on a woman. You only need to know when it feels very right, Wrong is easy to spot. When right? It's like giving a room a soul. : )

Actually I think the problem with the "horror show" is that it is a lie, somehow. There is an implied narrative of the accumulation or inheritance of antiques combined with living in a rental or a condo, so they are just "making do" in an Instagram-able fashion. Or that they are performing an extreme reduction of the apartment to a minimalist stage set in order to place these fine antiques into a museum-like setting. It's just not genuine, somehow.

You could do that sofa in a contemprary or a tradional room. I could see, espec especially with a wall of books and a traditional mirror with a grand vase of flowers in front of it. those items are timeless. (or large floral art as your center piece.

Maybe tall floor length drapes to soften the corners of the window.

A good example of the regional modern house filled with antiques, in my opinion, is the Vanna Venturi house. There can be a lot of discussion about what this house actually *is*: it is called the first Post-Modern house, but Bob Venturi hated the term. He thought of it more as "anti-modern" and I think he was equating "Modern" = "International Style - Bauhaus". Anyway it's not a traditional house, it essentially a contemporary house. And for the most part Vanna just moved in with her existing furniture, and the only other things in these photos are some furnishings designed by Bob and Denise Scott-Brown, mostly for Knoll Int'l, the most recognizable being the Sheraton chair next to the fireplace.

Like the house or hate it, like the way it's decorated or hate it, this is a completely organic and intuitive way to "decorate". These pictures are from more than one time period.

Another example of older furniture and collections in a contemporary setting

This was my LR some years ago, in an 1840 house with fairly intact architecture, and a mix of mostly modern furniture

@SeattleMCM, would you mind explaining more what makes your 2nd example a "horror show"?

Way too much white and completely lacking in imagination. It just looks like somebody bought a brand new condo, decided not to paint, and just shoved their existing furniture into it without thinking about it at all. There's barely any art. The lamps are wrong (kind of 90s looking). The layout is weird -- why did they put a sofa with a dining set?

As for your MCM home: you definitely don't need to put spindly, atomic looking furniture in it. Take a look at just about any of the modern stores, and you will see that softer sofas and chairs are actually very trendy right now.

This is Room and Board:

If you have a MCM house and you want to mix in french antiques and florals, I strongly suggest you hire a designer. It sounds like quite a challenge.

I could see a room like this below looking good with a smattering of french antiques or a floral accents, as long as it was done sparingly.

(this pic is also from Room and Board.)

Depends on the neighborhood. Your Frank Gehry lead 'n glass vision has no place in an historic neighborhood.

Appreciated all of the insights offered about the "horror show" photo. Very interesting!

Personally I don't mind it when house styles are mixed when it comes to older neighborhoods. My area is a decent collection of early 1900s, MCM, box moderns, and a few boring styles in between. I honestly enjoy the diversity. The only time I get angry about a house standing out is if it's due to total neglect.

The real sadness of SeatleMCM's "horror show" is the way it looks like grandma's assisted living condo. Whatever accumulated furniture she can fit into a space she settled for, not chose. That time will come for us all, but I'm sure going to avoid that look before I'm forced into it.

eh, it doesn't make me sad. the person who owns a condo like that either thinks it looks great, or keeping that furniture is the top priority. either way, nothing to feel sorry for.

I feel like the condo decor was a series of very deliberate choices that was probably expensive to execute. The most obvious bit is the fully integrated fridge.

The less obvious bit is that it is difficult to achieve that almost dimensionless flat whiteness. Mariette Himes Gomez (who actually decorates with a fair amount of color) talked about achieving this very white box effect that she does for the room itself and it often requires a slightly different shade of white on each wall and the ceiling to get that flatness. I am not saying that the condo is that exact effect or that it required whatever MHG's for achieving it is, but getting it all as "white" as it is with multiple materials and finishes is no easy task.

As for the effect of one house on the neighbor's and so forth, it depends on the neighborhood. I prefer eclectic, organically developed neighborhoods over the uniformity of the suburbs. Actually I think it is the Scale discrepancies that create problems. My neighborhood has everything from the late 18th c. to (mostly) 19th c. to post 2000, and the houses that fit in the least are the post 2000, mostly because they Loom over most of the other houses right around them. As post millennial houses go they aren't bad looking, they are just too overscaled. There are much uglier houses (mid-80s) right behind them which are less noticeable in the overall context because they are sized better for the environs.

I think that the homeowner's true style is most important.  I would not feel comfortable and relaxed in a home that did not have my style.

I think that what it needs is an medium or dark oriental rug and a picasso print to liven it up.

This may be veering off course but I think the comment that Joseph Corlett made about Frank Gehry does bring up a point, because for houses like that integration into the neighborhood is not what they want to do, and what do you do, if in an otherwise ordinary neighborhood (like not Trousdale Estates but Pittsburgh) if there is more than one?

This house ( Venturi's Abrams House )- also note the reflection of the Tudoresque house in the window.

And this house (Richard Meier's Giovanetti House)

Were next door neighbors.

And the owners of the Richard Meier bought the Venturi so they could tear it down and expand the Giovanetti house in Richard Meier fashion into the other lot. Lots of discussion about architectural merit and which had more. Lots of discussion that the Venturi was in terrible condition anyway and to "restore" it would be $$$. Discussion that ignored that the Meier is not in the best of shape and building more Richard Meier would hardly be low budge compared to fixing the Venturi.

The other issue with the Abrams House is that it had a Roy Lichtenstein attached to the framing in the LR. The historic designation bid was rejected so I believe it has been demolished.

Like the Spaceship house by Bart Prince. It's in a quaint old neighborhood in Albuquerque, near the university. Most of the homes surrounding it are early 1900s stucco bungalows. Yes, it stands out but most people I know really love it (including myself).

There's a newer addition on the back side: