Harmonising Different Aesthetics in Your Home
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Harmonising Different Aesthetics in Your Home
The unprecedented influx of gorgeous, impeccably-detailed home and interior design imagery on the internet makes it seem straightforward, even easy, to style and decorate one’s home eclectically. With tens of thousands of Pinterest pages of perfectly designed homes both past and present, there’s even more interest and excitement for creating a truly personalized and unique space. But what those images (both the real ones and AI-generated) don’t tell you, is how to begin! And we know that it can be overwhelming to begin styling your space especially if you’re a fan of vintage and various aesthetics, or have limited resources or access to specific home furnishings. But utilizing a few core principles can help you transform any space in your home into something stylish, distinctive, and unequivocally YOU.
Oftentimes it can seem limiting to choose and stick to one singular, cohesive design theme. In fact there’s several home styling tips and tricks to pulling inspiration from different aesthetics that will still look harmonious together in a room. Take for instance Chinoiserie, a pairing of French Baroque and Sinospheric art styles Orientalism, which was à la mode and sought-after due to its exclusivity and sophistication (only the rich could afford bringing in furniture from Asia), but it works well together because of the basic design principles found in interior design. There is another identifiable design style called Japandi, which combines styles of both Japanese and Scandinavian/mid-century modern design, where once again, basic design principles are respected. We want to search for balance in colour, shapes, pattern, and texture. These two geographically diverse decor styles work well together because they both emphasize angular, streamlined shapes, natural woods and neutral tones, and an emphasis on simplified, peaceful environments. While these regions and cultural aesthetics utilize different patterns and subject matter at times, the vibe and feeling they produce is both one of calmness and serenity.
In the moodboard below we are using the Hilary Jane designed “Adalie Jay” retro wallpaper to set the tone for this imagined space. Drawing from both the muted color palette of the wallpaper, as well as the repeating floral pattern, we can source and select a variety of furnishings and other decorative elements to make a cohesive, intentional design. Since the wallpaper is darker in hue, we wanted to add some brighter elements to lighten the space. By honing in on those chartreuse and coral pops of color in the wallpaper, we can find pieces that reflect that palette. Other art pieces, patterned pillows and linens, or small decor pieces like lamps and vases in these brighter colors will create a playful reflective rhythm with the bold wallpaper.
Whether you’re looking to design room-by-room, or your entire home at once, there’s a few preliminary decisions to be made. Perhaps most importantly is what kind of energy and feeling you want this space to evoke. You may want a muted bedroom space that is cozy and peaceful, or a kitchen that is bright and energetic. Assessing what you want from the space is an essential first step, and take the time to notice what recurring elements draw you to the online images you find yourself inspired by. Whether it’s a color, recurring texture, or a specific furniture/decor piece, identify what is essential to you for this space. Sometimes it can be fun to create a name or title that sets the vibe for the space you’re creating. This fictional space we’ve created might be called “Japanese Garden Parlour.”
shop the look :
Roma sofa by Urban Outfitters / lamp by Wayfair / Poppy Chair by Deya / stool by Stuart Scott / wallpaper by Hilary Jane Home / fabric by Robert Allen
Once you’ve identified the intention and essentials for the space, start with a focal point. Maybe that’s a sentimental family heirloom, a patterned statement wallpaper, or an antique piece of furniture that really sets the tone of the room you want to create. From there, apply those principles of design we mentioned when considering each piece to build out from there. In this example with the “Adalie Jay” wallpaper as our starting piece, we can extract the colour palette of olive greens, chartreuse, corals, and rich wood tones and pull those into the sofa and sideboard table. While keeping to clean, repeating patterns and shapes, the small stool, chair, and even the underside of the sofa have similar wavy shapes reflecting the florals in the wallpaper, yet all in the same wood tone and finish.
“The key to mixing patterns is to regard the size of the patterns you’re layering and the main colours used. ”
When selecting items within a colour palette, particularly if you're sourcing vintage home decor or secondhand furniture, colours don’t need to match perfectly, in fact many times they can’t! But keep your tones in the same range, i.e. warm or cool. You can see in the moodboard we pull more from the coral and yellow-undertones in the wallpaper, rather than veering into the cooler shades of this palette like emerald, teal, or burgundy. This can work with finishes as well, like lacquered ceramics, or sanded wood finishes.
Pattern-mixing can be a tricky component of styling, but particularly in maximalism or when alternatively sourcing vintage decor, mixing patterns cohesively is a key component to adding layers and dimension to a space. A bold, ornately patterned piece like a vintage floral sofa or a highly detailed wallpaper doesn’t need to be surrounded with exclusively solid colours. The key to mixing patterns is to regard the size of the patterns you’re layering and the main colours used.
When creating a gallery wall or hanging art over a patterned wallpaper, use opposing and contrasting sizes so that each piece is clear and distinctive. For our “Adalie Jay” wallpaper, which has a medium sized floral print and darker color palette, breaking it up with lighter colored or gold frames, solid colored artworks with a perceptive texture, or large images on a neutral background (perhaps one of our printed on canvas wall hangings!).
Of course these are just a few of our personal home styling and vintage home decorating tips when it comes to creating and curating a highly stylized, yet cohesive space. Other designers may suggest to throw in all sorts of different wood tones and eclectic pairings, which is totally great! But these general rules of thumb are how Hilary Jane has created her distinctive style; a well balanced rhythm of light and dark, harmonious and simple colour palettes.
Adalie Jay - available in two colour-ways
The Hilary Jane collections clearly derive inspiration from vintage design, but we also have a passion for utilizing antique decor in both our personal homes and professional photoshoots!
It can be a useful skill to source antiques and secondhand pieces, and then be able to cohesively design them with more of your big box store collections,especially if you are striving to be responsible with your purchases. And when buying new pieces for your home, take into consideration organic materials, business practices, and quality assurances. Seeking out ethically crafted decor pieces ensures their sustainability in your home, as well as supporting environmentally-supportive businesses.
Brie Roche-Lilliott & Hilary Jane