Most people end up having a lot of different furniture styles in their home.
Pieces passed on from generation to generation in their family, a table or random lamp found at a garage sale, and maybe a special piece or two from a dumpster dive.
How can you combine all these different pieces in a harmonious way to create a unified and stylish look in your home? A beautiful space is created through its balance and harmony and not the amount of money you spend on the pieces in the room.
Though it important that the finishes in a room and the furnishings should relate to one another, they don't have to necessarily have the same price.
One very expensive piece can be complemented by several inexpensive ones.
With a little bit of creativity, you can design a whole room around one expensive & elegant piece quite effectively.
If items are too similar then people usually start to compare them and in that instance even nice inexpensive items can began to look cheap.
Two simple rules to keep in mind when combining old and new is that you should either keep things simple or you should go funky.
We naturally tend to associate things that are simple and have clean lines with being modern and by extension we associate something being modern with it being expensive.
If you decide to go funky you need to remember that it should be done sparingly.
A well chosen funky piece of decor will speak for itself and no doubt bring to mind thoughts of exotic locales and foreign markets in the mind of visitors.
An exotic item of foreign origin can add some color and spice to a room but if you start putting it everywhere it makes the room look cluttered.
Combining antiques and modern pieces can be used to create a very chic trendy bohemian feel to a space.
The contrast between the flaws in the antique and the perfect, clean lines of the modern piece can really add character to a room.
A nice piece of furniture can sometimes combine these two factors in a very eye-catching manner.
Consider checking out IKEA and similar stores for pieces that pull from the best of both worlds, the modern and the antique.
For example IKEA offers inexpensive tables that can be customized with your choice of made-to-order stone tops.
This small bit of customization gives the piece a more expensive look and can be accented nicely with several smaller inexpensive pieces.
You may want to consider picking only a few pieces from a variety of stores so that you won't make a room feel stagnant by only decorating it with one look.
Mixing, matching, and shopping around are all keys to making a room look as if it were expensively decorated even if it wasn't.
You can make any antique or discount decor look like a designer brought it straight from New York City if you know how to put everything together.
Include a beautiful area rug that complements your existing furnishings.
If you are going for the antique shabby chic look, purchase an area rug that has an antique feel.
Old oriental styles are perfect for rooms that are using antiques.
Browse area rugs online to get an idea of the many styles available and invest in a great area rug that will bring your whole decorating scheme together with one cohesive piece.