Some of us like designing our homes in a traditional setup which means everything heavy and bold while some of us love modern setup and then there are people who loves both. So for the third category of people there is a need to mix both of these styles in order to achieve one style which has little bit of both the styles without going overboard or making the space look cluttered.
Some of you can even confuse this style with contemporary which also means mixing up several styles but when you mix little bit of modern and traditional both in one design you will just have elements of only these two at your place . You can also divide the ratio between both the styles keeping a 50:50 or 60:40 as per your choice. You can either decide the areas or divide the two styles like a traditional living room but a modern bedroom. Let us see some of the ideas and ways below how can we achieve this mix and match style:-
1. Unity of Colors
One of the simplest ways to mix two styles is by uniting their colors. Like in traditional style you have multiple patterns, bold accent and bright colors so you can offset them with neutrals to keep the feel of modern as well. For e.g. you can paint the accent wall with a darker and warmer color an in the same color family but in lighter tone you can paint the other walls.
2. Furniture
Traditional style have heavy furniture be it in colors or ornamentation and contrasting to it modern has light and neutral furniture only the amount which is needed so combining both of these can be a task . Some of the ways in which you can achieve this are:-
- If you are placing a having sofa set like in a traditional style heavy, bouncy and comforting try to keep it in a lighter shade so that you will achieve the comfort of a traditional sofa but at the same time the color of modern. You can even place a perfect traditional sofa with a modern statement couch in front.
- Storage furniture’s can also be combined with both styles like you can put a traditional ORNATE CHEST but on top of it you can put a TASK LAMP.
- In the bedroom for e.g you can paint the walls in neutrals just like modern design and keep a traditional bed and wardrobe.
3. Accessories
Accessorizing plays a major role when you are trying to mix and match an there is no limit in this as there can be a lot of ways to achieve this like:-
- In a living room you can keep all white tone modern furniture but below all of these furniture’s you can keep a warm patterned rug which will have a lot of character like in traditional design.
- Just like traditional design you can keep a lot of vintage items and accessories in the house you can keep a simple and light piece of furniture and over it you can place a vintage lamp.
- On to a grey or white wall you can install a dramatic colored painting which speaks a lot of history.
- You can also use such frames on to the wall which has modern pictures but vintage decorative frames.
- You can also play with drapes , like instead of adding heavy and warm drapes you can use light and white color of curtains which let in a lot sunlight into the house though you can make a bold and metallic window frame.
- One more thing which you should keep in mind is the FABRIC in traditional style there is a lot of use of heavy velvets, corduroy material but in modern there is a use of lighter materials like linen, cotton etc. So you can mix and match both of these materials as well.
4. Bathroom
In the bathrooms you have a lot of chance to be creative like you can paint it all white and use lot bold metallic fixtures; you can also use patterned curtains like in traditional design. You can use a bold bath- tub or use heavy flooring like wooden or Moroccan tiles which contrast to the simple white walls. You can also add a lot of plants as modern design today include a lot of greenery.
5. Staircase
Traditional design have very dramatic staircases like they are curved have wooden and metallic handrails or even a lot of use of wrought iron , while modern staircases are plain and simple the handrails are mostly mix up of stainless steel , light wood and majorly glass. In traditional style there is also a lot of use of stone, marble and heavy wood on the stairs while in modern you can simply use light wood and tiles.
You need to work in such a way that the charm of both the styles is well maintained. While mixing none of the style should be left out both should stand out equally and given equal importance.
– Asmita Madan
