At East & Gray Interiors, we feel that there’s nothing more *yawn* than an all white or gray home interior. While whitewashed walls and minimal color palettes have become popular over the last decade, we can’t help but feel unimpressed. To us, a beautifully designed home feels a touch unexpected, and surprising in all the right ways, which is why we LOVE a pattern-filled living room.
Mixing patterns together always leads to a memorable design, but it can feel a bit overwhelming to a beginner. We’ve created a shoppable, patterned-filled living room below to help inspire you to mix things up in your home design.
Keep reading for a few helpful tips for mixing patterns together in a room, plus links to all of the pieces seen below!
Geometric Art | Sofa | Chairs | Rug | Leather Ottoman | Brass Side Tables | Lamps | Mustard Throw Pillow | Green Throw Pillow | Black & White Throw Pillow | Table Plant | Floor Plant | Black & White Jar
Find Your Base Piece
Our top tip for achieving a cohesive pattern-filled living room is to find a piece to use as a guide. That could be a favorite painting, a detailed rug, or an accent chair with a pattern you love. When adding additional pieces to the room, see if you can pull shades or elements from this base item to tie everything together.
For example, the living room above features a detailed rug with many colors. Use the colors in the rug to pull shades for accent pieces in the room. The leather ottoman helps to pull out the auburn colors in the rug, the throw pillows are in shades that can be found in the rug, etc.
Know What Does & Doesn’t Work
Certain patterns are considered “neutral” and can go with almost anything. Generally, this includes pinstripe, most finely knit weaves, and natural elements like marble or stone. Conversely, multiple items featuring the same type of pattern can feel confusing to the eye, so steer clear of overdoing one type.
The living room above features a timeless pinstripe sofa, which functions as a neutral piece. The whites from the sofa stripes are accentuated by the white lamps and checkered accent chairs, tying all of these pieces together.
Lean Into Contrast
Large patterns pair well with smaller patterns, because it provides a nice sense of contrast and keeps things from feeling top-heavy.
The sofa features wide stripes, and the throw pillows feature tightly woven, smaller patterns which helps keep things from clashing. In addition, the woven leather ottoman provides a material contrast from the upholstered sofa and woven accent chairs.
Look For Balance
Look around the room to ensure there aren’t blocks of colors grouping into a certain area. The eye should move naturally around the room rather than settling in one place. A well balanced room will feel evenly dispersed in color, pattern and size of objects.
The black and white chairs in our pattern filled living room are positioned across from the black and white geometric artwork, providing a balance of color on each side. Another simple way to balance a room is to place plants in opposite corners—bonus points for having plants of varying sizes and shapes.
Go Green: Plants are always a good idea! Luckily, plants are extremely versatile, so don’t worry too much about whether certain plants will “go” with your design. Simply choose ones that you love! For inspiration, check out our interior designer-approved guide to houseplants.
Need some expert help mixing and layering patterns together in your own home? Book a complimentary Discovery Call to learn how we can help!
