It’s time to wrap up our series on merging styles. In order to keep him happy, her happy and the designer in you happy, it’s important to find colors, styles and textures that everyone likes and transition them between spaces.
Shapes are another element of merging and transitioning. You want to keep clean lines from one space to the next if you have lots of squares and angles. Also keep organic fluidity if you have lots of curves in walls and columns.
Of course, you always can juxtapose a different shape here and there to add contrast. But when a form or angle is repeated in a space, your eye may not pick up on it right away, but the overall effect makes the space feel cohesive.
From these photos of my clients’ home in Hawaii Kai, you can see how the table bases in the family room and dining room tie together. Their tops are very different, but the chrome X-shapes in the bases give both spaces a modern feel that connects the two rooms.
Even the rugs underneath the tables have the same linear movement in their grain. In both cases, the clean lines both complement the tables and let the chrome X-shapes pop.
All in all, we were able to merge his and her styles: a contemporary, elegant feel in the dining room for her, and more casual and beachy for him.
That’s all you need to keep in mind when you merge styles — a meeting of minds, attention to detail and a bit of compromise once in a while.
Cathy Lee is a home style expert, speaker, president and designer of Cathy Lee Style. Visit www.cathyleestyle.com and her photo blog, Homefront.