Gannett News Service
Frank Springer, founding president of the Contemporary Art Society of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, displays his modern art collection in his home with antique furniture.

Gannett News Service
Springer is reflected in a full-length gold leaf mirror in his dining room.

Contrasting styles, colors can thrive side by side

COURTENAY EDELHART, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

Originally published Saturday, March 30, 2002

Frank Springer has collected modern art since the 1950s. His contemporary Indiana home is packed with abstract paintings and geometric sculptures of wood and polished steel.

That's no surprise, considering Springer's background. You'd expect the founding president of the Indianapolis Museum of Art's Contemporary Art Society to own such pieces. What's a little less anticipated is the way they're displayed -- alongside antiques such as a 16th-century American buffet and sleek red chairs from the 1960s.

There doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason to the odd mix of furniture and accessories in the Springer home, which is just how adherents of eclectic home design like it.

"I don't believe everything in a house has to match perfectly," says Springer. "We always just bought what we liked."

Sharply contrasting styles, periods and colors can thrive side by side if you put a little thought into how they're assembled, according to designers who like to mix and match.

A unifying theme

"It's like cooking with a lot of ingredients. It gives a home more flavor," says interior decorator Susan Zises Green, whose work has appeared in House Beautiful and Architectural Digest.

The trick is to find some unifying element or common theme to bring everything together.

Zises Green's New York home uses color as the common denominator between a floral couch and plaid pillows, both of which are heavily pink and green. Other patterns in the mix include a white shabby-chic chair and two other florals on a rug and an upholstered coffee table.

Scale is another way to play down severely contrasting fabrics.

"You shouldn't put large florals with large stripes," says Kitty Bartholomew, host of "You're Home" on cable television's HGTV. One pattern should be large and dominant, and the rest should back up but not compete with the star.

Plants and textures

Bartholomew also uses greenery to break up a busy space and make it more intimate. Potted plants and small trees can soften the overall look of rooms that seem headed in many directions, she says.

Texture also can unite disparate items in a room, says Vicki Ingham, author of "Flea Market Decorating" (Better Homes & Gardens, $34.95).

"I like worn leathers, rusty things, weathered wood with peely paint," Ingham says. The rustic quality of many of her pieces helps them blend even though they're all very different, she says.

Conversely, varied textures can add interest to monochromatic rooms. A mohair throw, linen lampshade and Berber carpet may be the same color, but their contrasting surfaces break the monotony.

If you're really at a loss for a common theme in an eclectic room, don't panic. Sometimes it's right under your nose.

Often, the very fact that you're attracted to a set of pieces will cause a theme to emerge. You might find, for instance, that you like graceful curves, whether they're on flea-market kitsch, contemporary steel and chrome or valuable antiques.

"Your personal style is going to come through, no matter what you're working with," Ingham says. "Just look for what appeals to you, what you're drawn to. You'll find certain trends keep popping up."

Piccola Doggett, 53, of Columbus, Ind., did that with her new and antique furniture.

"For me, it's choosing things that are comfortable and functional," she says. "If it serves a purpose, it just seems to work no matter what I put with it."

The only hard, fast rule to eclectic design is to be "totally fearless," Zises Green says. "You have to charge right in and have the courage of your convictions."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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