Learn How to Mix Patterns - Mixing patterns is easy, but making it look good can be a challenge. Follow these easy tips to give yr home a stylish look

Anchor the Color Scheme

Start with one pattern and pull all the room's accent colors from it. In this room, the master pattern is on the area rug and its stripes provide the palette: orange for the chairs and banquette pillows, green for the walls and window treatments, and blue for the dishware.

Give Eyes a Break

Add white to a room with multiple patterns. White gives eyes a place to rest and highlights the patterns by separating one from another. The white sofa and accents help the cushion, throw pillows, wall, and floor patterns pop.

Mix Types of Patterns

Cottage style has quintessential patterns that help define it. Choose three to mix within a room to create a look you'll love. Plaid seat cushions, a toile Roman shade, and a country French floral on the lampshades create a playful cottage look in this dining room.

Play with Pattern Size

A good mix should include small-, medium-, and large-scale patterns. In this master bedroom, the largest pattern is on the window panels. Smaller-scale patterns cover the accent pillows. To help the pillows and window treatments coordinate, each fabric has white or black in the pattern.

Use Coordinating Colors

An easy way to ensure your patterns will mix is to choose coordinating colors. Red and green are complementary colors because they are directly across from each other on the color wheel, but moving down one tint to pink adds a fun twist to this color palette. Yellow and green mix nicely because they share a common hue. Mixing solids and patterns in pink, green, and yellow creates a pleasing color scheme.

Use Shades and Tints

There's no need to worry about matching when using various shades of a single color. In this living room, the color palette goes from black to white, and uses colors in between. The black portiere, antique statues, gray area rug, and white table lamps round out the color range.

Vary the Scale

Mix and match small and large patterns. Here, the bold flowers on the window shade are a playful contrast to the small stripes of the table runner. These patterns also work well together because both fabrics have the same color palette.

Color Plus White

The easiest way to mix patterns is to stick to one color plus white. The striped panels, floral chair fabric, and geometric floor pillow all stick to the blue-and-white color scheme.