Eclectic Style In the Home and How It Will Keep the Design Looking Current
People always ask me how to keep their spaces from getting outdated too quickly. My answer is that incorporating eclectic style in the home will keep it looking current for a longer period of time. So, what is eclectic style? Eclectic style in interior design incorporates a mix of different styles and periods, but it isn’t just a random mish-mosh. An eclectic space should have a nice balance of color, texture, and proportion, but should also look effortless. Contrary to what some may think, achieving the right balance isn’t always as easy as it may seem, so that is why people pay interior designers like myself to do it for them.
Eclectic Style at the 2017 Pasadena Showcase House
This year I will be designing the Upstairs Guest Bedroom for the 2017 Pasadena Showcase House, a 1916 English Tudor and the perfect opportunity to showcase eclectic style. Pasadena is known for its eclectic mix of architectural styles, ranging from craftsmen to midcentury modern, and everything in between. When designing a space in an older home, I always look to the architectural style of the home and the surrounding garden, for inspiration. I am a firm believer of preserving the city’s architectural history, and to me that means respecting the architecture of the home by using the details seen in the home as a starting point when designing. Oftentimes I’ll take a classical style that is done in modern materialsso that it has one foot in the past while the other in the present.
Restoring the Guest Bedroom at the 2017 Pasadena Showcase House
Except for the beautiful leaded glass windows, the guest bedroom was rather non-descript when we took possession of the room in late January, which left us with a blank slate. It may look fairly simple from this photo, but not everything is what it seems. In fact, we were challenged with painted over grass cloth and several hairline cracks in the ceiling.
When we finally stripped the painted over grasscloth, we were greeted with lots of lumps and bumps in the wall. It’s amazing how many times you can move sconces on the wall over the course of 100 years.
And of course, prep work on walls that are over 100 years does not get done overnight, especially if you are going to do it right. We even opted to remove the servant’s bell so that we could strip the paint, restore it to its original condition, and offer a glimpse of the home’s past.
You’ll have to come see the Pasadena Showcase House in April once it opens, to see what the servant’s bell looks like now as well as to see the transformation that has taken place since these photos were taken!
The Advantages of Incorporating Eclectic Style Into One’s Home
The biggest advantage of eclectic style is that the design will remain current much longer than a space utilizing a single style and period. Mixing styles and periods enables a constant evolution of style where furniture and accessories are rotated in and out, leaving little time to grow tired of the space. In my room for the Pasadena Showcase House, I will be mixing new product from a variety of vendors that I showcase in my Old Pasadena store along with vintage finds, artisanal pieces, and modern technology from Sony Life Space UX. In fact, the room design will reflect how most of us live today – mixing vintage and new, and the style that I am most comfortable with, mainly because I love so many styles and periods (as long as it is good style), that it is so hard to choose just one! On any given Sunday morning, I may be found trolling the aisles of the Rose Bowl and PCC flea markets and several of the treasures I have acquired at Pasadena flea markets will be making an appearance in our Guest Bedroom at the 2017 Pasadena Showcase House, with the remainder beingproduct that I carry in my Old Pasadena shop. As a Pasadena local, I like to keep my business in town to support the local economy. Besides, when you’re rolling out of bed at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning to go to the flea market, it helps when you are 5-10 minutes away.
As you can probably tell from the photo above, I am a big fan of vintage ceramics, which I love mixing in with some newer pieces as it brings with it a certain warmth that newer pieces do not. I am also a firm believer of making a room appear that the items contained within were collected, with the room evolving over a period of time rather than looking like it came fresh off a showroom floor.
Our vignette showcasing our concept for the 2017 Pasadena Showcase House at the Empty House Party.
The 2017 Pasadena Showcase House will be sure to showcase a variety of perspectives on eclectic style, from some of the area’s top interior and landscape designers. I hope to see you there – I can’t wait to show you what we’ve come up with in our Cozy Stylish Chic – designed Guest Bedroom, which also features our signature eclectic style.
The 2017 Pasadena Showcase House of Design opens to the public on April 23 and runs through May 21. You may purchase your tickets online here. The Pasadena Showcase House is unique in that unlike many show houses that feature a home tour only, an entire day can be spent on the Showcase House grounds, touring the home, shopping at the marketplace, and dining at one of the two on-site restaurants. See you there!
