This isn't a happenstance, or at least it shouldn't be. Pairing mismatched sofas in a design is not a rule breaker either, nay - it's pure genius! It's throwing away the cookie cutter of design. It's taking all those beautiful fabrics and leathers you've fallen in love with for your space and realizing you don't have to eliminate not a one of them. it's a standing ovation!
The key elements of design are still present in a mismatch plan. Form is played upon by selecting mismatched sofa styles that compliment each other's structure and shape. Even so far as pairing two different periods together. (i.e. Midcentury with contemporary or Chesterfield with modern.) Balance is still present in mismatching sofa styles as long as scale is a factor in the selection process. Harmony is apparent in mismatched sofa styles with the fusion of color and texture coordination.
Proceed with caution, this isn't the answer to compromise. It isn't giving all persons sharing the space their taste tossed in the same room. It isn't a way to say see we can put all our existing furniture together and viola. That's called hodge podge - not great design.
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Breaking this design-by-the-book approach takes a skilled eye, a talent. And the results will be spectacular for sure! Be ready, though, because the mismatch will be necessary in other parts of the room as well. Not overdone, please no! Be subtle - it's a look that isn't noticed at first glance. It's the look that gets the stare and then the sly smile comes. The onlooker notices slightly at first and then takes in the total room design like a "can you find the differences" page out of a Highlights magazine.
A slightly braver approach to a mismatched pair of sofas can be as beautiful as using the same fabric on both while only changing the two styles. It's like dipping your toe into the water instead of jumping right in and that's okay.
There will be pieces in your room that pull this mismatched pair of sofas together. These pieces are the harmony of it all. Consider the area rug and the cocktail table with much consideration. These are the important puzzle pieces to the success of this look in a room, like the last puzzle piece that finishes that 500-piece landscape scene puzzle. This doesn't mean you can't start with the rug or the cocktail table and build the design around them. As a matter of fact, that's where the most stunning rooms most likely begin. Then comfort, texture, and color palette follow - fall into place.
Symmetry is not missing in a space designed with mismatched sofas. Plan this room with love, plan this room with how the space will be utilized by the persons sharing the space, plan this room - it isn't a happenstance. A well-designed space never is!
Whether formal or casual, the mismatched pair of sofas is welcome in both. There are no limitations to this design style as to which room it can or cannot work. Just don't use it more than once in your total home design.
Live well! Be inspired!
Sources: West Elm, Cup of Jo, Lonny, Design Chic, McGee & Co., One Kin Design, The Spruce, Pinterest
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