The decorating rules have changed a good deal over the last 50 years. Previously, mixing patterns and prints was a decorating artificial pas, some thing to be avoided in any way costs. But now, interior designers blend patterns and prints efficiently, meaning that you don’t need to use a solid coloured rug as soon as your sofa is covered with published upholstery material. Even so, interior decorators do follow some basic rules when mixing prints, stripes and patterns.
Color Choices
Clearly, a solid color rug works with a sofa that has patterned or print upholstery, but only if the color ties the two together. Decide on a shade in the sofa that matches your decor colour scheme when choosing a solid rug. Neutral colored carpets — grey, brown, tan or beige — can work with most any print or pattern, but with a floral print sofa, select a less dominant shade from the print for your carpet. As an instance, a floral sofa print together with hints of yellow or ocher is nicely offset with a muted yellow or ocher rug.
Print and Patterns
For sofas with a geometric print or design, carpets with variegated stripes in coordinating colors create an intriguing design statement. As an instance, lime-green or orange-based prints or patterns unite strikingly with a carpet that has horizontal stripes of orange, muted green, sky blue and beige, with the stripes running toward the sofa. Pull one or more colours from the sofa to utilize in the area rug.
Form and Color Unity
It is possible to mix two patterns together if you keep your eye on the layout elements in the patterns and choose unifying colours. As an instance, a swirl-patterned two-color sofa in lime green having an sloping backdrop fits well with an area rug in neutral tones with a comparable swirled pattern. The off-white background of this area carpet ties it to the sofa through the off-white component. The patterns do not need to be a whole match, but the unifying colour and comparable pattern shapes tie the two together.
Other Design Elements
Keep your mixtures of patterns and prints simple. In case you have patterned or floral prints on your own window treatments, the room will look too busy if you have another print or print on the sofa and another in a room rug. Something in the scenario needs to go, or so the space will not be appealing or relaxing. Patterned or published window treatments can make the room appear overdone, so choose impartial based drapes instead to make the space feel unified.