apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I think there be an element that ties the mixed pieces together. Like for dining room chairs... they should all be the same kind of wood OR the same color OR have complimentary shapes, etc. Otherwise, for me, things can look a little too hock shop.

One thing that pretty much always looks better mixed and matched, though: bedroom sets.

My dining set doesn't match, but I think it's just fine to have a few items in your apartment that match. As Catherine mentioned, certain things look better mixed and matched.

Personally, I don't like mixed dinnerware and silverware as I'm not into shabby chic or the garage sale look.

I think color is key. I like a mix of modern, vintage and traditional but always keep within the same colors schemes.

I don't like it when everything matches, with the exception of crockery and cutlery. I like all my dinner plates to match, and all my pasta bowls to match, etc - but they don't have to be a full matching set of plates-bowls-cups, just as long as each "course" matches. I'd hate to be in a position where a guest felt they had gotten the smaller plate, or the less-attractive glass, or the child's fork or whatever.

my mother always said people who have everything matching have no creativity...I agree.

what's mix-and-match about the first picture?

mixing can go too far, and matching can go too far. that's why mix AND match is ideal ;)

like others, i don't love mixed "sets" of flatware. however, i would much rather deal with things being slightly too mixed than slightly too matched. bed in a bag? that should never happen. or those girls' room where the bedding also matches the curtain, the wallpaper, the rug and the lampshade? barf. total dog barf.

in my house, I always match:
- salt and pepper shakers
- flatware and drinking glasses
- hardware like switchplates, outlet covers, drawer pulls on a single piece of furniture
- pillowcases on beds larger than twin size (you can have more than one type, just have two of each type!)

the rest is up for debate. i like eclectic.

Mismatched dining chairs and mismatched dishes drive me to distraction. I always wonder why one couldn't just get a complete set.

Mixed is OK but not everyone is good at it...it can look junky. That being said too much matching isn't good either.

No matter how cool it may be, I'll never like mismatched dining chairs.

My favorite mismatch is throw pillows on a couch.

I LOVE mixed water glasses. No idea why it appeals to me. But I love going to Fishs Eddy and buying random glasses. My mother has bought me several sets of amusing water glasses, such as the Heroes of the Torah glasses that have rabbi's faces on them. When some break (inevitable in my apartment) I replace them with an entirely different set. Currently I have heroes of the torah, some ball jars, tall skinny glasses with grocery store names on them, and stemless wine glasses from C&B.

My plates also have dancing elephants on them and the mushroom tables in the other post appealed to me...so don't take me as the most classic decorator. :)

Mixing is fun.
Matching, not so much.

I tend towards matching, but I hate the look of "sets."

Really, what I don't like is a manufacturer telling me what goes together. I think I'm perfectly capable of finding a table and chairs that go well together, a bedside table that looks good with my bed, etc...

There's a big difference between "matching" and "complementing." I prefer to think I achieve the latter.

http://shockthebourgeois.blogspot.com

i think you need to learn how to mix in order to appreciate good matching. love the use of the sarrinen tulip chairs AND tulip table in the above photo--one doesn't often see this as it can look too matched. but if the context is right (not everything in the home artifically matched), it looks absolutely great and feels like a whole set rather than a boring and contrived.

"what's mix-and-match about the first picture?"

Or the second photo - although the colors are different, the pattern/maker is the same. (Tho I wonder what it is - It's not LuRay...)

Call me crazy (or uncreative) but I love rooms where a fabulous printed fabric is used for draperies and repeated on throw pillows and even footstools and armchairs, or guest-bedrooms that are completely covered in dozens of yards of a fabulous toile. I love sets of china, flatware and glassware...

But as others have said - There are limits to what should match: No matchy bedroom sets (Tho a matching pair of nightstands is always nice) Sets of dining chairs are quite nice, but no matching dining room sets with the same-same buffet and China Cabinet. No matchy "Sofa/Loveseat/Chair", and no matching the coffee table w/ the end tables & console table. No matching the table lamps w/ the floor lamp, no matching the living room rug with the runner in the hallway...
...and no umpteen-piece sets of matching cookware!

bepsf, that dinner set is from Russell Wright, it's ether American Modern or Iriqouis, I forget which one but it's a classic set from the 50's.

In my view, I like to mix and match, depending on what it is and the situation. First off, my everyday ware matches as I wanted something cohesive and Japanese-ish in style, it's inexpensive, readily available and stylish, my flatware matches and is from IKEA, my glass ware kind of matches in that I have multiple sets, blue inexpensive tall tumblers, probably Anchor Hocking, 3 different sets of wine glasses, 2 are blue, one set in clear w/ an etched design, some juice glasses from IKEA and mugs. I have little red square ramikens and some larger yellow square ramikens, both from Pyrex's ColorWare line and are vintage so while the dinnerware matches, they don't match to the flatware or to the glasses.

However I would love either the Iriquois or the American Modern pattern by Russel Wright and in all the colors and mix up the colors for variety. I like mixing colors that compliment the other but have the napkins say be of one style, something that connects relates to the rest. I would also love to get the Franciscan Ware "Starburst" pattern as well and leave that a matched set.

It's when you have random patterns and colors and nothing relates to the other is when one gets in to the missmatched thing and unless attempting the shabby chic look, just looks like you got a grab bag of stuff somewhere and didn't care what or how it matched.

a little matching in some areas is never really a bad thing, but what I see a lot is too much emphasis on matching for many, that is, the sofa, loveseat, chair(s) all match, including the upholstery and everything else relates style wise, too boring. But say a pair of matching lamps, either on either side of a sofa or one on one end, the other somewhere else in the room is fine too, end tables and/or night stands often do well matched but can work mismatched as long as there is something relating the two different pieces in some way.

Now I don't mind matched chairs, say a bevvy of the Eames shell side chairs in say white, but placed around a dark table, such as in black or ebony to create a nice look for example, yet w white table can work with the same chairs, but in several colors. I also like the idea of dinnerware that has say a ebony, onyx or somesuch outside but the insides are of different colors and placed on a black table top.

I don't mind say a pair of matching slipper chairs but next to a sofa that does NOT match, what this does is create a little cohesion while not going matchy, matchy but it takes knowing WHEN to match and when NOT to.

That's how I see the match or not to match thing and BTW, if the tulip chair and table are made to go together, then by all means, leave them together as the designer intended.

The dishes in the second photo are Russel Wright "American Modern" and I think they were actually made to be mixed or matched. My parents got the dark green ones for wedding gifts in 1951. There was also some really lovely stemware that went with them---you don't see it around much anymore. I have two pieces from my parents' set.

Mix and match only if there's a method to it. I love and admire so many of the mix-n-match house tours featured on this site, but not everyone has a grasp of design esthetics.

I grew up in a house full of questionable furnishings (blue leather loveseat brown & cream striped sofa orange shag carpet baby pink walls...and this was AFTER our house renos!) Then I spent several years living the student life with ramshackle 4th-hand Ikea pieces, grandma hand-me-downs and sloppily repainted junk "finds".

To err on the safe side, if you cannot buy taste, then just buy the whole set.

Thanks Ciddyguy and Spanky -

It's so nice to see multicolored vintage dinnerware that's not Fiestaware!

mixing and matching is an art - it can be done beautifully or poorly.

that said, if you can do it, things that don't belong together can looks as if they were made for each other, there are far fewer rules if you have an eye.

people who look at things and say they don't go together don't necessarily have "it" and i don't think you can learn but you can ask for help!

i love mix and matched looks! it makes the place feel so much more homey to me.. i dont like rooms to look like they could be bought out of a catalog.

I like cohesive catalogue looks but I like to live in mix and matched, suits my personality much better.