apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I personally can not stand the matchy-matchy look of furniture sets. I think it inhibits your imagination and creativity.

Mixed up furniture can be pulled together with the proper elements thrown in.

Just my take.

Also, I think furniture "sets" are just for show ... in catalogs and on showroom floors as a way to show you what's available. I don't think every item in the series should be taken home and plunked in your living room, bedroom, etc.

It's like those "bed in a bag" sets with matching curtains, throw pillows *and* wall art rendering the whole room in one single pattern.

(shudder)

Both I have matching end tables and lamps.

I like matching chairs for a dining room with a different table. My le corbusier dining table is now my desk and two my six Eames chairs (dining chairs) are floating around the house and the other four are being used by my friend.

Everything else is a mix.

A little of both. I like the lamps in a room to match but I don't mind larger pieces, like furniture, to be a bit more eclectic.

Generally speaking, I prefer things mixed -- different styles and periods, something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. And something red. But certain things get lost if they aren't paired. Small stools in a large living room (such as garden stools) look better paired. Most chairs arranged with a sofa look better as pairs, and so on. Pairing something in a room is like placing a period at the end of a sentence. You need a place for your eyes to stop.

Obviously, I am not a modernist or a minimalist.

Like LoriSF I prefer a set of chairs with a non-matching table. And even more, I like a bench on one side, chairs on the other, or two chairs with arms at the ends and a different set of armless chairs running up the sides. I can't stand the trend of having all mixed up chairs with a table. It looks junky.

Another odd thing that bothers me: paired bedside tables. I like a small table on one side of the bed and a related but larger (meaning wider, like a sideboard or bureau) one on the other. The lamps or lights should be related but needn't match, although in my bedroom I opted for matching lamps. And the tables should definitely not match the bed frame or headboard.

And about putting collectables in groups of three....

don't.

I think 2 is better than one, which means, it seems painfully unnecessary to split up a set. If you see one of something you like, you can mix it with another one of something else, that's ok too. If you see two of something, say at a thrift store, a pair of nightstands, and you only need one, I feel in some sense this is depriving someone else of finding a matched pair, and moreso if this is something of quality and vintage and design such that it will be quite impossible find another one. If they are letting you split up a set of six chairs when you only want two, I think someone else can make something of the other four, if they're shopping in the same place that won't make you take all six (or eight) as a set, but take two, not just one.

I don't foresee myself ever buying a full suite of furniture for the dining room or living room or bedroom, I am ok with trying to achieve eclectic stylishly, and choose each piece to its individual purpose as a condition of need and love. I think the mixed up dining room chairs is difficult to get that quirky "just-so" look (if that's something that turns you on), and would avoid it.

This brings up the other underlying issue that a lot of people seem to have - buying a lot of their stuff from the same store, even if it's from different suites, or same few stores, kind of makes it look like Garanimal decorating. Just sayin'. It doesn't really count as mixing in my opinion.

my apartment is too smal to have more than one of something

My style is very eclectic, but I tend to buy things in pairs. Eclectic symmetry... hmmm... I might have to work on that one.