How to mix patterns

I’ve been on the internet several times in the last week with a young gal in Ohio who is having real trouble mixing patterns of fabric in a family room. She had picked two main fabrics that were what she wanted but there was something ‘wrong’. After quite a few e-mails back and forth, and some internet searches of fabric sites for examples, we found a solution to her problem and now she is a happy gal. It occurred to me that what we discussed might be of interest to some of you. Here are the ‘guidelines’ about mixing fabric patterns. The fabrics must relate to the ‘theme’ of the room. For example, if you are working on a sun room the fabric should most likely not have designs of cars and trucks, more likely it would have flowers, or pastoral scenes. ( Think back to the column on unity). READ MORE