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Anyone who knows me could tell you that prints are my thing. There is something about a graphic pattern that I’m magnetically drawn to. They bring energy and intrigue, and prints can be dynamic whether they use bold colors or neutrals! Prints are all over my closet, and all over my home décor. My absolute favorite thing to do with prints is mix them! Mixed prints can really take a design concept to the next level. It’s easy to feel intimidated by mixed prints because you obviously don’t want to end up looking like you dressed yourself in the dark…or designed your home on quaaludes.
But, mixing prints is actually way easier to do than you’d think, and in my humble opinion really elevates anybody’s style. In any home I’ve lived in, I’ve experimented with mixing different prints in both bold colors and textural neutrals. I’ve carried this over to my personal wardrobe, and I continue to love exploring how far I can push an outfit to make it really pop. When we all binged Sex And The City in our late teens and early twenties, one thing we all responded to was the costumer (Patricia Field) and her boldness in creating a style that “clashed” in the perfect and most harmonious way. Mixing prints can do that for a girl. And, it can do that for your home, too!
Since this style angle can take a bit of honing to get right, I thought I would share some of my best tips and tricks for mixing prints effectively and stylishly. There are a few simple tweaks you can make to be sure your mixed prints are landing every time!
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PICK A COLOR STORY
Whenever I mix prints, I start with a color story (2-3 colors) that you are working with, and then I find prints that predominately feature those 2-3 colors. This helps the prints feel married in a harmonious and psycho way. Florals are a great place to start with this because they often offer a nice array of color choices to pull from.
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VARY SIZE OF PRINTS
I find that mixing a tighter or smaller print (think ditzy florals, plaids, animal print, and ginghams) with a broader print (think large stripe, polka dot, or geometric) can make the mix feel a bit more intentional, and settle the eye.
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TRY TONAL
Tonal print mixing is so far from underwhelming! I did my family room in our current home in a mix of neutral prints and I LOVE how absolutely soothing and zen it is, while also being attractive to the eye.
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SOME PRINTS ARE ACTUALLY NEUTRALS
Stripes are a neutral. Gingham is a neutral. Polka dots are a neutral. Animal prints are a neutral. As long as you keep it all in the same color family, you will be shocked at how harmonious certain prints can be with pretty much anything. One of my favorite combos ever is a sailor stripe with a floral. Try it!
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ACCESSORIES HELP!
Bring more balance to your color story by grounding the colors in your prints with basic accessories in those colors. You can see in these photos how I did that with the color red. My red shoe and red lip help ground the color story so that the varying prints feel more integrated.
MIX TEXTURES, TOO
Nothing looks better than mixed prints that also mix textures. It feels so luxurious and also makes your special blend seem more unique! Examples of mixed textures: velvet and linen, cashmere and sequins, silks and leather, grosgrain or tassel trims….
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IF YOU’RE NERVOUS, START WITH PILLOWS
Pillows (on a bed or couch, or both) are a great way to experiment with print mixing in a low risk way. You can always swap them out, rearrange, or wait long enough that your children ruin them for you and you have to replace them.
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BE PLAYFUL
Just got for it! Seriously, you’d be amazed what sparks joy, and what your eyes actually like if you just try it out. I would have never tried a bold stripe and a bold animal print together ten years ago, but when I put them on something in my soul just said YES. And guess what? I wore this outfit to Back To School night and got several compliments and questions about where I got it. The truth is, dressing in a bold way makes you look like you know what you’re doing. Fake it ’til you make it, baby! Life moves fast.
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Photographs by Julia Dags | Copyright © 2024 Happily Eva After, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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