Mixing smart and casual furniture and accessories Archives

How to style furniture & accessories | Blending antiques with modern design

Categories: Articles, Blog, Style|Tags: Antique furniture and accessories, crwo, Mix antiques with modern decor, Mixing smart and casual furniture and accessories, The Crown Collection decor store|

Creating (and curating) a home that honours the past while still feeling fresh and contemporary starts with purposeful styling. Fusing antique furniture and accessories with contemporary design is both an art and a joy. Whether you’re styling a console, a shelf, or arranging accessories across a living area, the goal is always to strike a balance between antique character and modern ease that tells your story.

Here’s how to layer timeless pieces with today’s sensibilities:

#1 Start with a core collection of meaningful pieces

Establish strong foundational anchor pieces, such as an antique dresser, an heirloom sideboard, or a beautifully aged console.

These act as focal points that ground the design and establish personality.

Pro tip | Show stylistic restraint – Limit your palette to 3–4 complementary colours or materials (antique brass, aged wood, faded leather, modern matte paint).

#2 Play with shape, height, and texture

Layering and mixing elements of varying form and dimension draws the eye and keeps each vignette dynamic. Combine sleek modern vases with ornate antique frames, or stack vintage books beside streamlined contemporary sculptures

Shapes: Juxtapose angular lines with round or irregular forms.
Heights: Seat lower accessories beside tall lamps or candlesticks to create an engaging skyline across your console or shelf
Textures: Offset polished surfaces with weathered woods or patinated metals to enrich the tactile experience

Pro Tip | Group items using odd numbers & thoughtful pairing – Clustering books, candles, or sculptural items in threes or fives allows the eye to flow naturally. And creates visual rhythm.

Example layout for a console table:

Left side: A trio of antique books topped with a modern sculptural object.
Centre: A mid-century brass lamp or sculptural modern piece.
Right side: A trio of antique candlesticks or a small vase.

#3 Embrace the 80/20 Rule

A visually harmonious blend often follows the principle of 80% modern pieces complemented by 20% antiques.

This ensures your space looks thoughtfully put together rather than cluttered or overly themed. For instance, a sleek contemporary sofa can be paired with a decorative antique mirror or a charming antique lamp to introduce contrast and intrigue.

Prop Tip | Let a singular antique be the hero – A grand gilded mirror, a large-scale heirloom artwork, or a vintage rug gives the room focal drama and contrast against more contemporary furnishings

#4 Mix eras with cohesive threads

One of the richest approaches is to juxtapose eras in a way that feels intentional is to unify through colour or finish.

Give disparate pieces cohesion by sticking to a specific colour scheme or by applying similar finishes – such as muted matte tones or complementary metal accents..

Pro Tip | Repurpose or refresh – Don’t hesitate to paint or reupholster an antique piece so it dialogues with modern surroundings; this keeps its history intact while giving it new relevance.

#5 Incorporate statement lighting to elevate ambience

Lighting transforms styled areas into inviting showcases:

Table lamps or sconces work beautifully to highlight your display and add warmth, especially when layered near antiques or art.
French chandeliers or antique wall scones can serve as understated luxury, especially when paired with minimal modern surroundings.

Pro Tip | Layer Art and Reflections for Dimension – Hang a mirror, art piece, or framed gallery above your console to draw the eye upward and introduce depth. This transforms your wall into part of the display.

#6 Let architecture guide the mix

Take your home’s inherent style into account. Curate around its ‘bones.’ This could be in a period Victorian home, a mid-century gem, or a sleek modern loft apartment. Matching furniture and accessories to architectural eras adds cohesion and purpose to your design choices.

Pro Tip | Start Small, Refine Often – If you’re easing into the mix-and-match approach, begin with smaller antique accents—like frames, lamps, or small decor—and monitor how they feel over time. Move pieces around until the balance clicks with your space and taste.

#7 Embrace negative space

Less is more, especially when mixing richly detailed antique pieces with modern accents. Every space needs breathing room around thoughtful groupings to avoid clutter. This also allows each piece to stand on its own and be noticed as an integral part of the design vision. Embracing the ornate minimalism décor trend blends modern simplicity with antique detailing. It combines the clean, uncluttered look of minimalism with the decorative charm of antiques, creating elegant spaces that feel both timeless and contemporary.

Prop Tip | Select decor slowly and avoid overfilling shelves, reserving personal memorabilia for more intimate spaces.

#8 Prioritise authenticity over imitation

One of the greatest joys of mixing antiques into modern spaces is the authenticity they bring. Avoid replicas or faux antiques that lack depth and authenticity. Instead, seek genuine pieces that celebrate the craftsmanship and artistry that no longer exist in today’s factory-made furniture.

Antique furniture and accessories carry a history that mass-produced items can’t replicate. They infuse your home with character, warmth, and a timeless sense of story that evolves beautifully with each generation.

#9 A sample styling scenario

Imagine you want to style a console in the living room:

Anchor | A sleek, modern console table.
Statement | A large, ornate gilded antique mirror placed above the console table.
Base layer | One or two stacks of art or design books.
Accent | Antique brass or silver candlesticks on one stack, balanced by a low ceramic bowl on the other.
Greenery | A fresh or preserved botanical in an antique blue and white vase.
Lighting | A simple contemporary lamp reframed to complement the antique mirror rather than compete.
Cohesion | Subtle matching of brass tones across accessories and the mirror frame.

Styling furniture and accessories with an antique-modern mindset is about honouring your home’s history while embracing contemporary elegance. For a timeless aesthetic, you need structure (your architecture and anchor pieces), rhythm (varying heights and groupings), harmonic balance (colour, finish, and era cohesion), and a dash of soul (personal treasures that tell your story).

The Crown Collection Décor Store – situated at 40 Ballycalre Drive, Bryanston – is your ultimate in-store experience and online destination for over 5,000 antique, French, and contemporary furniture items and accessories that make every space unforgettable.

How to mix smart and casual furniture and accessories

Categories: Blog, Style|Tags: Antique chandeliers, Antique French furniture, Antique furniture and accessories, Mixing contemporary and antique furniture, Mixing smart and casual furniture and accessories|

Fashion and interior design principles have always overlapped, with one influencing the other. ‘Smart casual’ is a fashion term that has successfully transitioned into the world of interiors, being the inspiration for spaces that are a blend of refined, stylish, elegant, rustic, eclectic and relaxed. Mixing and matching antiques with modern pieces has always been popular, but that is evolving to embrace the collaboration of smart and casual furniture and accessories.

Mixing smart and casual furniture from different design eras is a relatively new decor philosophy, although the French have always been at the pioneering forefront of this look.

When you are brave enough to curate different styles, colours and textures together in one space, the result is always a welcoming ‘lived-in’ feel that celebrates an effortless narrative that is both strikingly smart and casually informal.

The ‘smart casual’ design brief is open to interpretation and the scope of furniture and accessories is vast. Antique furniture can be both, and contemporary pieces also straddle the fence with formal and informal options that speak to all personal decor preferences.

So don’t limit your decor approach by assuming that the smart casual look is only limited to pairing an antique item with a modern piece. It is so much more fluid than that.

The smart casual approach to ‘dressing’ a room

As with fashion, mixing trendier pieces with classic antique staples mitigates an outfit or room looking too formal or that you tried too hard. The goal is a space where the furniture pieces and accessories look pulled together but in an interesting and approachable way. It’s all about playing with design elements.

You have 3 choices:

#1 The top-to-bottom approach is where you start with smart or formal lighting options such as an antique crystal chandelier and then your dining room table, living room chairs, bed or side table choices are casual, relaxed pieces. (This is akin to the timeless look of sneakers and ripped jeans paired with a silk blouse and diamond earrings.).

#2 The bottom-to-top approach is simply the decor inverse. You may have a really formal dining room table, living room chairs or Persian carpet, and then as your eye travels up the room, you add casual hanging lanterns for lighting or fun informal artwork or mirror collages on the wall. (Imagine stilettos and smart trousers with an oversized cotton shirt and denim jacket).

#3 The eclectic-ensemble approach is where the rule book is thrown out the window. This is a daring experimental mix-and-match approach to smart and casual furniture and accessories. Take a smart antique Persian carpet, a really rustic dining room table, in-your-face bold modern chairs, a smart chandelier and a couple of casual bookshelves or a Riempie bench. On their own, the individual pieces wouldn’t seem to sync with each other, but once placed together, a cohesive story emerges and the look just makes sense. (High heels, casual jeans, a T-shirt, a blazer and a crossover bag are your fashion inspiration for this look).

Avoiding a ‘mismatched’ smart casual look

Knowing how far to go and which smart antique, vintage or modern furniture and accessories will best complement casual pieces does take a little skill to create a cohesive aesthetic. There is a fine line between restrained and effortless versus over-the-top and chaotic.

Making an overall room work often comes down to colours and textures that you pull throughout the room.

#1 Choose a common, repetitive thread. This could be a furniture style – such as French or mid-century vintage – or a colour, pattern or texture that weaves through the room to anchor the look and make sense. Once that starting point is decided on, building up the layers by adding a few smart or casual furniture or accessories as a counterbalance will do the trick. (This works particularly well in monochromatic schemes).

#2 Let the colour wheel guide you. If you love a little colour personality, then a neutral base shade with two complementary colours always works. (You can also use different hues of a specific colour to up the ante for additional design interest). Using a darker palette in your furniture with lighter accessories and walls – or vice versa – will be a successful decor dialogue.

#3 Less is more (in principle not necessarily pieces). The principle of ‘less is more’ will be the restraint to make sure that you cleverly curate the collection of pieces that make it into any space of your home and don’t mix and match too many different types of antiques, colours, styles or eras in one space. You can always slowly build up a look, but overdone is overwhelming and the goal is to avoid visual noise and clutter. Your eyes need to have the opportunity to rest and enjoy well-placed and carefully chosen smart and casual furniture and accessories in a room.

Spaces that are warm, comfortable and inviting, but that also boast a sophisticated designer edge start with the flair of mixing smart and casual furniture and accessories. Even if you only collect antiques, are a fan of exclusively mid-century modern furniture or are only in love with modern pieces, the interior design philosophy will speak your unique decor language.

So have a little fun by starting your mix-and-match journey at The Crown Collection; the home of handpicked smart and casual antique, French and contemporary furniture and accessories.