When you’re designing your home, you may find yourself at a crossroads. Like maybe your home is modern-minimalist, but you can’t stop thinking about a vintage table you saw while thrifting. You can seamlessly blend two contrasting “eras” to create your own through thoughtful furniture and decor choices—and fortunately, help is on the way. I reached out to three experts to offer up their tried-and-true tips.
“Mixing design eras is like throwing a fabulous dinner party,” explains Rachel Brown, an award-winning home builder and the founder and principal designer of RB Interiors. “You invite guests who don’t all know each other, but by dessert they’re best friends. The trick is making sure the conversation flows and nobody’s fighting over the spotlight.”
Now that we’ve set the scene, here’s how to develop your dream design era combo:
Design by Hearth Homes Interiors; Photo by Public 311 Design
1. Start with the Architecture of Your Space
Two of our experts—Anita Lang, an award-winning luxury interior designer and founder of IMI Design, and Katie Labourdette-Martinez from Hearth Homes Interiors—said to let your home’s architecture take the lead. The bones of the home are your framework, and then you should layer with secondary styles.
“If the shell is traditional—say, paneled walls or crown molding—I bring in contemporary elements with sleek silhouettes and minimalist profiles,” Lang says. “If the space is modern and clean-lined, I incorporate vintage or traditional pieces with patina and weight to ground it. I emphasize intentional layering and introduce pieces from different periods that create tension and depth while maintaining a common thread such as materiality, proportion, or palette.”
2. Connect Your Design with Three Anchors
Labourdette-Martinez has three key areas she refers to as her “anchors.” These are the wood tone, metal family, and a color palette with at least 50 percent neutrals. All of these elements bring various hues into your home, which is why you need to think carefully about your color scheme.
“Every piece in a room needs at least one thing in common—a color, a finish, a shape,” Brown says. “Your Victorian sideboard and mid-century dining chairs will get along better if they both wear warm walnut tones.”
Not sure how to put this into practice? Labourdette-Martinez says to repeat materials or colors at least three times to make your space more cohesive.
“Introducing honed marble, or unlacquered brass, can be echoed in hardware, lighting, mirrors, or accent decor, so the mix feels intentional and not accidental,” she adds.
Design by Hearth Homes Interiors; Photo by Public 311 Design
3. Consider Proportions to Create Balance
Without proper editing, you risk overcrowding and overwhelming the design of your home. That’s why you need to honor proportion and presence by offsetting curves with angles and softness with structure, Lang says.
This balancing act involves selecting pieces intended to stand out or support your ideas. For instance, Brown says older, more ornate pieces go well with low-key, clean-lined pieces.
“Your dramatic gilt mirror from the 1800s? She needs breathing room,” she says. “Think neutral walls and unfussy companions so she can soak in the applause.”
4. Less Decor Is More
As your space evolves, you want to continue allowing for that breathing room—which means you need to edit, edit, edit.
“What you remove is just as important as what you keep,” Lang says. “Fewer, carefully selected pieces allow each era to breathe. It’s about mastery—creating a space that feels refined and evolved, not just assembled.”
Top Design Era Combinations to Try
These tips are approachable, but which eras go together like peanut butter and jelly? To take some of the guesswork out of your process, our experts weigh in with their favorites.
1. Mid-century Modern with Art Deco
“Design eras that work best usually share core philosophies or complementary contrasts,” Lang says. “Before pairing styles, I always seek common threads in craftsmanship, proportion, and material.” One of her go-tos is mid-century modern and art deco.
“They both emphasize geometry and clean lines,” she explains. “Deco adds glamour, while mid-century introduces restraint. Together, they create a balance of sensuality and structure. Think of a curved 1930s mirror above a walnut credenza with tapered legs. They can coexist beautifully if their tones harmonize.”
Design by Anita Lang; Photo by Isaac Bailey
2. Mid-century Modern with Tudor
Mid-century modern is a solid starting point for many designers, as Labourdette-Martinez shares her love for Tudor and mid-century accents. “The warmth of walnut and woven textures balance out the formality of a Tudor, but doesn’t erase any character,” she says.
3. Vintage with Modern
Vintage and modern or traditional and contemporary are constants for Lang, who sees contrast as a design tool.
“Place a crisp modern light fixture over an ornate antique dining table, or pair a neoclassical mirror with abstract art,” she suggests. “Let tension create intrigue, but avoid visual noise. Combining interior design eras is an art form that requires both discipline and intuition to create a timeless interior that feels curated, not chaotic.”
Design by Rachel Brown; Photo by Kevin Brost
4. Spanish Revival with Organic Modern
Labourdette-Martinez and her sister-in-law and business partner Olivia Wahler often mix Spanish Colonial Revival architecture with organic modern elements. “Think arches, plaster, and ironwork that tie in with limewash walls, natural stone, and handcrafted lighting,” she says.
5. Victorian with Contemporary Minimalism
Here’s another vintage-meets-modern pairing, courtesy of Labourdette-Martinez: “The high ceilings and ornament love the negative space of modern furniture, both allowing the other to breathe.”
There’s no shortage of inspiration in the architecture of your home and the furniture, decor, and finishes that feel authentic to you. After all, your home is a reflection of your experiences and personality, which won’t always fit into a singular era.
“The best homes aren’t stuck in one decade, they feel like they’ve evolved, just like you have,” Brown says. “When you mix design eras with confidence, your space tells a story that’s rich, layered, and one-of-a-kind. And when someone asks, ‘What style is this?’ you can smile and say, ‘Mine.’”
