The ambience of a room is eventually about being able to make a personal expression. There are defined styles of ambience ? ranging from the traditional and country styles to the casual and modern ones.

But the one style that has rapidly and successfully grown over the last two decades is probably the most undefined of all styles ? the eclectic ambience.

In spite of being a fairly recent addition to the decorating vocabulary, the dictionary definition of eclectic is to the point ? “that which is made up of what seems best of varied sources”.

The key word here is “best”. An eclectic approach presupposes a sophisticated design sense ? one that mixes elements with deliberateness and authority. It is in gentle rebellion against past dictums that prescribed carefully matched and arranged furnishings.

If you decide eclecticism is your kind of decorating, you’ll have a lot of latitude to indulge your personal preferences. Eclectic interiors can embrace many periods and styles. They are, therefore, exciting to assemble and, because they are so personal and unpredictable, they are also fun places to live in or visit.

A collection of individual pieces often represents years of thoughtful accumulation. Many unusual items can be collected from auctions, flea markets and antique shops.

A word of caution here: the most successful eclectic rooms, however, are masterpieces of selectivity. Although it’s true that varied items can go into an eclectic scheme regardless of their design origin, it is not wise to abandon yourself completely to impetuous acquisition. You might end up with a mishmash that masquerades as eclecticism. So, use your discretion.

Mood mirror

One sure way to avoid a hodgepodge is to apply one cardinal criterion to every piece you consider buying: is it well-designed and in good taste?

Although you’re free to roam the design gamut, picking not only from different periods and places, but from different price strata as well, each element you choose must pass on its own merits.

An old embroidered bedcover (probably handmade) can have as much inherent beauty and integrity as an expensive hand-knotted woollen rug from Kashmir. Both qualify as tasteful and well-designed. Yet the mood of the two differs greatly. The bedcover is informal and local in feeling. The Kashmiri rug, on the other hand, can go with the most formal furnishings, whatever their design or origin.

This difference in mood becomes a useful yardstick against which you can measure the compatibility of disparate pieces. So ask yourself if the piece is appropriate to the overall formal or informal mood that you want to maintain.

For example, in a living room, you can mix classic French armchairs with an equally classic Chippendale sofa, and dress the picture window in contemporary vertical blinds. Unrelated as the three elements are, they all have in common a formal quality that lets them live attractively and compatibly under the same roof.

At the other extreme of the mood swing, you can create a charmingly informal eclectic room with modular seating and a wall filled with puppets, dolls and toys from Rajasthan. To add to the eclecticism, you could add sisal matting from the Northeast for the floor and the cocktail table could be a tree trunk with a smoked acrylic top.

Colour coordinators

In a room filled with unlike elements, colour is also a unifying force. It can smoothly blend assorted pieces into a pleasing whole. Repetition is your best ally in colouring an eclectic decorating scheme. Try to work within a simple, basic plan of only a few colours, and be sure to repeat each one often enough to give the room a well-balanced look.

You might use the same pattern on several furniture pieces. A favourite eclectic technique is to choose a smart contemporary upholstery print to freshen up older, period furniture; or conversely, use some old tapestry or rug pieces, for instance, to cover loose cushions for a contemporary sofa.

You also can unify a mixed bag of furniture from several time spans by keeping major accessory items all uniformly in the same style.

Rampant recognition

With a strong and steady increase in the popularity of eclecticism, several furniture manufacturers and interior boutiques have stopped making only suites of carefully matched pieces. They have instead begun developing individual furnishings to meet our equally individual living needs. Also, there are no longer restrictive room assignments for specific pieces of furniture.

You can forget labels such as living room table or dining room chair. The point is to use a piece where it pleases you the most. Classic pieces are particularly versatile. Keep this in mind when you move to a new house or decide to redo a room.

In eclectic decorating, furniture is freed from its stereotyped roles for use in specific rooms and can, therefore, freely perform decorative and practical functions as, when and where needed in an interior space.

KUSUM MUSADDI

The author is a senior faculty member at J.D. Birla Institute (Calcutta), where she has been delivering lectures, guiding research and conducting projects in housing and interior design for over 20 years. An interior design consultant, she specialises in ergonomics at home and work. She can be contacted at kusumsmail@yahoo.com