Q: I really love Clara’s room! Great color choices. Do you have a formula for mixing prints? I love how they are all so different – even the colors and yet they all compliment each other and totally make the room! For my boys room, I am mixing prints but find it gets very busy looking or I tend to go with the same color making it kind of boring looking. – Cappy
A: It’s funny that this comment came in about a day after I ran around Clara’s room photographing a bunch of the patterns in the hopes of making a small grid to show how we mixed and matched the textures and colors:
There isn’t a strict formula for layering prints, but there are clear reasons this mix works. We relied mostly on trial and error, and many choices were inspired or selected by Clara herself, including:
- the color palette (she loves red and pink)
- some of her favorite patterns (she adores zig zags, hearts, and polka dots)
- the curtains she picked
- her favorite animals (we worked in whales, rhinos, birds, alligators, and elephants)
- art she made that we framed and hung near the daybed
- flash cards on the shelves she chose
When I examined the grid closely I noticed a few consistent patterns emerge.
Realization #1:
At first the assortment looks wildly varied, but on closer inspection many colors repeat across different pieces, which ties everything together and keeps the room from feeling chaotic. Pink, red, navy, and teal appear frequently and connect disparate patterns. Some patterns even echo each other subtly — for example, the chevron paint-chip art mirrors the zig-zag blanket, and the lampshade fabric shares a similar shape and color family with a nearby red bowl. These visual connections make the mix feel intentional even when it started as casual experimentation.
I didn’t set out to match the lamp to the bowl — I just added things that felt right and my eye approved. The result shows how repeated colors and similar pattern shapes can create harmony without everything being identical.
Realization #2:
We also used a lot of neutrals to calm the brighter elements. The wall color, wood tones of the kids’ chairs, woven baskets, and many white pieces (the daybed, the kids’ table, floating shelves, trim, pouf) provide breathing room. These neutral fields let the bold reds, pinks, and teals stand out without overwhelming the space. Navy pieces — like the pendant, sheets, and frame accents — further anchor the palette and balance the livelier prints.
Because many furnishings are white or wood-toned, they recede visually while the colorful accents read as deliberate pops rather than nonstop pattern noise.
Realization #3:
We’re fans of the “do what looks right” approach, but we inadvertently follow a common decorating rule about scale: combine a large-scale pattern with smaller-scale, subtler patterns so they don’t compete. In this room the multicolored chevron blanket acts as the dominant piece — it’s large in scale and full of color. Smaller-scale patterns, like the two-toned ikat curtains and the tone-on-tone polka-dot rug, support the blanket without fighting it for attention.
If the rug or curtains had been equally bold and multicolored they would have competed with the bedding. By subconsciously choosing supporting patterns that are playful but less dominant, we allowed the blanket to remain the star.
Sometimes instincts guide good choices even if you don’t analyze them. You might think, “The walls are bright, so a neutral couch and soft curtains would make sense,” and that instinct is often correct. And if you try something and dislike it, there are always return options or secondhand marketplaces.
Three quick, practical tips for mixing and matching patterns:
- Use repeated colors to create cohesion. Bringing in many patterns works when you anchor them with a common palette — in our case pink, red, navy, and teal recur throughout the room.
- Balance bold patterns with neutrals. White, wood tones, and darker grounding colors like navy help temper vibrant patterns so they don’t overwhelm the space.
- Let one item be the star. Give the largest-scale, most colorful pattern room to shine and choose supporting pieces in smaller scales or subtler patterns so everything layers rather than competes.
How do you mix patterns in your home? Do you stick to one or two prints, or layer many? Do you favor bold scale contrasts or subtle repeats? I remember Sarah Richardson saying she often uses 10–14 different textiles in a room, which always inspires me. Clara’s enthusiastic picks — her colors, art, animals, and curtains — were a big influence here and made the room uniquely hers.
Psst — Kristi, who commented under Cappy’s question, mentioned a resource with tips for mixing fabrics and patterns that many find helpful. Happy print and pattern mixing!