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Antiquarian designs!

what is an eclectic look?

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What's an eclectic look? A design plan which does not follow any specific rules; rather it flamboyantly breaks the rules of 'interior design'. Doesn't sound very attractive? I don't blame you for for being skeptical at this juncture but hold on and read on…. Eclectic in interior design is a big thing, it has come to mean an understanding of differnet styles and periods and cultures and then building upon that knowledge to come up with something unique and original that reflects 'you'. This is music to my ears! if I am doing up my room, my home, my office, my child' bedroom then shouldn't it me 'me' all the way? shouldn't it ooze personality down to the tee?

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I think we as individuals pretend a lot. We pretend to be strong and clear-headed, and proud to be who we are, but when it comes to building a series of choices for say a home we tend to follow the ratpak. We suddenly try and muster up what's hot, what's in, what is it that every other person whom we secretly look upto is buying and putting up in their homes and of course, it simply means we yearn to be someone else, like the other person who we assume to be somehow better than us. Now, there isn't a thing wrong with imitation or should we say garnering inspiration, all great artists seek inspiration from different things sometimes from very unusual things, what I don't particulary understand is complete denial of self in sheer imitation. When we want to be like the Jones' especially when we don't even like them in the first place! someone said wisely that we hate the people we hate most is becuase want to be like them be; in possession of something they have.

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The next obvious question would be how do I develop an eclectic look and why should I even do that? The sanest answer I have to this question is that it looks lovely, its personal and has a lot of oomph, and beacuse we usually own mismatched pieces of furniture, ragtag collection of pictures, some pretty and some awful looking things, heirlooms that have seen better days, sentimental possessions we do not want to part with, mistake expensive buys we just cannot do away with.

Put simply we don't all have beautiful things to put a room together, or build up a look, in real life we have real things that may not match, things that dont look fantastic, and sometimes things we think of as junk or useless. I beleive out of all these mismatched things we can, with the right attitude and passion, create a beautiful room. I have done it several times and it's very doable. All one needs is passion to try and try again till a look looks right! I have placed my old sofas a hundred times over in different places (much to the angusish of whoever is doing the lifting and lugging) and hit upon a perfect note. Now a word of caution! Perfect as defined by whom? I would say YOU! if a room is set with energy, with love, with care and with a zest, it may not be liked by everyone, it may perhaps be hated by people (all the better) but it never fails to evoke a response!

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