This is How to Mix Pattern Like a Pro

By
JENNIFER FERNANDEZ for Architectural Digest.

When you're known as one of Spain's hottest decorators and your weekend getaway is a seaside villa with a colorful history, you're bound to engage in some creative blending of styles. Such was the case for AD100 designer Lorenzo Castillo, whose retreat on the Cantabrian Sea was once home to the glamorous Marquesa de Argüelles before his grandparents bought the Asturian property in the 1930s. Unfortunately, his mother sold the place when Castillo was a teenager, but after a series of serendipitous events, the designer bought back the house a couple of years ago and quickly set to work establishing his design hallmarks, including a layered approach to mixing bold yet approachable patterns. At one end of the villa's drawing room, velvet curtains in a medieval-style motif contrast with faux zebra-hide throw pillows and a sectional sofa clad in a giant windowpane check. But far from overwhelming, the combination is soothing yet fashion-forward--and entirely befitting of a holiday house. Here's how to achieve a similarly maximalist look in your own home.


Photo: RICARDO LABOUGLE

Choose a color palette
The easiest way to mix pattern is to create contrast within a single color. In Castillo's blue-hued master bedroom, a herringbone-like motif coordinates with a vintage David Hicks love seat upholstered in a Rubelli tweed and honeycombed curtains on the canopy bed--all in varying shades of powder and navy.


Photo: RICARDO LABOUGLE

Ground patterns with neutrals
In the drawing room, a gray velvet sofa and armchair anchor competing prints, from the framed 1970s patchworks that hang against the Gastón y Daniela wallpaper to the ikat-upholstered seating at right.


Photo: RICARDO LABOUGLE

Mix media
In one bedroom, Castillo splashed a printed cotton by Gastón y Daniela on bed frames, throw pillows, curtains, and upholstered screens for a more-is-more look that still manages to feel serene.


Photo: RICARDO LABOUGLE

Play with scale and shape
In the stairway, Castillo installed a wallpaper of his own design. Frames in varying shapes and sizes break up the print's repetition and lend dimension to the space. The grain of the wood flooring creates its own subtle pattern, adding an element of rustic variation.


Photo: RICARDO LABOUGLE

Stick to a theme
In a guest room, a large Art Deco tapestry surmounts twin beds clad in a Gastón y Daniela fabric. The disparate prints are united by a similar scheme of fruit and flora.

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