How to Mix New Furniture with Existing Pieces in a Larger Home

If you're looking to bring new furniture pieces into your home without having to ditch everything old and start from scratch, you may be wondering where to even begin. The good news is that there are many different ways you can successfully mix new furniture with older existing pieces in your home to create a look that's both stylish and shows your personality.

Design experts agree that there's no reason to throw out all your furniture if you're looking to liven up a space with new furniture styles. Especially those sentimental pieces, like a dining room collection your parents gifted you or a vintage piece that came from grandma. In fact, keeping a piece of furniture, like a dining table or a coffee table, and making it more of the centerpiece to build around is an excellent way to accomplish your goal.

Here are 5 ways to mix new furniture with old furniture, especially if you're in a larger home.

People often face the challenge of deciding which furniture to get rid of when moving or redecorating — particularly if they have mostly traditional pieces and are considering modern-style furniture options. Sometimes you need to replace or upgrade a major piece in a space. We're talking about bedroom sets, sectional sofas, a dining room table, or media and TV cabinets. These furniture sets are a major part of the rooms they occupy, and to bring in such a new piece may cause anxiety.

Do you have to replace the surrounding furniture? Do you need to buy all new furniture for the room? Do you have to throw out your favorite upholstered accent chairs that have lasted for years? No, you don't! The rest of your furniture can likely stay as-is if you follow a few simple rules.

First, make sure that the new big pieces follow the color palette in the rest of the room. If you're buying a new sectional and the rest of your color scheme is gray and beige, stay away from bolder colors and opt for a piece that's in those neutral palettes. Similarly, stick to the texture and material families as well. You may want to find a new piece that's as close to the old as possible in terms of color and material for a seamless transition, though this isn't always necessary.

Sometimes, building slower is better. If you're looking to introduce new furniture while also keeping some of your old furniture in a large home, you may want to make the transition gradually and evaluate as you do. This is because, sometimes, things don't always come out looking the exact way we envision them in the first place.

While that new bed frame and dresser may look great next to your old bedside table in theory, when you bring them both into the room, you may find that it doesn't appear as you originally thought it might. For this reason, start with one piece and build from there. Try adding the new dresser first, seeing how it goes, and then adding additional new pieces as you see fit.

Creating a palette board is an excellent way to stay on the right path throughout your furnishing and décor journey. You can physically create a palette board on a large poster or use a digital platform to collect ideas and create looks and styles that appeal to your design taste.

To do this in a way that is simple and effective, look around your home and take a mental inventory of your existing furniture, textures, materials, and color palettes. Use these elements as your starting point. Then, identify which pieces of furniture you want to replace and which you want to keep. For the ones you're looking to upgrade, browse online or visit a furniture store near you and find pieces that match the rest of the palette board.

One of the best pieces of advice is to keep the process as simple as possible and not to overthink the smallest of details. Replace a few items at a time, see if they match the vibe of the room and the rest of your home as a whole, and if they do, you'll know that you've found the right pick. If not, that's okay. There's always more furniture where that came from, and many stores and retailers have generous return and satisfaction policies.

The great thing about home decorating is that you don't have to do it alone. You can get design help from a style expert who will set a personalized meeting to review your unique goals, needs, and the style you're looking to achieve. Take note of which furniture pieces are essential to keep in your home and which you're looking to replace or are not particularly attached to.

An interior design expert at Baer's Furniture can custom curate new furniture and décor pieces for you to review and create a style that's uniquely you, and meets all of the needs of your family and lifestyle. Stop into Baer's today.