Create a Vintage-Style, Mismatched Tablescape

A collection of blue, white, pastel and gold plates made up of hand-me-downs and new purchases were used to create this colorful, mismatched dining room tablescape.

To successfully mix and match otherwise mismatched dinnerware, you'll need to edit what you've got. First, gather an assortment of dinner plates, salad plates, saucers and chargers, keeping only those with complementary colors. Any plates that clash with one another should be taken out of the mix.

For proper balance, use one dominant color throughout the tablescape. In this dining room, the dominant color in the dinnerware is navy blue. Since the complement to blue is orange, antique floral plates with layered shades of orange, pink and coral are used as well-balanced accents.

Designers often layer several different shades of the same color to add visual depth to a room. This process works well with a mix-and-match table setting, too. While the dominant color for the tablescape is navy blue, different shades of this same color are found in the floral patterned plates.