How to Mix Bold Patterns With Tips From Interior Designer Bari J. Ackerman

Mixing patterns used to be a design faux pas, but don't let an old rule stop you from making a bold statement by blending bright florals, busy animal prints and funky geometric prints in your favorite spaces.

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May 10, 2023

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By: Beth Braden

Show: HGTV Handmade

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Photo By: Bari J. Ackerman

What Are You In The Mood For?

Photo By: Bari J. Ackerman

Bloom Wild

The Bottom Line

Photo By: Bari J. Ackerman

1. Establish a Color Palette

Photo By: Tomas Espinoza

2. Choose the Throughline

Photo By: Bari J. Ackerman

3. Pick the Contrast

Photo By: Bari J. Ackerman

4. Pick Your Focal Print

Photo By: Bari J. Ackerman

5. Pick a Ditzy Print

Photo By: Bari J. Ackerman

6. Add Stripes and/or Geometrics

Photo By: Bari J. Ackerman

7. Mix It Up

Photo By: Bari J. Ackerman

8. Combine the Unexpected

Photo By: Bari J. Ackerman

9. Find a Resting Place

Photo By: Bari J. Ackerman

Blooms in the Bedroom

Photo By: Tomas Espinoza

Floral Rugs and Geometric Chairs

Photo By: Tomas Espinoza

A Bold Bathroom

Photo By: Tomas Espinoza

Forget The Pattern Mixing Rules

Conventional wisdom says you can't mix patterns when decorating your home, but we have good news: you absolutely can. Interior designer and author of Bloom Wild Bari J. Ackerman has a simple-to-follow equation to help anybody make daring design choices that combine florals, animal prints and funky geometrics.

Learn More: This North Carolina Artist and Interior Decorator Has Her Own Fabric Line and Home Decor Collection

What Are You In The Mood For?

You can create a mood board with photos and colors to help as you consider what colors and patterns you like. Move items around the board and play with the pieces. You may find something unexpected actually looks great when paired together.

Learn More: This North Carolina Artist and Interior Decorator Has Her Own Fabric Line and Home Decor Collection

Bloom Wild

Bari's book, Bloom Wild: a free spirited-guide to decorating with floral patterns, is an easy-to-follow guide to using floral prints around your home. Bari's design style, which she calls "curated maximalism," can be summed up in an easy-to-remember formula to keep in mind as you decorate your own maximalist home.

Buy the Book: Amazon, $20

The Bottom Line

According to Bari, mixing patterns comes down to this: Contrast + Throughline = Pattern Mixing Success.

Learn More: This North Carolina Artist and Interior Decorator Has Her Own Fabric Line and Home Decor Collection

1. Establish a Color Palette

Draw inspiration from paintings, portraits or from anywhere you connect with the colors. As for how many colors, well, it depends. Bari’s home uses orange, green and pink in varying shades as well as the occasional pop of black to anchor the space.

Learn More: Cultivated Creativity: Tour Bari J. Ackerman’s Maximalist Home Embellished With Hand-Painted Wallpaper

2. Choose the Throughline

The throughline in your selection can be a color that repeats itself in each fabric selection while you contrast the patterns. In this example, purple is the color that repeats itself in each print.

Learn More: This North Carolina Artist and Interior Decorator Has Her Own Fabric Line and Home Decor Collection

3. Pick the Contrast

If the color is your throughline, then the contrast is the difference in print sizes, such as a large floral and a small floral or a floral and a geometric print. Note the large floral motif paired with the tiny vines on the other two fabrics.

Learn More: This North Carolina Artist and Interior Decorator Has Her Own Fabric Line and Home Decor Collection

4. Pick Your Focal Print

While keeping the pattern-mixing equation in mind, look at fabrics that fit your color scheme and decide which will be the focal or “hero” print. Bari tends to use a large floral for her hero print, where the design spreads across the fabric in all directions. The wallpaper is the hero print in this collection.

Learn More: This North Carolina Artist and Interior Decorator Has Her Own Fabric Line and Home Decor Collection

5. Pick a Ditzy Print

Ditzy prints are ones with tiny repeating flowers or bouquets of flowers across the fabric. A true ditzy print is scattered across the fabric, not arranged in rows. Make sure that your ditzy print has the same color as your focal print to ensure your throughline is intact.

Learn More: This North Carolina Artist and Interior Decorator Has Her Own Fabric Line and Home Decor Collection

6. Add Stripes and/or Geometrics

With a hero print and ditzy print, add a third geometric print. This can be stripes or other shapes in a repeating pattern. Just be sure that the main color is present in your geometric print.

Learn More: This North Carolina Artist and Interior Decorator Has Her Own Fabric Line and Home Decor Collection

7. Mix It Up

When you’re comfortable with picking three fabrics, don’t be afraid to add more or substitute some others. You might find that an animal print fits perfectly because the pattern mimics a floral pattern you’ve chosen or because zebra stripes can function as a geometric.

Learn More: This North Carolina Artist and Interior Decorator Has Her Own Fabric Line and Home Decor Collection

8. Combine the Unexpected

Florals and leopard print “don't go together” traditionally, but take a closer look: The scale is different, but the shapes and colors play off one another beautifully.

Learn More: This North Carolina Artist and Interior Decorator Has Her Own Fabric Line and Home Decor Collection

9. Find a Resting Place

When putting fabrics together, you may want to add a blender print, which is generally a solid color with a tiny, all-over print. Blenders provide a small amount of texture while blending into the background to allow your floral selections to pop.

Learn More: This North Carolina Artist and Interior Decorator Has Her Own Fabric Line and Home Decor Collection

Blooms in the Bedroom

Bari's master bedroom features one of her original floral paintings above the bed combined with a similarly colored floral blanket and pillow with dark sheets and a dark damask-print pillow.

See More Photos: Cultivated Creativity: Tour Bari J. Ackerman’s Maximalist Home Embellished With Hand-Painted Wallpaper

Floral Rugs and Geometric Chairs

The floral rug in Bari's breakfast nook, with its pink, orange, yellow, purple and blue hues, matches the geometric prints in the chair because the shades of pink and hints of orange are present in the squares.

See More Photos: Cultivated Creativity: Tour Bari J. Ackerman’s Maximalist Home Embellished With Hand-Painted Wallpaper

A Bold Bathroom

In this bathroom, Bari's design formula is visible in skinny stripes on the towel and bold stripes on the walls, and shades of pink from each pop in the floral shower curtain. If you look closely, you can see more floral art in the same color scheme reflected in the bathroom mirror.

See More Photos: Cultivated Creativity: Tour Bari J. Ackerman’s Maximalist Home Embellished With Hand-Painted Wallpaper

How to Mix Bold Patterns With Tips From Interior Designer Bari J. Ackerman

Related To:

Shop This Look

Forget The Pattern Mixing Rules

What Are You In The Mood For?

Bloom Wild

The Bottom Line

1. Establish a Color Palette

2. Choose the Throughline

3. Pick the Contrast

4. Pick Your Focal Print

5. Pick a Ditzy Print

6. Add Stripes and/or Geometrics

7. Mix It Up

8. Combine the Unexpected

9. Find a Resting Place

Blooms in the Bedroom

Floral Rugs and Geometric Chairs

A Bold Bathroom

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