Mixing period and modern: old details with contemporary furniture

The secret to mixing period and modern is to make the contrast look deliberate. Keep the old architecture, such as cornice, ceiling rose, fireplace and panelling, and set clean, simple furniture against it. Then tie the two together by repeating a shape and by using colour that runs through both. A room that is half one thing and half another feels confused; a room where old and new answer each other feels collected.

In practice, that usually means letting the architecture be the ornament and keeping the furniture calm. A richly moulded ceiling rose above a plain, low sofa reads as confident. The same rose above a reproduction chandelier and fussy furniture can feel like a stage set.

Rule one: contrast with conviction

Half measures are what make mixed rooms look awkward. If you bring in a contemporary piece, let it be clearly contemporary.

• Pick a lead. Decide whether the architecture or the furniture is the star. In most period rooms, the plasterwork should lead and furniture should support it.
• Use simple lines. Clean-lined sofas, plain tables and unfussy shelving sit well against decorative ceilings because they do not compete.
• Contrast materials. Soft, matt plaster looks wonderful next to glass, polished steel, pale oak or a smooth lacquered surface.
• Keep scale generous. High-ceilinged rooms can take a few large, simple pieces rather than lots of small ones.

You can see this approach at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge, where Jim Ede arranged modern paintings and sculpture among old furniture, stones and simple objects in a set of converted cottages. Nothing matches, yet it all feels considered.

Rule two: repeat a shape

The easiest way to connect old and new is to find a shape they share. Period ornament is built from a small set of forms: circles, arches, ovals, fans, leaves. Pick one and echo it.

• Circles. A round ceiling rose above a round dining table or a circular rug.
• Arches. An arched alcove or overdoor pediment repeated in an arched mirror or the curve of a modern chair back.
• Fans and sunbursts. A fan motif in plasterwork picked up by a sunburst wall light or a scalloped headboard.
• Straight lines. Georgian panelling and the grid of sash windows suit the strict geometry of modernist furniture.

The repeat does not need to be literal. It just needs to be noticeable once someone looks for it.

Lighting is a good place to make the link. A modern wall light with a fan or circular profile can sit below an original cornice and quietly echo the rose in the centre of the ceiling. The light is clearly new, the plasterwork clearly old, and the shared shape tells you someone chose them to go together. The same trick works with mirrors, rugs and even the outline of a coffee table.

Let the ceiling be the ornament, and the furniture can be as simple as you like.

Rule three: let colour do the joining

Colour is the quiet thread that holds a mixed room together. Two approaches work well.

Tone on tone. Paint walls, cornice and ceiling rose in one colour, then choose furniture and textiles in close shades of the same family. Old and new merge into one calm palette, and the difference between them becomes a matter of shape rather than colour.

A shared accent. Choose one strong colour and use it in both worlds: a deep green on a modern armchair and on the plaster wall lights, or an ochre cushion that picks up a painted overdoor. Repeating the accent two or three times around the room is enough.

Whichever you choose, use a flat matt finish on plasterwork so the detail stays crisp under modern lighting.

What to avoid

• Stripping out character. Removing cornices or ceiling roses to make a room look modern usually leaves it looking bare. Keep them, or restore them.
• Too many eras. Two or three periods in one room feels collected. Six feels cluttered.
• Bright overhead light. Cool, flat light makes old surfaces look tired. Warm wall lights and lamps flatter both plaster and modern finishes.
• Fake ageing. Distressed new furniture next to genuinely old features rarely convinces. Honest modern pieces look better.

Adding details back

If a room has lost its original features, a new ceiling rose or overdoor can restore the bones before you bring in modern furniture. Our pieces are hand-cast in Shrewsbury and made to order from natural plaster, and they can be painted with ordinary emulsion to suit any scheme.

Browse our heritage and classical collection for traditional profiles, or our modern minimal designs if you want the new elements to carry the contemporary note. For help with proportion, read our guide on how to choose a ceiling rose size.