Bathroom Workbook: 6 Elements of Eclectic Style

If you’re having trouble deciding on which bathroom style is right for you, then why not go with all of them? Eclectic style offers the chance to mix things up and inject a bit of — OK a lot of — personality and color into a room. If any of the following elements ring true, then you’ve found your style.

1. Mixed styles. The defining characteristic of eclectic style is that it mixes styles. Here classic large-format subway tile mixes with modern clean lines, while a glam contemporary bright orange stool sits on traditional penny tile. And the tub screams contemporary, but the sink vanity says farmhouse.


2. Mixed eras. “Something old and something new” applies here. Antiques sidle up to new pieces, and recycled, reused or repurposed elements are almost always present. In the eclectic bathroom here, an old round mirror hangs on a new French wallpaper from Elitis. “And I always shoot for a good mix of machine made and handmade things,” says the bathroom’s designer, Kathy Best. For example, use pieces like local artwork along with manufactured items, like faucets.


3. A classic base and wilder accessories. Designer Stephane Chamard recommends starting with a simple, classic base, like all white. “After that, go a bit crazy with accessories,” he says. “That way it’s a less expensive change if you don’t like it. But you need that base to be basic so you can play with it in different ways.”

Chamard always pushes for the bathrooms he designs to be light and airy, often employing lots of white and gray to keep a clean look that will age well. He likes to show clients items not related to bathrooms in order to develop a sense of their style. “I’ll show them some copper, wood, modern chrome; then as soon as they react on something, I take that as a base and go from there,” he says.

4. Mixed lines and textures. “Clean lines” is not something you’ll hear used to describe an eclectic bathroom. Instead, straight lines are found right alongside curvy ones. Square pieces share the limelight with circular ones.


The same goes for textures. For every smooth surface, you’ll find a bumpy one. For every shiny piece, you’ll see a matte one. “This keeps it more alive,” says Best. “It makes the space stand the test of time. The eclectic rooms I did 10 or 15 years ago still look fresh. I just think good design in general mixes textures, periods and proportions, but makes them all work together.”


5. Things you already own. Many eclectic spaces begin with something the homeowner already has, which is great, because who moves into a home with no possessions? The item can be anything. For example, Best says she was tasked with designing a living room around two purple leopard-print chairs. “My first thought was, ‘How am I going to make this work?’” she says. “In the end those chairs look amazing, and we built around them with cool things that look intentional and right.”


6. Design freedom. There are really no hard and fast rules to eclectic style. The point is to break the rules. You can look at 100 traditional bathrooms and not really get a sense of what type of person lives there. But you can look at 10 eclectic bathrooms and immediately recognize that they belong to 10 unique personalities.

Got an eclectic bathroom? Upload a photo in the Comments section.

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So Your Style Is: Eclectic

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