That all sounds interesting, but how does it relate to decorating. Well, as renters, we often do select or combine elements from a variety of sources. Especially if it is your first rental or your first time on your own. You many have inherited furnishings from family or leftover pieces from previous roommates. If you are a first time renter, you are most likely on a strict budget and one source might be shopping garage sales or thrift stores. Can it all be brought together and given a look of cohesion and style? Most definitely!
By using some or all of your pieces, you can accomplish an eclectic style that is uniquely your own. It doesn't matter if you prefer modern, country, contemporary or traditional; eclecticism can be applied successfully.
The easiest and most cost effective way to bring cohesion to a variety of furnishings is to use paint. By painting different styles of furniture in the same color or color tone, you bring unity to the space. This also keeps any one piece from standing out as different! For instance, if you don't have mathcing bedside tables you can paint them the same color so that they coordinate.
Another way to bring unity is with fabric. A Slipcover in the same fabric can make a traditional wing back chair and a contemporary sofa with straight lines work quite well together. Use of coordinating fabrics in curtains and pillows will also bring a sense of unity to your room.
What if you don't like painted furniture? Well, you can also use stain and coordinate pieces. Pick whichever piece has the stain you like and stain the others to match. I did this before when I had two matching side tables with spindle legs and a coffee table with queen anne legs. The coffee table had the mahogany stain I liked so I sanded the side tables and stained them to match. It would have probably been easier to change the coffee table since it had such simple curves to sand, while I had to deal with the nicks and crannies of the spindles on the side tables. On the other hand, it's easier to go dark from light and the side tables were a blonde colored wood. Once they had the similar dark stains, they looked quite nice in the same room. If sanding and staining sounds like more than you want to deal with, but you have quality pieces of wood furniture, you may want to have it professionally done.
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