Mixing antique and contemporary without a false note

A successful interior is never a catalogue of periods. Choose one dominant register — usually contemporary — and let antiques act as accents: a Louis XVI commode in a white hallway beats six pieces of the same century lined up.

Then play with scale. A large antique mirror above a low console, a small eighteenth-century bedside table next to a very wide bed: the contrast of dimensions creates the rhythm that symmetry destroys.

Finally, look for a shared material. The brass of a modern light speaks to the bronzes of an antique piece; the oak of a worktop answers a rustic bench. One thread is enough to link two centuries.

A last piece of advice: do not restore everything. Visible wear tells you the object has lived — precisely what new furniture lacks.