DALTON, Ga. - Rachel Etheridge said any success she has had at decorating has come because of the disasters she has gone through.
"It's been a lot of trial and error," she said.
Today, the North Georgia home she and Fred, her husband of seven years, share is an eclectic collection of styles, designs and colors.
Although the house is relatively new, its high-ceiling great room, crown moldings, hardwood floors and long windows appeal to her love of older homes.
"We compromised," Rachel Etheridge said. "We have a new home with an old-home feel."
Her decorating taste ran to Early American when she lived in Fairfax, Va., she said, but eventually became more French Provincial. The latter style, she said, reminded her of cottages in the south of France.
The Etheridges' home today includes examples of both. There are mixed woods, braided rugs and marble, iron and brass accessories emblematic of the Early American style; as well as a variety of colors, rusted-metal furniture, tall windows and floral accessories indicative of the French Provincial style.
She said the items in their home today are half what she had before she moved into the home and half what they have purchased since then from antique malls, auctions, consignment shops and other places.
"Most people start with what they have," said Etheridge, a retired psychiatric nurse who later owned an antique shop. "I try not to be set in my ways, to be open."
Among the intriguing pieces in the house are framed wall mirrors she installed to replace the standard vanity mirrors, a dental cabinet that was stripped and painted silver and gold to serve as a sewing machine table and a colorful parlor stove that was stripped of its black paint and rust and is now an accessory in the master bedroom.
"You look and look for the perfect piece," Etheridge said, "then you find it."
A variety of accessories, including the use of colors, stained glass and Oriental influences can bring styles together, she said.
Neutral walls, according to Etheridge, allow for the use of more colors in accessories and a greater variety of patterns in the hanging of pictures and her favored poster art.
Even the black and white checkerboard tile floors in the master bedroom, hobby room and guest bedroom lend themselves to a variety of looks, she said.
GET THE LOOKRachel Etheridge's tricks to mixing decorating styles include:1 Look around before starting to decorate. Get a feel for your style.2 Get a piece you really like (furniture, painting, quilt, etc.) and build the room around it. That helps you select colors.3 Floral patterns, including designs on furniture, help bring a room together.4 Don't be afraid to mix woods or add painted furniture for a warm look.5 Copper makes a kitchen stand out. Although expensive, deals can be had at auctions and antique malls.
Etheridge also uses various collections such as green Vaseline glass, tins, candlesticks and copper to accentuate her decor.
Such arrangements can match and appear formal, she said, while others don't match and appear informal.
The use of both "fits our lifestyle," Etheridge said.
The couple's seven-room home also contains items they made.
Fred Etheridge, for instance, built the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in the office, the framed bulletin board in their hobby room and the greenhouse behind the home in which his wife does various projects.
Meanwhile, she contributed several framed nostalgic collages throughout the house, a patchwork throw that adds color to the great room and a floral stitchery on the great room wall.
Even decorators who have weathered disasters, though, have slips. "When I got through (decorating)," Rachel Etheridge said, "I realized I didn't have any yellow, and yellow is my favorite color."
Naturally, she sprinkled yellow throughout to complete the colorful decor.