No, it shouldn't match!

I was going to say that I'm sorry, but buying a three-piece combo is lazy and looks like you haven't thought about it. But actually, I'm not remotely sorry to say that: it's true. It gives the impression that you just loaded the whole thing into the cart (virtual or otherwise) and didn't give it another thought. You don't need a three-piece combo, you need a sofa and two chairs. You can have two matching sofas and a different chair, if you like. But the point is that it should look like three individual pieces of furniture that you thought about, cared about and made a decision about.

Now, in recent years, this has become a bit of a trend when it comes to kitchen chairs, with a passion for all different types that look like they were salvaged from various skips in the neighbourhood. That was probably charming when the first few people did it, but it's become rather a cliché and now looks as though you're trying too hard to be fashionable. It also, I'm willing to bet, looks a bit like the artisan pizzeria at the end of the road.

I know, it's a minefield, this decorating lark. So, here's the thing: you could have, for example, two matching Eames chairs at the ends of the table, which is reasonable because more than that would cost a fortune, and four different chairs around the sides (two might be more realistic, looking at the size of my table, but you get the drift). Or have six matching chairs in different colours. In other words, six mismatched chairs is a cliché, but one pair and four others is good.

Back in the sitting room, try to have a theme or shape or fabric to tie your furniture together. A grey sofa, a grey-and-white patterned armchair and a plain chair with wooden arms, for example. Something that basically and this is another rule looks like you meant it. You can have two lamps at different heights and styled with matching lampshades. All your cushions can be different. If you have a pair of chairs you can paint the legs of one of them a different colour. I have a pair of chairs in my house which I bought specifically because they came with different-coloured legs. They don't sell them any more, but you could DIY it.

By which I mean: you can be as mismatched as you like, but it has to look as though there was a decision, a thought process, a reason for what you have done. Otherwise, it's just lifted from the catalogue, and if that was want you wanted to do you wouldn't be reading this article.