Start with a shared colour palette

Pattern mixing goes wrong when colour is an afterthought. Before you buy a single cushion, decide on three or four colours that will run through everything in the corner. Pull them from something already there — the sofa fabric, a rug, a favourite print on the wall, even the tones of the floorboards. Write them down and keep the list with you when you shop, because it is remarkably easy to be seduced by a beautiful fabric in completely the wrong blue.

Give the palette a hierarchy. One colour should take roughly sixty per cent of the visual space, a second around thirty, and a third no more than ten as an accent. In a compact seating area this matters more than in a large room, because everything falls within a single glance. A tight palette in a small space reads as considered; a loose one reads as cluttered.

Test your colours in the actual light, too. North-facing rooms pull blues and greys forward, so warm ochre, rust or blush will feel more generous there. South-facing rooms can carry cooler, sharper tones without turning chilly. Buy samples where you can and live with them for a few days before committing.

Vary the scale of your patterns

The most common mistake is choosing prints of a similar scale. Two medium motifs side by side will always look slightly unresolved, however lovely each one is on its own. Think in three sizes instead.

• Large: a blowsy floral, a wide ikat or an oversized check — best kept to one hero surface such as curtains, a rug or a single armchair.
• Medium: a classic stripe, a small trellis, a mid-scale geometric or a repeating leaf motif.
• Small: pin dots, ticking stripes, a ditsy floral or a fine herringbone.

Choose one from each column and you have a combination that will almost always work. Contrast is what makes mixing read as deliberate rather than accidental. In a small seating area, resist the urge to use your large pattern on more than one surface — repeating it everywhere will shrink the room, not expand it.

Use plains to give the eye somewhere to rest

Plains are not the boring option; they are the punctuation. Without them, a mix of florals and stripes becomes a wall of noise, and in a compact space that noise is magnified. A useful rule of thumb is to add one plain fabric for every two patterned ones you introduce.

These plains should sit inside your palette, not outside it. A plain linen in the same dusty green as the leaves in your hero floral will bind the whole scheme together. So will a plain velvet in the secondary colour, which brings depth without adding another motif.

Texture earns its place here as well. A slubby linen, a brushed cotton or a low-pile velvet carries plenty of interest where pattern would be one thing too many. Run a plain fabric over the largest surface in the room — usually the sofa — and let the patterns do their work on smaller pieces.

Choose one lead fabric and let the rest support it

Every successful mix needs a star. Decide whether yours is a floral, a stripe or a geometric, then treat everything else as supporting cast. The supporting fabrics should echo the lead's colours rather than its motif. If your hero is a rose-strewn chintz in blush and sage, a ticking stripe in the same sage and a small dot in the blush will feel like family.

Stripes are especially forgiving in smaller rooms. A vertical stripe on curtains draws the eye upward and makes a low ceiling feel taller, while a horizontal stripe on a blind or a bench cushion gently widens a narrow space. Keep the stripe width in proportion to the room: fine stripes for tight corners, broader ones where there is a little more breathing room.

Layer it into a compact seating area

Now for the practical bit. In a small sitting nook, pattern usually arrives through soft furnishings rather than upholstery, because they are cheaper to change and easier to live with.

• Cushions: work in odd numbers and mixed sizes — a 55cm square, a 45cm square and a small 30cm rectangle is a reliable trio. Mix one plain, one stripe and one floral or geometric.
• Placement: never put two bold patterns directly next to each other. Slip a plain cushion between them so the eye gets a pause.
• Throws: drape one over an arm or the back of a sofa to break up a large expanse of upholstery and add texture.
• Rugs: if your cushions are busy, keep the rug quiet, and vice versa. A rug that sits just under the front feet of your seating will make the area feel intentional and larger than it is.
• Curtains: plain here, unless the rug and cushions are both calm. Floor-length curtains falling to the floor will always add height.

Edit until it feels calm

Stand back and squint. If you cannot tell where one pattern ends and another begins, take something away. Repetition helps too: make sure each colour in your palette appears at least twice in the space, so nothing looks stranded.

Aim for three patterns at most in a small seating area, plus plains and texture. Fewer, bolder choices will always look more confident than a cautious, crowded mix — and in a compact room, calm is the greatest luxury of all.