For most families, the kitchen — and more specifically, the kitchen table — represents the cozy heart of the home. Because of this, many home decorators try to create a nook filled with so much ambiance that meals automatically taste better and conversations flow longer. Decorative elements like bench seating, a sleek black shiplap accent wall, and plenty of wiggle room go a long way toward facilitating such experiences in the dining space. If that design fix sounds even vaguely familiar to you, then chances are you caught Season 5, Episode 7, of “Fixer Upper”: “The Baker House.” Celeb designer Joanna Gaines used a focal wall and bench seating to turn the Baker house into what can only be called country sleek.

Gaines situated the bench seat on a black shiplap wall. On the top portion, shelves created a resting place for plants, pictures, and cookbooks. A wooden farm table separated the bench seat from four charcoal gray retro-ish padded bucket seats. Two hanging lamps illuminated the table. The wall itself provided a visual juxtaposition to the wooden table, and indeed, to much of the rest of the kitchen where decorative blue tiles reminiscent of French Provincial or French country decor, wood accents, and painted cabinets reign supreme. It’s indicative of the sleek and sophisticated look that’s replacing the cluttered but cozy kitchen trend. However, thanks in large part to the accent wall playing off of some country design features, it’s entirely cozy and inviting, too. That’s the power of mixing and matching design elements in a space.

Juxtaposition is a key design concept that centers around bringing together two decorative elements that contrast each other. In the case of the Baker house, Joanna Gaines positioned a black accent wall (a design feature that’s common in upscale luxury homes) next to country decor features instead of opting for a more “logical” rustic accent wall common in traditional decor. Depending on your design tastes, you could augment elements of one or the other or both of these separate design styles to invite even more visual contrast into your kitchen space.

Let’s take the country decor side of things. The plain wood farm table is lovely and functional, and given that it doesn’t have stain or paint, it comes across as visually plain (though not boring) when positioned next to the wall. You could also swap out the plain table and exchange it for something more shabby chic. This trade works because the shabby chic would look beat up, but lovely, standing next to the slick black wall. As a result, both features would really stand out.

The other juxtaposition option you have here would be to place mismatching chairs at the dining table opposite the bench seat. The key to making something like this work is to choose chairs that look really opposite from each other. When you work with pieces that are so dramatically different from one another, the result appears intentional, as opposed to just looking like they were thrown together. Mix-and-match elements are big in country style, so having unmatching chairs plays right into this design aesthetic.

It’s possible to introduce even more contrasting decorative elements to the dining table area, and not all of them have to do with trying to work two different design styles into the space. For example, bringing in more color offers another way to create contrast. The table or the wall could again get some attention here. It’s not unusual to see painted wood pieces — painted everything, really — in country design styles. A fun option here would be a sunshine yellow table. If it’s the wall you’d like to decorate, then pieces of colorful pottery hanging on the wall as decoration are an option.

What color you choose would be dependent on the room’s other decorative features. The celeb designer included a multi-colored rug that lays below the kitchen island. Although she didn’t introduce much red into her design, Joanna Gaines could have thanks to that rug. And given that red is also a popular color in French Provincial styles, a design style she already introduced with the blue tile, the color wouldn’t look out of place.

The other option you might want to try here is colorful artwork on the accent wall. As it stands, the wall is void of any. Artwork painted on battered wood instead of canvas that features roosters, daisies, or gardening elements would work here. Or you could go with both a color and a style contrast by hanging up a bright pop art piece featuring food, provided that it boasts at least some of the colors that the other of the design elements bring into the room, like the reds and the blues.