Ides of Design – Print & Pattern tips!
Prints and patterns are often considered the secret weapon of interior design. They bring in color, texture, attention, and interest to a space. The key is knowing how to strategically deploy them!
How ALL rooms take shape – client presentations!!
If you have ever worked with BHD you know nothing happens without a design presentation. We always begin the design process with hard samples, either pulling them directly from our own resource library or ordering memos from various vendors. It is amazing how pattern and prints help form concepts for entire rooms.
Colorful bold zigzag curtains paired with colorful striped pillows work in this room because they are balanced. The curtains stand up to the wood panel walls and the pillows draw in the colors of the curtains.
The most common blunder when it comes to prints and patterns is scale. People think a small pattern will make a space look bigger. This is mistake 101 when it comes to using wallpaper in your home. Small rooms like big prints and big rooms like big prints! Typically, we use overscaled prints on the walls and window treatments and small prints and patterns for accessories like pillows.
This bathroom is spectacular for many reasons but we absolutely LOVE the wallpaper. The scale of the paper is just right for the space, large enough to add interest but small enough that it doesn’t overpower. The geometric, rounded print pairs nicely with the more angular lines of the custom cabinetry.
Sometimes the perfect print is least expected. Clients are often afraid of charismatic prints because they worry they will tire of them. Don’t be afraid to make a statement! Powder rooms are the perfect room to use a wallpaper you love but can’t imagine anywhere else in your home.
We imagine guests taking their time in this powder room as they enjoy looking at the wallpaper like it is a piece of art!
Hopefully once you have explored the use of a print in a space like a powder room, you’ll be open to using a large print in other rooms in your house. Wallpaper is really a great design tool since it packs a bunch for not a very large investment!
Can’t get much bolder than this! By keeping the furniture and accessories minimal we let the wallpaper take center stage!
Another thing to remember is accessories and textiles are a great way to add print and pattern. It sounds like a no brainer but you would be surprised how many homes, particularly bedrooms and living rooms, that have not a single decorative pillow or pattern!
Here we have a cool mix of print, pattern, and color!
Even traditional, everyday surfaces can come with print and pattern and add visual interest to your home. Look at the variety on something as innocuous as hardwood floors and the charred wall cladding! Designers know to think of every detail when putting a room together. Every small decision counts!
Print and pattern is everywhere!
Hope you’ve enjoyed the Ides of Design series! Let us know if you have any design questions!
