Sometimes a striking set of lines is just what a scheme needs, whether you’re breaking up a sea of chintz or embracing a full-on contemporary scheme
While there’s no strict formula for how to combine patterns in a room, it is one of the questions we find ourselves asking interior designers most frequently. The choices they make are often ones we just wouldn’t be brave enough to make ourselves, combining different scales and crucially different types of pattern – florals with stripes, chintzes with checks, and delicate block prints with larger graphic designs. If you want an interior to look classic but up to date, the key has to be in the mix, and often the secret sauce that makes a scheme look youthful is a geometric pattern. It could be something super modern that draws the eye like a large scale monochrome print, or it could be a sweeter hand block printed pattern that makes a relatively calm backdrop to other designs. We’ve gathered some of our favourite rooms that feature geometrics to study exactly how it’s done…
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Simon Brown1/14Simple chequerboard patterns are all the rage at the moment, and they work beautifully to inject a bit of youthfulness into a more traditional scheme. In this London house by Sims Hilditch, the team has used Studio Atkinson’s “Chequerboard” in toffee for the armchair, which works surprisingly well against a backdrop of de Gournay chinoiserie wallpaper. They have kept the curtains plain to avoid too much clashing pattern.
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Owen Gale2/14The fun, colourful interiors of the 8 Holland Street townhouse in Bath feature lots of wonderful modern fabrics and wallpapers, including this blue and white ‘Small Medallions’ pattern by the mid-century print legend Peggy Angus (available through Blithfield). It’s an unusual choice for a bathroom but makes a delightful backdrop to white fittings and a ‘Frank’ rug from Svenskt Tenn.
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Paul Massey3/14Gloucestershire-based Rapture & Wright is one of our favourite sources for hand-printed geometric textiles, and the home of the founders is a perfect showcase for their designs. The bedroom is a masterclass in mixing scales, with their pale celadon ‘Iznik’ wallpaper offering a surprisingly gentle backdrop for an armchair in one of their best-known patterns, the larger-scale ‘Moorish Maze’.
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Paul Massey4/14Here’s Rapture and Wright’s ‘Moorish Maze’ again, freshening up the heavily beamed bedroom of a 17th-century cottage in the Cotswolds. Designer Nadine Finnegan has contrasted it with a pretty bolster pillow in a Brunschwig & Fils chintz and a chequerboard rug from Tate & Darby, in a vibrant and youthful combination of patterns.
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5/14A similar play of pattern scales is on display in the sitting room of a London house by Tom Morris, where the wallpaper is the small-scale ‘Charmed’ design by Diddletron, while the sofa is covered in the statement making ‘Hanging 1925’ from Christopher Farr Cloth, which was inspired by an Anni Albers design.
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Mark Roper6/14Another great statement sofa stands out against a plain backdrop in this 15th-century house in Sussex by Phoebe Hollond. The sofa is upholstered in Le Manach’s ‘Benin’, which is supported by a stripey armchair and a footstool with a tonal red trim.
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James McDonald7/14Small spaces lend themselves well to busy wallpapers, and designer Kate Guinness has made excellent use of Ottoline’s multicoloured ‘Tulip Fields’ pattern in the library of this Kensington house.
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Alexander James8/14Another Ottoline favourite, ‘Chintamani Trellis’, creates an enveloping feel in a child’s room in this London house by Studio Peake. The team has used it on the inside of the bed nook, for the walls, ceiling and blind, to distinguish the space from the rest of the room.
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A 16th-century barn in Somerset converted into an austerely beautiful home by Jonathan Tuckey
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Paul Massey9/14For a striking geometric blind fabric that seems to work brilliantly in practically any kind of interior, we love Nicky Haslam’s ‘Shutter Stripe’. Available in a range of colourways, it can make an eye-catching graphic element in a more traditional space, and also hold its own among more modern materials. In this London house by Ben Pentreath, roman blinds in ‘Shutter Stripe’ linen in new-mown green provide a bright accent against walls in ‘Bromine’ by Emente.
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Boz Gagovski10/14African textiles can be a beautiful way to add geometric pattern without it seeming too stark, as they tend to be quite complex in their design. In Benedict Foley and Daniel Slowik’s Hackney flat, the designers have used strips of navy and white Ewe Kente cloth from Ghana to make their curtains.
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Boz Gagovski11/14Used well, a bold monochrome geometric fabric can create a pleasingly mid-century scheme, as these hand-dyed Malian curtains have done in fashion buyer Sasha Sarokin’s London house, contrasting nicely with the rich tan shade of the walls.
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Paul Massey12/14Nicola Harding is a master of combining patterns, as you can see in this beautiful 18th-century house on the banks of the Thames. In one of the bedrooms, she has used the small scale ‘Tile’ design in a custom colourway from Galbraith and Paul as the backdrop to a loudly patterned rug and plenty of other colourful textiles
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A 16th-century barn in Somerset converted into an austerely beautiful home by Jonathan Tuckey
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10 newbuild rooms that demonstrate how to add character to a blank canvas
-
Five clever layout tricks for small bedrooms
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Boz Gagovski13/14The bright yellow colour of this living room by Anna Haines is bold enough not to need much pattern elsewhere, but we adore the fun geometric pattern on the armchair – Susan Deliss’ ‘Trebizond’ fabric.
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Owen Gale14/14Molly Mahon’s geometric block prints are always a joyful addition to an interior. In her own Sussex cottage, she has used two slightly different scales of pattern on the sofa and ottoman in the living room. The sofa is in her classic ‘Luna‘ fabric, while the ottoman is in ‘Trellis‘.
