4 Tips for Organising a Room Around a Statement Fabric Pattern

4 Tips for Organising a Room Around a Statement Fabric Pattern

While making a big, bold statement is often a task reserved for wallpaper – the fan-favourite ‘feature wall’ or, in a similar vein, a more conspicuous, contrasting paint colour – there is a lot you can do with your soft furnishings to elevate the atmosphere of a room.

The most obvious – and most effective – option of all is, of course, to centre your room around a statement pattern – something that, at first glance, may seem too loud, large, or dominating to exist harmoniously alongside everything else.

It’s a daunting task, but it’s certainly doable. Here are our tips.

1. Don’t be daunted

Taming a big, bold pattern enough for it not to cause a major disturbance to your room is certainly one of the tougher challenges anyone decorating a home can face – even for the professional interior designers out there. We all know that the smaller the space, the more it can ‘fight back’ against bold prints, but even those of us with larger rooms to decorate can feel a little panicked at the thought of overwhelming it with too big a pattern.

Keep in mind, however, that they don’t call it a ‘statement pattern’ for nothing, and that making a statement means embracing the louder, brasher, bolder side of decorating. Some patterns, like florals, feel like the safer choice – they’re traditional and, as a result, quite easy to introduce into a room. However, incorporating something a little more ‘out there’, such as abstract patterns, can be a lot more daunting.

But, fortunately, there will always be a way to tame a big print, so don’t shy away just because you can’t envision it yet.

2. Use it sparingly, but courageously

These days, spreading a statement pattern around the room in various pieces – an armchair or the bed frame, the curtains, a few throw pillows here and there – is considered to be a little dated. The 1960s saw a wave of interest in matching suites, and, if you liked a fabric swatch, you’d find a space for it in every corner of the room.

These days, most interior design experts will recommend you find one way to use the print in a big way – say, your curtains, or your bedding, or the sofa’s upholstery – and use the rest of your décor to complement or contrast, rather than match.

Even a particularly bold pattern will be lost if you’re only brave enough to use it on a small piece. By all means, upholster a footstool or have a couple of throw pillows made from your fabric if you want, but don’t expect the entire room to revolve around it. It’ll be a part of the décor, rather than a focal point.

3. Introduce more patterns

No, you didn’t hallucinate that. One of the best ways to make a single, large pattern feel more integrated into a space is to introduce a little friendly rivalry between it, and another print. If your statement pattern is the sole pattern in the room, then the entire space can easily feel a little staged – a little too intentional.

There are, of course, some rules to pattern mixing – and this is something that we touched upon in more detail in our guide to mix-and-matching pillows on the sofa or bed.

The most helpful piece of advice for anyone looking to integrate a few secondary patterns into their décor is to vary the size of the patterns. Two large patterns will compete, whereas one large, bold pattern place near a much smaller, more intricate pattern will coexist quite happily. It’s a question of broadening your horizons, and looking at a wide range of fabrics before you make up your mind.

It’s not an exact science, and it can take a little trial and error (and an open mind), but it’s the best solution to a room that feels more like a film set than an expressive space.

4. Put it in view of a mirror

We said before how spreading a single pattern around the room means that you’re treading a fine line between modern style and outdated pattern matching, but there is still something to be said for echoing a single fabric throughout a room – even if you are being careful not to take it to any sort of 1960’s extremes.

One of the best tips we’ve heard for ensuring your fabric gets the spotlight it needs, without overwhelming your décor, is to position it in view of a mirror. This works for curtains, tapestries, upholstery – anything. It means that, from certain angles, your fabric is duplicated but, from others, it’s limited only to the part of the room you assigned it to.

Again, this is one tip that can take a little trial and error before it really pays off – but it can and does pay off in many scenarios.