Using Large Patterns in Decorating - Upholstered Furniture

Large patterned chair - source - my pinterest board.

I have always loved a dramatic bold pattern in a room setting particularly on upholstered furniture. If well done, it adds drama and interest to the room. It is a little tricky (and sometimes scary) to use the bold patterns but I have tried to incorporate them into my refurbished upholstery offerings over the years and have been pleased with the outcomes.

There are tips and techniques available in decorating magazines and online sources - I have plucked just a few of them but they are easy to find by googling "working with large patterns in decorating".

Love this bright chair - see source above.

Here's a typical list of suggestions:

Playing with pattern Mix patterns such as checks with florals or large-scaled patterns with small-scaled patterns. 

Not sure when enough is enough? Play it safe! Use three different patterns that contrast in scale but relate in color. 

More is more when you confidently mix up to five patterns. To do so, let one large-scaled pattern dominate over one medium-scaled floral and another geometric, and toss in two small-scaled accent patterns (your choice of floral or geometric). Make sure the colors in the large-scaled pattern are repeated in all the others. 

Place pattern everywhere! Put the same pattern on the walls, windows, and furnishings. source

Wow - look at the scale of this one - see source above.

In one article, I found a statement that makes the most sense. It discussed the act of actually choosing a pattern to incorporate and admitted that, in most cases, you just fall in love and work very hard to make it work. It starts with the piece or pattern and then goes from there - that sounds about right to me.

As with anything, pictures tell the story best - here are some photos from my pinterest boards as well as collages of my prior and current large pattern upholstered piece offerings.

I think you can easily see why bringing in large patterns can really make the space and provide a good basis for other decorating elements.

What's not to love about large patterns!