Decorating Myths - Use of Multiple Patterns

Demonstration of Mixed Patterns from Article Below.

MYTH: Choose one pattern to be the star of the room

REALITY: Through artful pairing you can feature two, three—even five!—fabulous patterns as long as you keep the color scheme similar, and get creative with scale. link to article

Designer Charles Faudree

An article in Veranda Magazine got my attention. It debunks 10 myths about decorating and one is about the use of patterns. It reminded me immediately of a customer I am working with who loves Charles Faudree link to pinterest page highlighting his decors, the internationally known interior designer (unfortunately no longer with us). His trademark look, besides his sweet Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, was French Country and he loved to mix 3, 4, 5 even 6 patterns.

Interior designer Charles Faudree, long a favorite of Traditional Home readers, was known for his fondness for all things French. He was based in Tulsa, where he had an interior design studio and shop. The multitasking and highly versatile designer—who enjoyed an international following—wrote popular books on design, led design tours of his beloved French countryside, and designed wallpaper and fabric. He designed both quaint cottages and lavish formal homes. “I’m a big believer in the mix,” he said. “A single object on a tabletop or a single work of art on the wall can be nice, but for me, mixing collections provides the most excitement.” link to article.

 My customer (homes in Maine and Maryland) is decorating the latter home and wants to invoke the spirit of Charles Faudree in her selection of fabrics and particularly patterns. I am loving the collaboration as we find and refurbish several French style wing chairs, a leggy chaise lounge and a compact settee.

In support of the notion of putting together multiple patterns, I pulled some photos from my 2013 and 2014 collections and feel that they do work together very well.  There may be some obvious lessons here!

Just reviewing my choices, I drew several conclusions:

Mixed patterns work when:

• patterns and colors are clear and crisp - not too many colors or too complex of a pattern
• some of the patterns are stripes and checks which work with any graphic or floral pattern
• colors are complementary or in the same color group (except blues - see next point) - I love combos of green and blue as well as yellow, blue and white
• including many variations of blues and whites (some designers feel you can never go wrong with blue and white combos unless you have too little variation in the color hues)
• space for solids is allowed in the mix - it could be the walls, larger furniture pieces (e.g., sofa) or window treatments

I enjoyed reviewing (and debunking) this myth and hope it will encourage others to be more willing to play with patterns. What are your favorite pattern mixes?