Love Patterns? Try This Design Trick to Pull Any Room Together

THE HUMAN BRAIN loves a good pattern. Evolutionarily speaking, we’re hard-wired to recognize repetitive shapes. They organize the world around us. From a design standpoint, patterns can also help our homes feel harmonic. Applying the same one to multiple elements in a room pulls your décor together. We asked design pros for some tips on nailing the technique.

The Appeal

The right motif in the right places brings order and structure to an interior scheme, said Barrie Benson. In the library of one Charlotte, N.C., home, the local designer used a tartan print in small doses as roman shades and the upholstery of a settee. “There was a lot going on—textures and patterns, books, oriental rugs. The plaid worked because it added straight lines and a kind of framework,” she said.

A bolder repetition of pattern across multiple surfaces can engender a sense of snugness. Elizabeth Hay, a designer who splits her time between Singapore and the U.K., clad the walls and a big sofa in a TV room in the same motif. “It creates an enveloping, cozy feel,” she said.

The Tips

Such pattern echoes work best when deployed in understated ways—on just seat covers and window shades, say—or taken intentionally over-the-top, explained Benson. “One more place would have been too much—unless I did the entire room in plaid,” she said of her limited use of tartan in the library. “You do it completely, or you pick two places.” Treatments that occupy the middle ground tend to look cloyingly matchy-matchy.

But beware: Heavy-handed repetition can skew old-fashioned if the pattern is too fussy or traditional, says Hay. “You used to see rooms with chintz on everything—the walls, the curtains, the bed, the bed skirt—with lots of ruffles and gathers,” she said. “That can feel a bit claustrophobic.”

“What works very well is what we call in French ‘décalé,’” said Paris designer Laura Gonzalez by way of pattern guidance. The translation: offbeat, like the unusual boho geometric she chose for the wall and sofa shown in the photo below.

The Caveats

Patterns are often available as both wallpaper and fabric, but the two renderings are likely printed at different mills, warned Benson. “Make sure you’re getting samples, because often the colors are a little off. They should be very, very close.”

Just as the brain is built for pattern recognition, it instantly detects disruptions. Take care with seaming and matching. The smallest offset can spoil allover patterning. “When you match the lines perfectly, it can look like a sofa is growing from the wall,” Gonzalez said. “There is an infinity illusion,” which can make even a tiny room seem much bigger.

While liberal use of bold patterns calls for courage, Hay cautions against the wishy-washy accent wall. “Your room will feel much busier with just one patterned wall, because it’s not balanced,” she said. If you paper the whole room and carry the pattern to the headboard or the curtains, “it’ll actually be softer on the eye.”

Long-term Sydney residents always had handful of not-so-glamourous nicknames for the building on the corner of Cleveland and Baptist Streets straddling Redfern and Surry Hills, but after a modern rebirth that’s all changed.

Once known as “Murder Mall” or “Methadone Mall”, the 1960s-built Surry Hills Shopping Centre was a magnet for colourful characters and questionable behaviour. Today, however, a $500 million facelift of the site — alongside a slow and steady gentrification of the two neighbouring suburbs — the prime corner property has been transformed into a luxury apartment complex Surry Hills Village by developer Toga Group.

The crowning feature of the 122-apartment project is the three-bedroom penthouse, fully completed and just released to market with a $7.5 million price guide.

Measuring 211sqm of internal space, with a 136sqm terrace complete with landscaping, the penthouse is the brand new brainchild of Surry Hills local Adam Haddow, director of architecture at award-winning firm SJB.

Victoria Judge, senior associate and co-interior design lead at SJB says Surry Hills Village sets a new residential benchmark for the southern end of Surry Hills.

“The residential offering is well-appointed, confident, luxe and bohemian. Smart enough to know what makes good living, and cool enough to hold its own amongst design-centric Surry Hills.”

Allan Vidor, managing director of Toga Group, adds that the penthouse is the quintessential jewel in the crown of Surry Hills Village.

“Bringing together a distinct design that draws on the beauty and vibrancy of Sydney; grand spaces and the finest finishes across a significant footprint, located only a stone’s throw away from the exciting cultural hub of Crown St and Surry Hills.”

Created to maximise views of the city skyline and parkland, the top floor apartment has a practical layout including a wide private lobby leading to the main living room, a sleek kitchen featuring Pietra Verde marble and a concealed butler’s pantry Sub-Zero Wolf appliances, full-height Aspen elm joinery panels hiding storage throughout, flamed Saville stone flooring, a powder room, and two car spaces with a personal EV.

All three bedrooms have large wardrobes and ensuites with bathrooms fittings such as freestanding baths, artisan penny tiles, emerald marble surfaces and brushed-nickel accents.

Additional features of the entertainer’s home include leather-bound joinery doors opening to a full wet bar with Sub-Zero wine fridge and Sub-Zero Wolf barbecue.

The Surry Hills Village precinct will open in stages until autumn next year and once complete, Wunderlich Lane will be home to a collection of 25 restaurants and bars plus wellness and boutique retail. The EVE Hotel Sydney will open later in 2024, offering guests an immersive experience in the precinct’s art, culture, and culinary offerings.

The Surry Hills Village penthouse on Baptist is now finished and ready to move into with marketing through Toga Group and inquiries to 1800 554 556.

Love Patterns? Try This Design Trick to Pull Any Room Together

Decorating experts achieve cohesion by repeating a pattern—say, on the wallpaper and then on a chair cushion. But how much repetition is too much or not enough? Interior designers share their secrets.

The Appeal

The Tips

The Caveats

A Sydney site with a questionable past is reborn as a luxe residential environment ideal for indulging in dining out