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.”