Practical, pretty and oh so punchy, the patterned sofa is having something of a renaissance. We have spotted them in houses across the design spectrum, from refined striped numbers in pared-back schemes, to full blown florals in charmingly eclectic rooms. They're a great choice for busy households, too, proving better equipped than their plain counterparts at hiding stains and coping with daily wear and tear. Below, we've pulled three rooms from our archive that demonstrate how to stylishly incorporate a patterned sofa into a room.
Balance with natural materials
Ceara Donnelley's Manhattan apartment has a distinctly Provençal style, with its plaster walls, exposed beams and terracotta floor. Though the room is crammed full of charming pieces, it doesn't feel overcrowded because each item works with the space's centrepiece: the patterned sofa. Found at auction, Ceara reupholstered the sofa in Claremont's ‘Tree of Life’ fabric, which is full of rich pinks, greens, yellows and blues to pull from. Overall, the space is an inviting haven.
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Stripes on stripes
In this Arts & Crafts house by Nicola Harding, stripes abound. Dressed in an autumnal palette, the room feels calm and relaxed, with a warming, welcoming air. Nicola has employed two matching sofas in a vintage fabric to provide a lovely ground from which the rest of the scheme is layered. To keep things feeling fresh, she has also added pops of brilliant blue to lift the room.
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More is more
In Martha Ward's west London house, she has demonstrated how to layer pattern upon pattern without letting things tip over into chaos. Her sofa is from Love Your Home and is upholstered in a Virginia White Collection fabric chosen for its Bloomsbury-esque qualities. It picks up on the joyful colour of the mirror's frame and sits beautifully alongside the ‘Moorish Maze’ fabric on the ottoman.
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