Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Thoughts on Stripes



As my week has turned out to be a bit crazy, I decided to dispense with a lot of the chit chat and simply show some photos of big and bold striped walls. I think I first fell in love with stripes after seeing some old photos of Dorothy Draper's work (that woman certainly influenced me and legions of others!). I like stripes of all kinds, but particularly a wide stripe in a graphic color combination- think green and white, red and white, and of course black and white. Of course, with striped walls it's advisable to keep the rest of the room a bit simple. Too many prints fighting each other is guaranteed to give you a headache. That said, you can introduce some pattern into a striped room. Just look at Draper's florals and Redd's animal print below.



I have always adored Dorothy Draper's living room. Those bottle green stripes are beyond snappy! (Image courtesy of Condé Nast Archives)


A striped room by Anne Coyle. I love how the stripes are reflected in the mirrored cocktail table.


Miles Redd used one of his favorite striped fabrics for the walls of this living room. (I know, you've seen this room a million times before, but it's still gorgeous!)


How smashing is this bar in the home of designer Sam Blount? The black and white stripes mixed with red curtains and flowers is bold and snazzy.


My, oh my! Are these some stripes or what? Here, the stripes are railroaded rather than vertical. Although a bit too gutsy for my tastes, I just had to show you this photo. (Design by Melvin Dwork, whose work I do like!)

Photo at top: A Dorothy Draper designed room at the Arrowhead Springs resort. Unfortunately, I don't know if the stripes are pink and white or blue and white.

24 comments:

  1. I think stripes can add architecture to a room that is feeling 'lost' or bland. I always love seeing that room by Miles Redd -one of my favorites!

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  2. I like the (Ionic) column stand in Miles Redd's room, with the glazed vase on top. Well, I would, wouldn't I?

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  3. Michael Greer agreed with you about stripes, saying they improve any situation. The Mel Dwork room is WOW ... and since it's a dining room, you wouldn't have to be in it for very long, so the gutsiness could be handled easily ... I especially love seersucker stripes though and would love to decorate a sitting room with dead white walls, blue-and-white seersucker slipcovers, and rush matting, and lots of gloss-black-framed prints of Ottoman courtiers ...

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  4. Change and Columnist- That Redd room is still one of my favorites. Glad you both like it too :)

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  5. Aesthete- Good point re: the dining room. Get thee a sitting room and decorate it immediately! I can envision it now...and I'm swooning :)

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  6. I love this room. But I agree with 'be the change' if I spent too much time in it I think I would have to hide under the table. It makes me dizzy.

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  7. Omar- I have a powder room that is black and white striped. If you look at the stripes too long, you can get dizzy. When I walk in the room and I look at my stripes and think about how much I love it... then I focus on something else in the room :)

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  8. Mrs. E. and I are going to paint our bedroom in horizontal gold on gold tone stripes. These examples are striking! And very inspiring.

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  9. I love stripes! I think it brings order & a sense of glamour!

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  10. Love how you mixed in the Blount and Dwork examples Jennifer.

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  11. Note the Arrowhead-room carpet ... it is laid in narrow-width strips, which nobody does anymore but which, like muntins on windows, adds much charm ...

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  12. {J}- I agree about the glamour bit...which is probably why I like stripes!

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  13. Aesthete- Can you tell me why they no longer lay carpet in such a manner? Too labor intensive?

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  14. Dear Peak, I think not only because of labor and cost issues but also because most people (namely clients) can't stand the seams. Which explains why wall-to-wall was invented, I presume. I wonder if any manufacturers even make narrow-width carpeting anymore.

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  15. I also love the stripes you showed on your post on Turkish tents! I so much enjoy your site!

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  16. I can't tell from the photo - in the Dwork dining room, is the folding screen a built-in covering storage, or a free-standing screen painted to blend with the walls?

    Although I'm not wild about the walls in this room, I would trade a couple toes for those chairs!

    Tristan

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  17. To address the point about narrow width carpeting, most Brussels Weave carpets are woven in 27 inch strips. Those seams do NOT bother people of taste. I was once shown the original of the rose and ribbon carpet that had been in Nancy Lancaster's Tobacco Bedroom at Hasley Court~it was reduced to a fragment, but what surprised me most was how supple and cloth-like it was. Made in the 1830s, it might have been attached to an undercarpet to make it stable.

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  18. Great post Jennifer. I can never get enough of stripes. I love them!

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  19. Great post! I loved the Domino issue with Amanda Peet on the cover. She is a stripe addict and makes it look so easy. My favorite is the Miles Redd. I also just picked up the best red and white stripe rug at Ikea! It's big and bright and beautiful for summer.

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  20. Anonymous3:45 PM

    Stripes always seem very "old lady" to me, but done right it's "chic old lady who doesn't take crap from anyone." And that's a look I like!

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  21. I love vertical stripes on a wall! I think they add a lot of height to a room and can look very chic in the right colors..

    Emily @ Material Girls

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  22. I love stripes but black and white are my favorite

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  23. I've always Loved stripes! The Sam Blount hallway with all of the draped fabric is wowsers!

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