The one pattern I just can’t do (and why)!

This post was most recently updated on September 22nd, 2019

I thought I could do it, but I couldn’t.

Pattern, that is.

Oh, and by, “pattern”, I don’t mean: stripes, gingham, quatrefoil, herringbone, polka dot, or chevron.  I don’t really consider these to be ‘pattern’. With clean lines and simple color palettes, they are almost the ‘neutrals’ of the pattern world.

No, peeps, the type of “pattern” that I’ve tried but simply can’t do, is full-on, multi-colour floral or plaid.

Now before all you floral-lovers stop reading, let me tell you that I might like it or even LOVE it if I see it in your home.  In fact, many of my friends have stunning drapery and cushions in fabric like that, and their homes look fabulous. But in my own home, I just can’t seem to get comfortable with it.

A few months back, I bought some beautiful cushion covers from Etsy.  Both sets were modern florals (in browns and turquoise) that I thought might help pull together my living room.  Guess where they still are?  The linen closet. Yup.

And, a few weeks ago, I added these floral cushions to our main floor TV room.   You might remember that post. They were ‘freebies’; and by that, I mean that they came with the new brown sofa that we purchased for our living room.  I never intended to use them since that room’s colour scheme is brown/blue.

But before finding them a new home, I decided to throw them on our neutral couch in the TV room, since that room has some touches of red. Immediately, they popped!  Despite my usual dislike of floral pattern, I really started to like them there.

Well, that was short-lived.

Ever so slowly, they began to irritate me.  If you are a decor addict like me, you probably know that feeling well. When something isn’t ‘right’ in a room, it starts out like a little itch and before you know it, you are stuffing those once-loved pillows into a box faster than you can say “you’re outta here”!

And, that’s exactly what happened. Here’s what my couch looks like now.  Ahhhh, so much more peaceful.

The floral pillows were perfectly lovely, and really great quality, but they just weren’t for me…which got me wondering…why don’t I like floral anyway?  Why is it that I like it in others’ homes, but can’t bear it in my own?

If you visit any of the rooms in my home, with a few exceptions, you’ll see that my furniture is almost always a solid colour.   Toss cushions might have some pattern, but it’s almost always a simple one, with two colours at most. Drapery and roman shades are usually solid, or striped with little colour variation.

Yaaaaawn. Sounds pretty boring doesn’t it? Well, I admit it does sound REALLY boring, until you consider a little something called, um, accessories!

If you know me or follow my blog, you’ll already know that I consider myself an accessories junky.  Yup, I’ve got a problem ;-). In particular, wall art and mantel decor are my weaknesses.  My mantel is always seasonally decorated, and almost every room has some kind of ‘gallery’ wall.

Well, I guess that because of my over-use heavy use of acessories, the backdrop (aka walls and furniture) in my home needs to be ‘quiet’.  After all, how could a wall like this one exist in a room that’s dressed with busy upholstery fabric or drapes?

What I am beginning to realize is that, accessories are my ‘floral’.  While some people use multi-colour fabric to pull a room together, I use accessories in the same way.  Whether it’s a gallery wall, or a vignette on top of my hutch, colours and textures are  selected to complement the core elements of the room.  I don’t need heavily patterned textiles because their job has already been done.

That’s why I am perfectly content without any floral or plaid.

But in your home, I bet you I’d love it.

Until next time,

KL