It's Time for Texture... texture is on the decorating scene in a big way. Consider brick, wood paneling, cane vinyl wallcoverings, burlap papers, tweeds, cut velvets, linens and crewels. Vinyl asbestos tiles are easily installed (!). Walls can be covered in an orange, white and beige grasscloth.
Except for the scary asbestos tiles, which should be removed anywhere they're found, this is still pretty sound advice. There's nothing more classic than beautiful wood paneling, and nothing worse than bad wood paneling. Grasscloth can be mindful of tropical bars or more sophisticated rooms, with beautiful detailing. Donghia has a wallcovering collection that includes some beautiful grasscloths as well as vinyl coverings in teapaper, raffia, bamboo and tapacloth look-alikes.
Crewel is a classic texture and it can be found on everything from upholstery to pillows, from bedding to clothing. It was widely used in colonial times in the US, but most of it that you find these days is made in India. Crewel is different from needlepoint in that crewel-work doesn't cover the entire fabric. One of the most common patterns is the Tree of Life, a variation of which is shown below.
Except for the asbestos tiles, I think that it's still Time for Texture!
I went to an open house last year, and the powder room had just been redone in a grasscloth wallpaper. It was incredibly sophisticated and beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYikes, asbestos! Little did they know at the time. I love crewel and your example is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who used grasscloth in a barroom heavily accented in red. Terribly sophisticated.
ReplyDeleteAsbestos? Holy cow!
ReplyDeleteWas that you who posted to the WashPost's Home Front chat today about The Book Thing? I practically screamed out your blog's name when I saw the first post about this place during the chat.
Yep... I was the second person who mentioned Book Thing. Then someone asked what Pigtown was.
ReplyDeleteI think grasscloth is quite chic. I'm also a fan of crewel work too.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of texture and you have some great examples here! Love grasscloth and your example of crewel is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteafter seeing a game room papered in steel blue grass cloth (in elle decor, i think) i fantasize covering every wall in my living room in it. i'll never do it, but it's fun to dream about.
ReplyDeleteI love the crewel samples you shared here. You know what a fan I am of Tree of Life :)
ReplyDeleteI have always loved grasscloth. For me, it never went out of fashion. We even painted the grasscloth in our dining room. The paperer laid one strip upside down and it drove me to madness, so I painted it and it looks like heavily slubbed fabric. I saw some rafia wallovering at Williams-Sonoma home last night that I want to cover the master bedroom in.
ReplyDeleteAnd *I* have that Carlton Varney book! I bought it from the library. Also a couple more.