Keep it simple.
The easiest way to work your patterned sofa is to let it be the one big thing going on in the room. Choosing simple colors and shapes for the rest of the room will keep that huge expanse of pattern from becoming too overwhelming.
Shown above:
1. A light, airy space and simple white furnishings allow this pattern to shine. Skona Hem via From the Right Bank.
2. The cowhide rug and bit of animal print are a little more daring — the mostly unadorned white walls provide a nice balance. David Report via Apartment Therapy.
3. The patterned sofa that started it all for me. I love the idea of a traditional sofa updated with a really bold, graphic print. The rest of the room is quirky enough, but in neutral colors that don't compete with the pattern. Domino Magazine via Apartment Therapy.
4. This living room from Lonny plays it safe with neutral colors; the hint of malachite in the room beyond keeps things from getting too boring.
5. A restrained palette allows this bold black and white sofa, seen in an interior from Skona Hem, to take center stage.
Shown above:
1. Red, white, blue and black is bold and sophisticated in this interior from Lonny.
2. The bold blue in this living room from Design*Sponge works because it picks up on a hint of blue in the pattern.
3. Bold and blue from House to Home.
4. Green, green, green — you might not quite say it matches, but somehow it works. From Jason & John's Hyper Saturated Home.
5. Neutrals with a splash of yellow, from Dwell Studio.
Go for broke.
Sometimes, way too much is exactly what you need.
Covering the wall behind the sofa with the same print as the sofa? Now that's bold. Interior from Skona Hem.
Why does this riot of pattern inspire envy and not seizures? It helps that the pattern on the couch and on the wall have the same background color (white) and are similarly scaled. Or maybe there's just some kind of special crazy pattern mojo going on. From the brilliant designers at Demystifying Design. More is more.
Ready to take the plunge? We've rounded up 10 of our favorite boldly patterned sofas here.
(Images: as credited above)
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While I can sort of appreciate most of these in context and for somebody else, I'd be VERY itchy with all that pattern!
Agree- these rooms look put together. However I would feel very restricted by a patterned sofa. I much prefer a solid sofa that you can play up with different pillows, throws, etc.
I would complement a friend on her gutsy move if she/he got a patterned sofa, but agree with the others - its not for me.
Not for me. However, that little pug in the last picture -sitting on the sofa with the gorgeous Josef Franke (I think it's his) fabric is completely adorable and the perfect accessory for any room, patterned or not.
I also am mysteriously drawn to that pink Victorian-y table next to the bed in the same picture. And I don't much like pink OR Victorian. Must be something about the rosy glow surround the itty wee cutems Pugalicious puppy.
yeah I think anyone that grew up with a patterned sofa won't have one as an adult. Ours: covered in little covered wagons
I like the very first one the best; the large windows and all-white furniture (apart from the printed sofa, of course) make it work. I do like the green leaf-print sofa in the last photo, but don't like all the busy-ness of the rest of the room. The one with the matching wallpaper is just too much like something my grandmother would've had.
And for ec05, I completely agree; it's hard to like anything that might have been in one's parents' home. For me, it's beige. My parents had everything covered in brown fabric with beige walls and curtains! Not for me.
I'm still mourning the glorious red chintz floral sofa that I owned from 1986 till 2008. My mom said I would get tired of it. Nope. Its pattern (from the Victoria and Albert museum) was vibrant, its polished surface repelled cat hair, and its color made any room come alive. And a hint: a pattern shows spots, stains, and tears much less than a solid. Trust me.
I've had nothing but patterned sofas in my apartments. Solids have never excited me and the beige/grey/greige sofas that are in stores now are just too boring. I don't have a sofa at all now and probably won't buy one. My chairs (patterned) are enough.
Getting ready to redo my living room, and we're going with the solid neutrals approach for the furniture - entirely monochrome (even the grey flooring) with splashes of bold color. Yellow and turquoise pillows, bold (and sometimes neon) art, and my colorful collection of vintage clocks. Heaven on Earth for me.
So many great examples! And so refreshing to see leadership on design concepts that really are risky and difficult. It's true mastery when you can make these beautiful patterned sofas work so well -- much more so than when people paint everything gray and then congratulate themselves for choosing just for the right "pop of color" for the throw pillow ("We found this luxurious red cushion, which is so much better than the blue one we had considered, which wouldn't have worked at all"). A huge part of decorating with a boldly patterned sofa is the process of learning how to pick something big that you can live with for a long time. But another huge part, apparently, is the process of discarding the common wisdom that patterned furniture is no longer viable.