8 Ways You Can Decorate with the Ultra-Trendy Checkerboard Pattern In Your Home

At once classic and contemporary, the checkerboard pattern is seemingly everywhere right now. You can find it painted or tiled on floors, and it can also be found on a wide range of home decor items, from rugs and curtains to blankets and pillows.

But you can also spot the pattern in more unexpected places like sneakers, coffee mugs, and even smartphone covers. With such a wide array of checkerboard items at your disposal, it’s easy to incorporate the trend into your home. You can go as big on the pattern as you like, or keep it small and subtle. As for color, a black-and-white checkered print will lend a retro vibe while earth tones or pastel pigments offer a modern twist. 

To help inspire a few ideas, here are eight spaces that stylishly use the checkerboard pattern in their home decor, whether they be large-scale items or teeny tiny accessories.

There’s a lot of color and pattern going on in this NYC studio apartment, but the neutral tones of the checkerboard rug really ground the room. It offers a pop of pattern while also holding space for the other graphic elements in the artwork and bedding. Maitri Mody, who shares the space with her pug, says she fell in love at first sight with the space and has filled every inch of the 450 square feet with whimsical accents.

There are pillows aplenty in this Cocoa Beach living room, but the checkerboard bolster pillow stands out from the crowd. Since the couch and other accessories are so colorful, the black-and-white pattern offers the eye a bit of a reprieve. Lizzie Darden, who lives in the home with her boyfriend Shawn, says she likes to start with two or three main colors in a room and then brings in “secondary colors through pops of pillows,” so everything doesn’t appear too matchy-matchy.

There’s no shortage of checkerboard patterns in this Long Beach loft. From the living room rug to the artwork on the walls, it’s apparent that the pattern is well-loved by Haley Boyko, who rents the space with her boyfriend Nick. But the area that really sings is the bathroom, which has a blue-and-white checkerboard shower curtain that plays off the blue sink vanity. And what pairs well with a checkerboard pattern? More checkerboard, of course, as evidenced by the matching bath mat and hand towel.

Space is limited in this 200-square-foot NYC studio, but the curation of artwork and minimal furnishings keeps it feeling open and airy. A checkerboard wall hanging graces the wall above the main sitting area, lending a pop of pattern amid the otherwise neutral decor. Skylar Pittmon lived on a sailboat prior to renting the apartment, so she knows a thing or two about decorating with intention within limited square footage.

Accessories are one thing Yuka and Daniel don’t shy away from in decorating their Echo Park apartment. From a neon-lit palm tree to a rainbow cloud telephone, there’s all sorts of eye candy sprinkled about. In the bathroom, a green-and-cream checkerboard vase with long-stem glass flowers steals the show, while a red-and-white checkered hand towel happily plays second fiddle.

The bedroom of this Brooklyn rental features a colorful array of textures and patterns that delight the eye. Hanging on the wall near the foot of the bed is a small mirror that could potentially be overlooked due to its diminutive size. But thanks to its bold checkerboard pattern and interesting silhouette, it commands your attention instead. Anna Brettschneider, who lives in the apartment with her fiancé Garrett Albury, describes the boudoir as her “happy place,” and it’s easy to see why.

Rainbow is the word in this eclectic NYC rental, which features a technicolor headboard and no shortage of colorful art and textiles. Jessica Stempel, a textile designer who rents the space, DIYed much of the decor. While the kitchen is awash in a sea of rainbow stripes, the checkerboard backsplash, which is devoid of color, tones it all down beautifully.

When you’re a mural artist residing in a beautiful Hollywood home with a large blank wall, you pretty much have to cover it with an amazing wall mural, no? That’s just what Champagne, who lives in the space with her two roommates, opted to do in the living room. Her pattern of choice: a large-scale sage green checkerboard pattern that matches the built-in shelves on the adjacent wall. It’s bold and beautiful!