In the lead up to Christmas, this winter we need some cosy colour and pattern on the chilly, grey days to warm our homes, lift our spirits and have some fun. We love naturals but pops of colour make everything glow. Think of colour on your floors like wearing jewellery – crisp white diamonds might be the traditional Christmas sparkle but kaleidoscopic jewels bring a welcome cheer this time of year.
The January issue of House & Garden is devoted to Winter Living but there is no sight of white on the cover. Instead, we see the colourful Bloomsbury flat of Ben Pentreath.
Here are our tops tips for colour and pattern play this Christmas.
– Pattern pops
Fair Isle by Margo Selby for Alternative Flooring is like having your favourite Christmas jumper carpet your floors. This vibrant pattern makes punchy runner for hallways and stairs against snowy white boards. White or other light neutrals allow the eye to take a breather from all that pattern goodness, and can add to the depth of a space.
– Pattern Pace
Like our lives, our homes need a change of pace. Living spaces can take colourful patterns with verve but bedrooms are places for softer shades and nature-inspired designs just like Quirky B Daisy by Ashley Hicks or Geo honeycomb in duck egg. Both are beautiful to wake up to.
– Pattern partners
Spread pattern through rooms by combining different patterns in the same tone or use one pattern in two shades that complement each other. Ben Pentreath for Alternative Flooring has designed three designed with a linking geometric theme.
‘I wanted each carpet to relate to one another – meaning, perhaps, that you could move from pattern to pattern in a project, but with a common unifying theme. Some patterns we wanted to be very rich other colours wanted to be much more neutral.’ Ben Pentreath
– Practical Pattern
Alternative Flooring’s distinctive Quirky B patterned carpet is not just stylish but practical. Patterns don’t show marks while wool is both soft and strong. Little wonder the whole nation is warming to the comfort of wool carpet and the joy of pattern.
’I love pattern, and especially on the floor. It gives instant character and vitality to a space, as well as usefully hiding marks and damage (as a father, I know about that!)’ Ashley Hicks
– Patternity
This season’s buzzword and also the clever title of a new book – ‘Patternity a new way of seeing: the inspirational power of pattern’. Here are pattern-related images from a myriad of sources across the worlds of fashion and interiors to art, architecture and science, food and drink to technology and education – juxtaposed in an uplifting tome that will cheer up anyone’s Christmas.
‘Patterns are something we come across every day. We wear theme, we walk wear them, we walk over them, we even eat, drink and think them – we always have and we always will.’
If you like to read more about colour and pattern on floors go here….