Adding oomph to a blowsy pattern, as per pop star Lily Allen and David Harbour’s big apple townhouse, is easy. Here are 6 ways to work the showbiz chintz trend in real homes.
Five years ago, pop star Lily Allen and Stranger Things actor David Harbour said I do, and purchased a 19th-century brownstone in Brooklyn, New York.
A public separation has led the former couple to put their four-storey townhouse on the market for just under $8 million through agent Carl Gambino of the Gambino Group at Compass.
The interior of the US$7.995 million listed five-bedroom, four-bathroom property was designed by Billy Cotton and architect Ben Bischoff of Made to create a look that has been described as showbiz chintz.
It takes a keen eye to marry colour, pattern and proportion, along with art and attitude, to weave such spaces together.
Here are six easy ways to bring the pattern play in:
Swish seating for contemporary or country homes
Jane Churchill’s Canya range of prints and embroideries can look as at home in ritzy townhouses as well as country piles.
Orla is a large-scale floral print that has a playful hand-painted quality, with lively shapes and speckled detailing on a linen/cotton/polyamide mix.
It will bring upholstery to life. It costs €160 per metre to order from Collette Ward Interiors.
Spotlight on vertical texture
Lighting company David Hunt epitomises the English country aesthetic, which is considered the cradle of chintz. It is, of course, about much more than just the floral print.
It’s about a juxtaposition of accent pieces that create a slightly eccentric look that shouldn’t look too curated.
Hand-assembled from a vibrant array of lacquered and textured elements, this stacked totem floor lamp lends a room a sculptural quality. You can add a shade, as seen here, or install a supersized bare bulb.
The piece is priced at €1,465, ex delivery and shade.
Anything but plain surfaces
Vesta by fashion house Shrimps is a collection of rugs featuring prints from fashion house Shrimps’ archives, as well as from founder Hannah Weiland’s travels and home life.
The title Vesta comes from the Roman goddess of the hearth, home, and family.
Murano, pictured, evokes the storied glassmaker.
Made using 100 per cent New Zealand wool, the 2.35 metre by 1.65 metre costs from €3,169.95, ex delivery from Pelican House.
Pattern play that doubles as storage
Bring pattern into an open plan kitchen living room with Hale, a painted timber interior, canvas printed inlay dresser by Anthropologie that comes in two sizes and three colour options.
The six-drawer unit, also available as a sideboard, measures 132 cm long and is 56 cm deep and 84cm high and costs €2,370.
The larger nine-drawer unit is perfect for dining accoutrements such as table linen, cutlery and serveware and extends to 192 cm and costs €27525. Both prices are ex delivery.
Bedtime story boho bedding
Technically, this isn’t a chintz print, but its depth of colour and detail demands the kind of attention a bedroom deserves.
Designer Rebecca Monserat and illustrator Alice RubyRoss set up Forivor, a brand that weaves stories into delicately hand-drawn forever bedding that you can gift to children or covet as adults who favour personality in the bedroom.
This double-sided Enchanted Forest quilted blanket, 140cm by 200cm, costs €318, ex delivery.
Dine out on pattern while dining in
Peer closely at House of Hackney’s Earthly Paradise and you will see the words Love is Enough inscribed on the trunks of a grove of flourishing fruit trees.
It is inspired by an embroidery by William Morris’ daughter, the pioneering artist and campaigner, May Morris.
Hidden amidst the winding florals and florid acanthus leaves, the immortal words of her father are depicted in a delicate banner. A roll costs €285, ex delivery.
Pump up the wall volume
Centred around a display of pink florals and a circular chain of blooms, this Susie Q paper by Mind the Gap will make walls and nooks bloom with different varieties, filling the space with a colourful explosion.
You can steal Allen’s décor detail by running the paper up to an invisible picture rail height. It costs €239 per roll ex delivery.
