Stripes For Your Rooms – How To Use Stripes Well

Using stripes for your room décor can be a visually stimulating experience if done right. We discuss a few more basics about striped décor before you actually take the plunge.

In my last article we discussed some of the basics of putting stripes in your living room. In this article we go beyond to the other rooms as well as see some more important aspects you must know before you stripe up your rooms.

Horizontal or Vertical?

This is perhaps the first question that will spring to mind the moment you decide to go for stripes in your room decoration plans.

Narrow vertical stripes have the effect of giving an illusion of more height to the room, so narrow stripes would fit in well in a small room with a low ceiling. On the other hand, the broader stripes tend to make the ceiling look lower, hence would be more suitable to a bigger room with a high ceiling.

Horizontal stripes have their own advantage, as they create a feeling of space. Broad ones would do well in most situations.

Use vertical stripes in places where they are easily visible, such as walls, door and window drapes et all. Horizontal stripes could look good on furniture pieces and accessories.

Make a Style Statement

You can use stripes in your bathroom to create a dramatic feeling of liveliness. Here you can experiment with bold colors such as the bright oranges, reds and dark blues of this world. Your bathroom can be your lab for experimentation.

Use contrasting shades such as black and white, red and white, gray and fuchsia in bold stripes to create a sense of drama. You can experiment at will hear as your bathroom is your own private place away from the prying eyes of the world.

To create an even more dramatic effect, use parallel lines painted at an angle as compared to the regular horizontal and vertical stripes.

Rules Are For The Ordinary

In itself the basics of the rule book dictate that you should keep patterns away from stripes. But what fun are rules if they are not broken?

Try something different and use patterns with stripes as well. You could go for printed upholstery for your sofas, and stripes for your window and door curtains. Keep in mind however that it would be best to go for small prints and subtle patterns, or else you stand the risk of creating too much clutter.

Start Small

Starting small can be the answer to your worries of whether your new design will really look good. Use the accessories to experiment before going for a complete makeover.

You can leave the doors and walls for now, and start with what is easily movable. Your vases, rugs, window and door drapes, runners, crockery, table mats et all fit into this category. You can even go for striped pictures on your walls to get the striped look without actually touching the paint on your walls.

Once you are surer that the stripes for your room are actually looking good, you can take the next step and spread the stripes to the rest of the upholstery, the paint of the walls, and so on.

Enjoy your rendezvous with stripes – experiment and win the world!