Which Stripe is Right for Your Home?

Find your Forever Stripe  

Stripes. They’re deceptively simple, aren’t they? ‘Oh, it’s just a few lines next to another’, some may say. But anyone who’s thought about stripes for more than a minute knows the power of their visual presence in a room, their rich historical lineage, and the sheer variation of offerings out there. On hand to help you sort between your Bretons and your barcodes, our Clarke & Clarke designer, Jessica Ellis and stylist, Bronwyn Erskin, offer their expertise.  

Where Do Stripes Work in a Home?   

Stripes are exceptionally enduring designs. They cleverly elide any time-specific trends and don’t belong to any age or gender. This means that stripes can work across a number of rooms in any home. A nursery room, for example, won’t feel out of step as the child ages. Equally, stripes careen from a boys’ and girls’ bedroom to a living room conversion into a kitchenette, without a care in the world. In other words: nothing’s on the line, when it comes to the stripe.  

But the seemingly limitless options of the stripe, can easily veer into overwhelm. What our Clarke & Clarke visual merchandising stylist, Bronwyn Erskine, suggests first, if you want to tentatively introduce your stripes in a space, is begin in small increments. Perhaps use our Coniston fabric from our Edgeworth collection for a couple of cushions to integrate with solid-coloured cushions for a sofa. See if it works. Adapt, adjust accordingly. 

Or consider our Oxford or Portland fabrics in the collection for small furniture pieces like ottomans and footstools for subtle integration. Don’t forget the details: why not throw a striped blanket over a sofa for some visual interest or swap a solid-coloured lampshade for a striped one.  

How Do I Make Stripes Fit My Aesthetic?

Stripes have excellent versatility when it comes to personal style, it slips past any sense of aesthetic specificity to one movement, person, or time period.  A striped upholstered sofa, like Sutton, can cast a pleasing geometric balance in a room that’s heavy in floral design, say in a more Victorian Arts & Crafts home. This is much the case with outdoor furniture too. If you have a garden with tumbling and overspilling with plants, your outdoor furniture with striped outdoor performance fabric, say our Sicily Outdoor, can create a pleasing visual balance.  

Equally, if rustic, perhaps more paired back notes of minimalism with soft creams, a stripe - say, in Kinburn, or Bowfell in blush – can create a subtle pop of interest without overwhelming the space. Stripes sit comfortably between a modern and traditional aesthetics: a Haldon striped sofa in a coastal-inspired home that is more contemporary, will look just as fitting as if it were placed in a more floral, traditional, and decoration heavy space. Stripes can be universally applied.