Aff448 Pattern

This is very much in the 1950s tradition in the United Kingdom but it has, I hope you will agree, been bought up-to-date and suitable to consider as a modern wallpaper pattern.

The motif resembles the ‘boomerang’ shape that appeared and was used extensively in that decade. The colouring is from my extended British Standard range of colours that were in use at the time. I have used Magnolia for the background and a range of colours including the nicely named cobweb, along with mimosa, mustard, light grey and aurora.

At a small scale this will obviously fit in with my idea of Belle Epoque 2 but if I use too small a scale as wallpaper then the result is going to look very bitty to a visitor to the room standing at the doorway. My instinct is to use a medium scale so that from a distance the individual motifs will be recognisable. I am proposing to use this as a texture in a modern apartment living room and we will have to wait to see the final result.

If you wish, you can also see larger versions of this and, of course, my other designs and patterns for interiors on my Flickr page, a link to which is here.

Aff447 Bedroom Wallpaper

Following on from yesterday’s post, I have used this pattern to create a texture for a wallpaper which I am using to cover one wall, or possibly two walls, of the bedroom set which I have used before.

The effect that I am trying to create is one of cosiness and warmth, qualities which are important, I believe, in a bedroom. As I said before, the wallpaper is used at a small scale in order to produce an intimate and very ‘patterned’ effect which I think gives a feeling of cosiness. To use this wallpaper on all the walls might be a little too much and could have the effect of making the room appear smaller and so I have used a plain colour on the wall by the window. So far as the walls that you are unable to see, I would suppose that one other wall would be plain and one of the walls would be patterned if they are not all plain. A lot would depend on the other décor within the bedroom and the effect that was desired.

The colours used give quite an intensive look to the room which is intentional since I wanted to create a wallpaper which would work with stronger colours in order to create something which is both mellow and agreeable and which will help the homeowner to settle down for a restful night’s sleep.

This pattern also ticks all my boxes, I believe, as being a Belle Epoque 2 design since it has a small scale, fast repeat and it is both decorative and functional.

If you wish, you can also see larger versions of this and, of course, my other designs and patterns for interiors on my Flickr page, a link to which is here.

Aff447 Pattern

This was designed to be wallpaper but I intended the design to look a little different from most of the designs that I do and this was in part the result of my thinking about my new idea of Belle Epoque 2.

I have mentioned before that I tend to like small scale and fast repeats and I decided to think a little more about the way that wallpaper is seen by the visitor to a room and also the way that the homeowner views the wallpaper that is seen by them every day. I decided that there was a case for having a very small scale and a very fast repeat in order to produce a ‘wall of colour’ if I can use that phrase. This also fits in with the idea of small-scale, small motifs and little space in between the repeats which was characteristic of the original Belle Epoque at the turn of the previous century.

As usual, the motif I have used is based on mid-century shapes which would have been extensively used during that decade and which are, I have to admit, fairly universal. The colours are taken from my British Standard range of colours which would have been in use at the time and so they, too, are genuine mid-century.

The swatch above shows the wallcovering as it would appear to someone relatively close since the idea is that a visitor to the room will see the wall without noticing the individual motifs. I am preparing to use this as a wallpaper texture in the bedroom that I often use for wall coverings which I think will show this off to the best advantage.

If you wish, you can also see larger versions of this and, of course, my other designs and patterns for interiors on my Flickr page, a link to which is here.

Aff446 Pattern And Wallpaper

In this pattern I have tried to create a design which could have come from the 1950s but which I have tried to make more up to date so that it looks a little more modern and a little less old-fashioned.

Designs like this appeared in the 1950s and, so far as I’m aware, they were completely fresh in that patterns like this had not really appeared before. I think it is also fair to say that, as the decade progressed, designs like this tended to disappear and have only begun to resurface with the interest in mid-century modern.

Many of these patterns were designed as wallpaper and it is for this use that I saw this design. I therefore used my mid-century modern room which has a long wall in order to show how the pattern would look as wallpaper. The swatch shows the background lighter but I wanted to create a warmer look to the wall so I used a slightly darker background colour. The pattern was never intended, I believe, to be used as a very small scale although to show it off to its best it does need a fairly large room.

If you wish, you can also see larger versions of this and, of course, my other designs and patterns for interiors on my Flickr page, a link to which is here.

Aff445 Pattern As Wallpaper

I thought I would spend a little time looking at the use of this pattern as a wallcovering when used at different scales and on different types of wall.

As I suggested in the last post, this is not a design which is intended as a feature wallpaper and I thought that it would be more suitable as a wallpaper used on all of the walls in a room. Whilst I still think this, I rapidly came to the conclusion that as an ‘all over’ wallpaper it was a little too intensive. I therefore tried it as I would use it as a feature wall covering and you can see the result above.

At this scale, the pattern is quite noticeable, perhaps more noticeable than I thought it would be when it was in the design stage (this is often the case). At a smaller scale the pattern begins to look a little odd because the motifs are too close together. At a larger scale the design definitely resembles a feature wallpaper which was not quite the effect that I wanted since feature wallpapers need more impact.

However, looking at the final result, I am pleased with the way that the wallpaper looks and with the effect that it gives to the room.

If you wish, you can also see larger versions of this and, of course, my other designs and patterns for interiors on my Flickr page, a link to which is here.

Aff445 Pattern

This is a wall covering pattern that was designed from the outset just to be wallpaper and, now that it is finished, I think that this is probably going to be its final purpose since I doubt whether it would make a realistic textile.

The design, as I’m sure you will realise, is mid-century and draws on the work done in the 1950s in the United Kingdom. The shapes are simple ones but they are the type of shapes that could have been found during that period and the colours are taken from my extended British Standard range of colours that would have been in use at the time.

This type of pattern is very much the type of pattern that I had in mind when I began thinking about Belle Epoque 2 since it uses relatively small motifs with a fast repeat. The overall effect from a distance is of an undulating solid colour which I think would make this suitable for general use as a wallcovering rather than just for a feature wall.

In terms of its ability as decoration, it will obviously not set the world alight nor will it catch the visitors eye and leave them impressed on entering. It is, however, the type of decoration that looks right in a room and prevents the large areas of wall from fading into the background and from looking too artificial. That is, it makes the walls look as though they are in a room in a house which is also a home.

If you wish, you can also see larger versions of this and, of course, my other designs and patterns for interiors on my Flickr page, a link to which is here.

Aff444 Curtains

I decided to see how this 1950s pattern could best be used, the pattern is a busy one and the colour and overall look are quite strong and so the obvious choice would be fashion or soft furnishings. I have never been able to produce realistic looking fashion mockups and so I endeavoured to create a curtain fabric.

The rooms that I usually use did not seem to take the pattern particularly well but I have found a room which began life as a mid-century inspired room and the pattern used here as curtains produced a very acceptable result.

I have shown the curtains as they appear open during daylight since I think that this gives the best idea of the pattern and the colouring. At night when the curtains are pulled the pattern is stronger, and a lot bolder and this adds to the excitement within the room making the window space very much a feature.

If you wish, you can also see larger versions of this and, of course, my other designs and patterns for interiors on my Flickr page, a link to which is here.