Wednesday 11 January 2012

Pattern

I love a good pattern, and I love to doodle them, paint them and just stare at them sometimes. This leads me to make many unwise purchases which make my wardrobe into a colourful and busy place. I don't always end up wearing these patterny clothes much, but am attracted by their bright and colourful look in the shop. I do like mixing patterned things sometimes but there is a limit to what works! We have quite a few inherited patterned rugs, but as they are all the same basic colours they go well together. We don't have any patterned walls, as there is too much else going on in here-stuff wise! At the weekend I bought a book in the charity shop called 'Pieces of a Pattern Lacroix by Lacroix'. I know nothing about Christian Lacroix, and his name just makes me think of Edina in 'Absolutely Fabulous' wearing tacky and overbright things and saying 'It's Lacroix Sweetie, Lacroix'. I have found out a little more about him now-about his inspiration and history, and want to read the whole book as it is most interesting. I loved the sketch book pages shown in the book. The pattern used here is tasteful-bold but likeable.


The other book in this post is 'Your Beautiful Home on a Budget'-a book I have had for a while. It is full of incredibly awful design ideas, which I can't imagine anyone, even in the seventies, being able to live with. Look at this bathroom! Too much.


My favourite picture in the book is this one. I love the cosy lifestyle it evokes-and the multimedia/entertainment shown-'Ooh shall we read a book, this one, that one, eat a grape, watch tv?'The bed is our oyster.' This room actually looks quite liveable and cosy, so maybe not all the designs are bad. The oak leaf carpet reminds me of a similar one we had in our house in the seventies-but it was not browns-more reds, golds and yellows. Every piece of furniture is covered in pattern-bold and often not good-such as the bad table and chairs below. Imagine eating your breakfast from this table.


I do quite like the dresser in the second mosaic though-I think because the pattern is in black and white.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Haha the first thing I thought about when you said Lacroix was AbFab.
And as for those 70's designs I can't imagine anybody having that bathroom, or that dining table and chairs.

Great books though.

Carole Reid said...

Oh Sarah, if you could see some of the pattern mistakes I've made over the years. We could have a good chuckle I think and maybe a toast to minimalism!

Anonymous said...

Oh dear - I think I had that wallpaper in pink in my bathroom in the 70s - although only on the walls, so not quite so overpowering!!

Anonymous said...

Oh dear - I think I had that wallpaper in pink in my bathroom in the 70s - although only on the walls, so not quite so overpowering!!

Rattling On said...

I rather like the bathroom, sort of Moroccan bordello... With the right towels I can see it working.

I'm a bit of a 70s fan on the whole (flares and hairy men aside)and love the colours. Our carpet at home when I was small was gold with a cut-in swirly pattern, quite low key. We also had a maroon vinyl suite, which I always dreamed of stabbing with a fork for some unknown reason!

Queenie Believe said...

Ouch... That bathroom is positively painful -lol-
Its fun to flip through design books from days gone by.
Have a great day!
Always, Queenie

jabblog said...

My, how fashion dates us! At the time, of course, we think we're the bees knees:-)