“In a private home I don’t want the look to end up being ‘hotel couture’” says Virginia White, condemning “matching the bed valance to the blind to the scatter cushion,” and the equivalent approach in other rooms of the house. We all understand what she means, and almost certainly agree with her, particularly those of us who grew up with unfortunately coordinating sets and suites. Simultaneously, however, we are probably aware of spectacularly elegant sitting rooms with duplicate chairs, or cushions that share a fabric pattern with a sofa, or even the curtains, and perhaps we’ve been storing these in the image libraries of our minds. For we know that schemes can benefit from what could be described as ‘unifying agents,’ and it’s appealing for those of us who appreciate a level of accord. What’s more, there’s something about said cohesion that is suddenly looking very ‘right’, akin to a post-maximalist restoring of order that yet still celebrates colour and pattern. “I love matchy matchy, done well” says Olivia Outred, hinting at how easily it can go wrong. Indeed, the phrase originated as a veiled insult to describe overly coordinated outfits before it was applied to interiors.
The matching aesthetic is a decorating method that is not necessarily universally popular, and one that some thought had been condemned to history, along with Victoria and David Beckham’s matching Gucci biker jackets. But across interiors, we’re seeing the return of the “full-look” room, with walls, curtains, upholstered furniture and other furnishings all in the same pattern. Martin Brudnizki has got a bedroom that is entirely bedecked in Jean Munro’s ‘Lustmore’, and this magazine’s editor, Hatta Byng, has got a Bowood room, that is to say, a room that has wallpaper, curtains and bed valances all in the same Colefax & Fowler chintz (Hatta’s house is in the December issue, on newsstands now.) Both instances look enviably heavenly. But importantly, its looking lovely is not just about different opinions (though that does come into it), it’s about execution. So, whether it’s covering everything in a toile de Jouy, or simply matching a pair of chairs to some cushions, how do we present harmony with panache?
What should match?
Let’s look first at some of the things that should (probably) match. For example, Nina Campbell firmly believes that a headboard and valance “should be in the same fabric.” If you’re employing lamps to go either side of a bed, or fireplace, they would have matching shades because it’ll add to the symmetry. And as Edith Wharton ordained in her 1897 manual The Decoration of Houses, “a regard for symmetry, besides satisfying a legitimate artistic requirement, tends to make the average room more comfortable to live in.”
To which end, even Gavin Houghton, who believes “the more pattern, the more textures, the more relaxing the room becomes,” will employ pairs of cushions on a sofa. Going up in scale, dining room chairs are generally upholstered in matching fabric, and Dorothy Draper believed that chairs should always be bought at least in couples. Certainly, it can afford a hallway a sense of consideration, and twinning armchairs can look attractive in a sitting room on either side of the main focal point. It’s worth noting that matching fabrics can be harnessed to your advantage: should you find yourself with two chairs that aren’t the same, but you’d like them to aid in the air of symmetry, then giving the same textile treatment can give the impression that they match without veering into an overly ‘matchy matchy’ misdemeanour.
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A question of balance
Too much symmetry will give an overly “stiff, formal effect,” warns Dorothy Draper. Benedict Foley says he finds it “unnerving,” likening it to the “sort of concert when someone just bangs the hell out of the percussion for three hours.” In other words, overly-symmetrical schemes can only too readily tip into what Virginia White dubs ‘hotel couture.’
“It’s about getting the balance right,” says Henriette von Stockhausen, acknowledging that “balance can be easy to say, but harder to do.” She explains that she might use the same pattern on a pair of chairs, but then “won’t place them symmetrically. You’ve got to be very careful not to overdo it, even if you love a fabric.” Notably, in the sitting room of this Georgian country house (above), pairs of chairs are placed beside each other which reads as a single use of a fabric, rather than a double. A sofa and a chair can also be matched – with the caveat that it’s better if they aren’t part of a three-piece suite. “Sometimes I’ll do cushions in the same fabric as I’ve got elsewhere in the room, but they’ll have a totally different trim, or a contrast fabric on the back,” adds Henriette. Similarly, Olivia Outred mentions using the same fabric for an armchair and a curtain trim.
Daniel Slowik, who has given a bedroom in a flat in Chelsea a bed that matches the blinds, explains that “it’s always good to have another pattern of different scale and texture to break up the matchy matchy look, even if it’s just cushions, lampshades, or a chair seat.” In this instance, there is a contrasting carpet, rug, and lampshades.
A word of warning from Henrietta when selecting the corresponding patterns and plains: “don’t do as the fabric houses suggest in their lookbook!” Though it might look great there, “in real life it’s guaranteed to look too perfect. Anything too easy will not translate to a comfortable, layered look, and it will look ‘hotel.’” Happily, House & Garden’s former Decoration Editor, Gabby Deeming, has got excellent advice on putting together textiles.
Upping the ante to full-look
Let’s now return to the promise of the earlier mentioned ‘full look,’ also known as a ‘total look’, and the charming rooms that have been ‘wrapped’ in a single pattern. It’s a concept not dissimilar to colour-drenching, and as adaptable. We might associate it with country house style, and consider it perhaps slightly old fashioned (and it does date back to the 19th-century trend for an all-over use of toile de Jouy). But it can also look surprisingly modern, as proven by Ben Pentreath’s London bedroom with walls and blinds in Soane’s ‘Seaweed Lace’. However, there are nuances to making it a success.
“Matchy matchy pattern works best with quite a simple pattern, ideally one or two colours against a pale background,” says Ruth Sleightholme, House & Garden’s Style Director. She suggests opting for one that has stood the test of time, and urges us to avoid anything “too intricate and fiddly, as it will have a dense effect. The repeat should either be hard to perceive, as in a great tumbling floral, or inherent in the design, such as a small pattern or stripe.” Also important is to match the pattern up in the execution, so that there is seamless continuation.
One of Ruth’s suggestions is the Colefax & Fowler ‘Bowood’ chintz, which was created from a document John Fowler found at the Robert Adam-designed Bowood when he was working on some of the rooms in the 1950s. Among others it’s been used by Roger Jones, Director of Antiques at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, for a bedroom in Belgravia, by Fiona Shelburne for a spare bedroom at Bowood, and, as previously mentioned, by Hatta. Martin Brudnizki has used a Jean Munro ‘Lustmore’ in his bedroom, and toile is still a popular option for many.
Another option is to use the same fabric but in different colourways, which Olivia Outred has done with a Claremont linen for the guest bedrooms on a yacht. And segueing slightly, Flora Soames says that “matchy does not have to mean identical – similar palette, similar scale, similar time period all count. I have just slept in a bedroom where 1950s Colefax sat perfectly alongside Sister Parish wallpaper – all because of the tone of green, the background colour, and the era that it stems from.”
Pertinent is the chiming choice of room in each instance; a ‘total look’ isn’t something that everybody necessarily wants to live with all of the time (though Nicky Haslam and Studio QD have shown us that we could, via Flora Fraser’s chintz-wrapped sitting room.)
Also important to note is that balance still needs to be achieved, which can be done by using a “bold plain to cut through the pattern,” says Daniel, directing our attention to the curtains of the aforementioned Chelsea pad, which take up more space than the blinds, and thus in the equation of the whole means that “the plain has equal status to the floral fabric. It’s all about avoiding a trance-inducing overload of pattern!” Wendy Nicholls, Chairman of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, agrees: “The pattern needs to be combined with large-ish areas of plain in the form of furniture, pictures, mirrors etc.” This technique can be seen in Victoria Stainow’s London flat, where the bedroom is in full-look Pierre Frey ‘Sans Papillon’, but Tara Craig installed plain curtains and lampshades.
“I don’t even think of it as matchy-matchy, it’s immersive,” opines Martin Brudnizki, pointing out that his ceiling is a solid pink, and he’s edged the headboard in a ruched pink fabric “so you can make out what is what.” But at the same time, what is key, says Martin, is to “go for it. Be brave. Don’t stop halfway. That’s when it’s a wet fish.”
