Simple yet stylish, statement yet subtle – stripes have a remarkable ability to feel both classic and fresh, year after year. These patterns are incredibly versatile, allowing you to introduce order, rhythm, and personality into your rooms. Our expert Interior Design Consultant, Tania Davies, has put together this comprehensive guide to decorating with stripes, giving you all the advice you could possibly need to bring stripes into your home with confidence.
The beauty of stripe interior design
Stripes are one of the most flexible patterns in interior design. They adapt effortlessly to your decorating style, whether it be minimalist and elegant or rustic and patterned, bringing a quiet sense of structure to any room. Vertical stripes lengthen and lift, while horizontal stripes widen and calm. They’re perfect for wallpaper, curtains, upholstery, and even your flooring, helping to guide the eye and gently reshape the space around them.
Take this image of our Spotty Stripe wallpaper, for example. The wallpaper pattern is simple, subtle, and elegant, helping to create the illusion of additional ceiling height in this country home. This is one of Tania’s favourite tricks for rooms that need a touch more breathing space. 
In much the same way, our 100% British wool rainbow floor runner (pictured above) demonstrates how a subtle, finely patterned stripe can completely transform a hallway. The soft, rhythmic markings create a gentle sense of movement, guiding you naturally from one area to the next.
How to choose the right stripe for your space
The scale and direction of a stripe can make a big impact on the overall look and feel of your space. Before selecting your fabric or wallpaper, think about what you want the stripe to do for your space. Are you trying to make a small room feel taller, add calm structure to a busy area, or create a bold focal point? If your room feels a little flat, we recommend choosing a stripe that adds movement and guides the eye. But if your space already feels visually busy, a finer, more delicate stripe will bring order to your room without overwhelming it. Here are the best use cases for each type of stripe:
- Vertical stripes add elegance and refinement to your space and can make ceilings feel higher. They work beautifully on striped curtains, wallpaper, or tall furniture.
- Horizontal stripes encourage a more relaxed, informal feel and are great for broadening a narrow room. They’re perfect for rugs, stair runners, or bedding.
- Narrow stripes create a soft, textural look that is delicate, timeless, and never overpowering. They look lovely on cushions or accent chairs in smaller rooms.
- Medium and mixed-width stripes, as seen in our French Ticking and Simple Ticking Detail designs, are relaxed yet refined. They’re excellent for blinds, headboards, and upholstery.
- Bold, wide stripes are ideal when you want the stripe to act as the hero pattern. They work best for statement upholstery, such as a striped sofa, in larger rooms.
We know what you’re thinking – can stripes be mixed with other patterns, too? Stripes play well with almost everything, adding rhythm to florals, structure to geometrics, and serenity to bolder prints. You can mix and match your stripes with other patterns to your heart’s content!
Best practice for using colour in stripes
Colour has the power to transform a stripe from classic to contemporary. Our Cornflower and Charcoal stripes are smart and sophisticated, whereas our warmer colours such as Marigold and Soft Raspberry are fun and fresh. We highly recommend following the three colour rule when choosing striped fabrics for your room. Your patterns should feature 70% of the main colour, 20% of a secondary colour, and 10% of a third accent shade. This ensures that your colour scheme is balanced, cohesive, and never flat. 
People often ask us if stripes need a neutral background. This isn’t always the case, but neutral backgrounds such as painted walls or a one-colour wallpaper can often give your stripes space to shine, especially if your piece is bold in colour or scale. However, you could add in some smaller, quieter patterns in a similar colour palette for extra visual interest.
Tips for decorating with stripes in every room
Living rooms
Most of us want our living spaces to feel bigger. Vertical stripes work best in living rooms, as they create a sense of height and space. These spaces are also perfect for mixing stripes with other patterns. You could have just one bold pattern, for example a striped sofa or striped curtains in our Malmo design, and then add in some subtler, smaller prints that will allow the hero stripe to shine. 
Bedrooms
We recommend choosing stripes in gentler colour palettes for your bedroom. Think soft blues, pastel yellows, and blush pinks. Checked patterns work beautifully with these serene stripes, as often seen in classic Scandinavian houses. For example, you could choose striped curtains in our Lapland Stripe pattern, add a checked headboard and a simple bed valance, and then include a coordinating patterned cushion or two on the bed.
Bathrooms
Bathrooms are the perfect place to be a bit bolder with your stripes. Nautical blue and white stripes, as seen in our Stripe & Dash Cornflower, Forget-me-not and Denim colourway, feel crisp and timeless in a bathroom scheme. Pair your striped walls or blinds with some striped towels or even a striped bath mat to complete the look.
Can you overdo stripes?
The most important rule to follow when decorating with stripes is placement. Avoid clustering lots of striped fabrics together. Instead, spread them throughout the room so that there’s rhythm without repetition. A striped rug here, a striped blind there, and a striped cushion to tie the scheme together.
Discover our timeless striped fabric collection
We offer a fantastic range of striped fabrics, from the relaxed French Ticking stripe fabric to the bold Malmo design, that are ideal for:
- Made-to-measure striped curtains
- Roman blinds
- Upholstery, including striped sofas
- Cushions, lampshades, and soft furnishings
Explore our striped fabric collection today and get inspired to bring these beautiful designs into your own home.