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| 70s style flocked wallpaper |
You may know that I occasionally participate in Spoonflower's design competitions. This one was announced earlier this month and closes on March 10. Once I read the description...
From professional interior designers to DIY home enthusiasts alike, one thing is certain; wallpaper is making waves in the world of home renovations. And one trend we’re seeing is a budget-friendly approach to tactile walls: faux-textured wallpaper. In this week’s challenge, we want you to reach far outside of your typical toolbox and create a repeating design that you can’t help but touch.
... I had to enter, because the idea of a textured wallpaper just takes me back to my youth. See this partial photo here? It's me leaning against our "feature wall" back in the day.
At various times over the past couple of decades, it's been a super trendy thing to paint one wall a different colour — usually darker — as an accent. The house that I spent my teenage years in employed a similar idea in an open sitting room that was covered in a flocked wallpaper. (The colour is pretty much correct as you see it, red texture on shiny gold.)
Who knew that the previous owners of the house were that fashion-forward? (My parents purchased it from them only a year after it was built.) Mom and I loved the velvety texture of that wall; it was so different from any other wall covering we'd ever seen, never mind felt. Any time we had visitors over, they couldn't resist reaching out and touching it either.
Okay, so here's my dilemma. Out of four or five "paint swirl" inspired patterns that I managed to create, I'm sort of torn between two of them. Of the two, I ended up with many colour variations (more than the twelve that I'm going to show you). Can you please do me a small favour by stating your preference in the comments below?
Here are the two patterns. The first is a "finger painting" sort of idea and the second is a more solid "embossed" kind of look. By the way, all mock-ups are courtesy of Spoonflower unless otherwise indicated.
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| Narrowed it down to these two basic designs... |
I'm not saying that this exercise will ultimately decide for me, but maybe with a few more opinions on the table, I'll have a clearer idea of where my preferences lie.
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| Close-ups of the two designs... (mock-ups courtesy of Roostery) |
For the purposes of this survey, I'm going to call these patterns SWIRL and STONE, respectively. (And yes, sometimes a STONE version will appear flipped.) I've scribbled numbers on the lower left corner of the photos for easy reference.
Let's start with the SWIRL design in a classic blue combo, Pantone's colour of the year for 2020.
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| #0: Can't ignore Pantone's 2020 colour of the year... |
Or is dark the way to go?
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| #1: A dark grey can be dramatic... |
Here's another dark version.
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| #2: Would this be considered mauve? |
For those who appreciate lighter tones, here are three options.
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| #3: Sort of a pink/grey combo... |
The bonus part of doing these design competitions is that you end up discovering that you actually like colour combinations that you never thought you would.
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| #4: Didn't think I'd like this, but I do... |
And one final one.
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| #5: A light grey is always classic, right? |
Those are the six choices featuring the SWIRL pattern.
Now here are six options for the STONE pattern. The first two are the more saturated versions.
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| #6: This was another that I didn't think I'd like... |
This one is truly dark!
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| #7: But extremely dramatic... |
This is the first of two grey tones.
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| #8: A steel grey version... |
And a soft pink that I didn't figure I'd like...
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| #9: A surprisingly pleasing pink... |
The other grey version.
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| #10: A metallic grey version... |
I call this one white. And I discovered while trying to come up with a white version that it's not that easy.
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| #11: This one is white... |
So there you have a dozen versions of my faux texture wallpaper patterns. But only one of them gets to be my entry into the competition. I have a couple of preferences, but perhaps your opinion will sway me. If it was up to you, which one — #0 through #11 — would you enter?
Have you used wallpaper recently? Does it invoke memories for you like it did me?
I actually like #9 pink. When I first saw just the two at the beginning this pattern was my least favourite but once I saw it in the pink I loved it.
ReplyDeleteSee? It's quite an eye opener to experience that feeling of didn't figure I'd ever like that. Thanks for your input, Janice.
DeleteI like # 4. Love the color combo.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Neena.
Delete#8, very nice, love my neutral colors.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mickey.
DeleteWith the very first pictures side by side, I was immediately drawn to Swirl. But seeing all of the colors, I definitely like Stone for it's depth of design. I can't decide between 7 and 10 though.
ReplyDeleteKathleen -- kakingsbury at verizon dot net
I like the Stone pattern better than the Swirl pattern. JMHO.
ReplyDelete#3 but #7 is very striking
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bonnie.
DeleteThe 2 designs certainly do look different in each colorway. After looking at the various colors in each design, I was surprised by how brighter and busier looking that most of the lighter colors appeared and how the darker colors seemed to soften the design more. Personally a bright and busy looking wallpaper I find too distracting and wouldn't want it in my home, so I would opt for something that looked more neutral and easier on the eyes. I would choose #6 or #7 for feeling softer and less busy, but I too am surprised by my choices because I normally wouldn't choose dark and that salmon or coral color isn't something I would like either color-wise, but I prefer it to the others overall. #11 is also nice. I can see why you needed help because while I like those 3 best, I cannot decide definitively. Good luck Rochelle! I don't know if this was helpful or not?
ReplyDeleteDifficult to choose just one but there's something about #8 it's soft and strong at the same time. I kept going back to it so that's my favorite.
ReplyDeleteWell, at least you were able to narrow it down to one, so thank you.
DeleteHi Rochelle. Gorgeous designs. It's taken me many days of looking, thinking, making a note, coming back, changing my note … but I have finally determined that I love 1 and 11 the best. The only real reason is that I feel comfortable with them. I feel "at home". If I had to pick just one, it would be 11. Because it's lighter. Best of luck to you!
ReplyDelete