Checkered order
The monotony of interiors has become fashionable in the last two decades and has become quite boring. Recently there has been a tendency to return to repeating geometric, floral and ornamental patterns. Striped walls, patterned bedspreads, polka dot curtains and checkered chairs ceased to be outsiders and again attracted close attention. Which is not surprising: the history of interior design shows that man’s attraction to repeating geometric patterns and ornaments is enduring.
The most popular interior designs are checks and stripes. We talked about how to skillfully use stripes in interior design in the article “Striped walls in the interior,” and now we will pay tribute to the checkered pattern, which is a true classic that never goes out of clothing and interior fashion.
What is good about a cage in the interior? Let's start with the fact that checkered walls, as well as checkered pieces of furniture and textiles have a calming effect on the psyche. A cell is an ordered pattern, so a person, observing checkered objects, feels harmony and order.
The cage adds solidity, quality and respectability to the interior. If you want to emphasize the traditional nature of a style, its historical rather than modern essence, the cage will help to do this.
Checkered textiles in curtains, upholstery, tablecloths, blankets, etc. bring warm comfort to the home. It is known that a checkered plaid is strongly associated with the comfort and coziness of a winter evening spent on the sofa or in a rocking chair near the fireplace. The same feeling will be created by other checkered interior items.
Scottish or English style in the interior
What distinguishes the English interior style? An attraction to the classics, the presence in the living room of a neat fireplace and high-quality furniture, including those made in oriental style.
In general, the English classical style is a colonial style. Here you can see both bulky, laconic cabinets and “gallant” French chaise longues, as well as Moroccan “lace” tables and Indian chests with inlay. What is there from England in this “colonial jumble”? What makes such interiors specifically English? To clearly emphasize the English origin of the style, tartan is introduced into the interiors.
Tartan - This is a Scottish ornament, famous throughout the world. Tartan consists of perpendicularly intertwined lines forming rectangles. The result of such weaves is a checkered pattern. The tartan design has a huge variety of variations: each clan in Scotland had its own unique tartan. Subsequently, designers and artists began to come up with new tartans.
Tartans are found everywhere: in interiors, in clothing, and in all kinds of accessories. Scottish plaid is equally popular all over the world, but to this day it symbolizes Britain in general and Scotland in particular. The Scottish check has long ago become a favorite ornament of the British, who decorated their homes with it. Therefore, checkered walls , as well as furniture and other interior objects with a checkered pattern, are one of the main style-forming features of the Scottish and English style in the interior .
Tartan patterns in Scottish and English styles can most often be seen in the upholstery of upholstered furniture. A little less often - in curtains and tablecloths, as well as in wall decoration (checkered wallpaper, tartan trim). Carpet flooring, runners and rugs with a tartan pattern can be used in corridors, halls and staircases.
When creating a modern interior in English or Scottish style, you should definitely use tartan. It can also be in a modern black and white or blue and white interpretation.
If you are creating a traditional interior, you should choose a classic tartan - most often it is a checkered pattern in red, less often in green and blue.
Modern interior in English style
Of course, a Scottish or English interior cannot do without traditional checkered rugs. You can also choose checkered lampshades, checkered chairs and other checkered interior items.
Subtleties of choice
Despite its high popularity, checkered wallpaper options will never reach the level of demand for regular plain canvases. This fact is largely due to the difficulties in choosing wallpaper companions, their colors, furniture, curtains, household items and accessories. However, those who choose similar options for decorating the walls of their rooms never wish for their original choice.
To get a high-quality and balanced interior, you need to match the wallpaper and arrange pieces of furniture and other elements in the room so that you get a complete picture that is pleasant to look at. Therefore, before purchasing wallpaper with a similar pattern, it is advisable to weigh the pros and cons of such a decision.
To make it easier for you to decide, you can pay attention to the following features in using such an extravagant type of pattern on wallpaper.
Fresh bedroom interior
We are looking for a good option
The most important criterion for wallpaper with a checkered pattern will be the size of this very check. Conventionally, we can distinguish large, medium and small ornaments, and each can be used in different ways:
- It is acceptable to choose a small cage for any room; it does not spoil the geometry and looks cute and cute. Most often it is used as an additional background designed to emphasize the color variation of the room. In this case, wallpaper with other geometric patterns can serve as accent wallpaper. Small patterns on wallpaper are used to decorate walls in living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, and kitchens.
- The medium cell is similar in characteristics to the small one, so its style of application is appropriate, but the large version is used differently.
- A large cage looks good only in large rooms; in small ones it loses its attractiveness and has a bad effect on the visual perception of the room. The use of such a pattern in a small kitchen, in a small hallway or a narrow corridor is unacceptable.
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Style
For adherents of the classic style, an English or Scottish check would be an excellent solution. This pattern will be the optimal backdrop in a conservative and austere interior of a living room or home office.
For modern, fashionable trends, a cage in an original color, to some extent even exotic, would be appropriate. Such an ornament can become fundamental in the interior, and other important elements will be selected for it.
Refreshing colors in a south-facing living room
The coloring of the pattern and its formation can become the starting point for choosing a style direction, while the cage works equally well in both classic and modern design. Most often, British check is used in styles such as classic, loft, country, high-tech, although sometimes it can be seen in modern. However, only professional designers can successfully integrate such an original design into a non-standard interior.
Color
Note that the color of tartan most often has a dark color base. Classic Scottish colors have always been dominated by black, red, blue, yellow and brown. All these colors are of natural origin; they were the symbols of certain territories of a large country.
However, such a color scheme will not always be appropriate in the house; for example, in small rooms, dark colors will create a gloomy and uncomfortable interior. Therefore, it is best to use a combination of colors, or turn to light colors. Of course, light shades are not always appropriate, for example in the kitchen or hallway, but these are private options.
The cozy atmosphere of one of the rooms in the house
It is best to use traditional Scottish colors to set the right accent, and lighter tones from the presented palettes will help to support it. Thanks to their original, unique design, such paintings will quickly become the center of attention, and for the rest of the walls there will be only a background lot.
Country style check
Checkered walls, textiles and upholstery are also characteristic of the country style - English, American, French, etc. Checkered patterns are especially common in country-style kitchens: here it is presented in tablecloths, curtains, chair covers, and napkins. You can also choose checkered wallpaper.
You can put a checkered sofa in the living room, and in the bedroom you can decorate the fabric headboard of the bed in a checkered pattern.
The difference between a checkered design in a country style is that here it is often pastel, delicate, and slightly less contrasting than, for example, in the English and Scottish styles. Of course, in country style, not only “tartan” would be appropriate, but also a regular two- or three-color checkered pattern.
In country interiors, the check goes well with ruffles, frills, lace, and floral prints.
Possible applications
In order not to be unfounded, let's look at the use of such paintings in rooms of different directions.
Living room
It is not often possible to find tartan-colored wallpaper in the living room; this is the exception rather than the rule. However, such wallpaper can be used to highlight the main areas and create accents in the classic interior of a luxurious living room. At the same time, most often they allocate one wall for them, which is not cluttered with furniture and do not hang pictures, a TV, since their perception will be difficult.
The interior has a clear English theme.
Bedroom
For the bedroom, checkered colors are more common. It can be used not only on wallpaper, but also on textiles, furniture, accessories, for example in the form of a soft blanket. However, colors for this room must be chosen that are softer and more comfortable, aimed at calming rather than irritating. It will be easy and comfortable to be in such a harmonious environment.
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Cozy bedroom in light colors
If you want to add bright colors to the bedroom, then this can be done fragmentarily, for example, by covering the bedside area with Scottish colors, and prefer a neutral background for the rest of the walls. The result will be an excellent contrasting interior, just in the spirit of our times. You will enter a cheerful room and fall asleep in a calm atmosphere.
Children's
In the children's room you can find a cage in the play area. Here it is appropriate not only because of its bright colors, it also helps to clearly zone the space of the room. The colors of the checkered pattern on the wallpaper in the play area are not particularly important, but for the main background of the room it is best to choose a tone in accordance with the gender and character of the baby. So, for active children, it is advisable to choose a light palette of colors, and for calm ones, a more saturated one.
Child's room in the attic
Kitchen
The cage is not uncommon in the kitchen; it is a favorite pattern of many designers. Most likely, associations with a checkered tablecloth, firmly rooted in our minds, play a big role here. In any case, this ornament was perfect for the kitchen, and many experts even claim that it awakens the appetite.
Whether this is true or not, you can always find out for yourself by gluing canvases with a checkered pattern in the eating area. By adding decorative elements with a similar motif, you will make the interior of this room even more balanced and harmonious.
Using green colors in the kitchen
Cabinet
In a home office, such an interesting wallpaper pattern would be extremely appropriate. Firstly, it puts you in a working mood, secondly, along with seriousness and severity, it brings comfort at the level of pleasant associations, and thirdly, it harmonizes perfectly with objects and furniture made of natural materials: wood, silk, stone, iron. With such wallpaper it is easy to create a classic English interior in the best traditions.
Home office in subdued colors
Accents in a modern interior
In modern style, interiors are often monochromatic and monochrome. To make such an interior spectacular, bright accents are placed. A cage can become such an accent. For example, you can make one wall in a monochromatic interior checkered.
The accent can be a bright checkered sofa, bringing rich color and dynamics to the interior. Or some bright checkered lampshades. The cage will not only enliven the interior, but will also allow you to make a hint of English stiffness, tradition, and conservatism. A modern interior, once you add a checkered pattern to it, will be perceived completely differently.
Men's quarters
The cage is considered a strict brutal pattern. Therefore, checkered wallpaper and upholstery were traditionally used in the design of men's offices. This is also relevant now. The checkered finish goes well with dark, high-quality furniture and a leather chair.
The cage will allow you to make a boy’s nursery look brutal. Here the cage can be used on walls, in bedspreads and curtains, as well as in decor and accessories. The checkered pattern should consist of dark and light cells.
In a “checkered” room you will feel masculine energy. Therefore, a cage can be added to a shared bedroom to balance the masculine and feminine principles in it.
Features of use
As we have already said, it is best to let a professional designer work with the cage, but if we don’t have one at our disposal, then we can try to build the interior ourselves, based on the basic rules for using wallpaper with a Scottish theme.
There are plenty of subtleties and nuances when working with checkered English wallpaper. It is advisable to use natural materials for finishing: wood, iron, stone. It is important to choose the right decorative elements, high-quality textiles for curtains, and noble wood furniture. Ideally, when decorating a room in tartan colors, you need to have at least a vague idea of Scotland and its tartan. By the way, tartan literally means “Scottish check”.
In ancient times, the design and color of the tartan indicated that a resident of Scotland belonged to a particular clan. Every resident of this country was proud of his pattern and its colors, because it clearly showed how rich his region was, what natural resources it had. In those days, colors were only natural, and everyone knew what they were made from.
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Contrasting interior of a small bedroom
Traditional Scottish kilts, made in the colors of a particular region of the country, are still worn, but this is rather a tribute to tradition. Much has changed since those long ago days, and Scotland is no longer the same independent mountainous country. However, the classic pattern has taken its rightful place in the world of art; now this print is used on clothing, interior items and, of course, wallpaper.
An interesting detail: many people liked tartan, otherwise how can one explain its appearance in such an American style as country. This style is also not new; its roots go back to ancient times, when proven techniques were used to decorate homes.
Note that the cage used in country style can be made of both dark and light colors.
Unlike prim English interiors, in country style the atmosphere is very relaxed, as softer and lighter colors are used here. At the same time, a huge number of vintage accessories indicate the long traditions of this style.
By the way, checkered wallpaper options can be interspersed into any interior in the form of inserts framed by frames and baguettes. An original solution would also be to insert pieces of wallpaper into a picture frame and hang it on the wall.
Wallpaper for walls in an original checkered pattern can be rich and bright, or it can be faded, with a barely noticeable pattern. From a distance they will look like one color, but when you get closer, the pattern will appear. This effect is achieved by using different tones of the same color, for example, a combination of brown, beige and brown will look very original.
Modern German wallpaper from a famous brand
When choosing wallpaper with a checkered pattern, focus on the basic color scheme of your interior. Most often in wallpaper stores you can find patterns of classic black and white colors, blue, green, red, brown tones. In this case, combinations of several colors are most often found.
Note that such an original design is not only aesthetically attractive, but also practically has a number of advantages, for example, it emphasizes the geometry of the room and hides minor defects in the walls.
Rich in colors and interesting design immediately attracts attention and makes you not pay attention to minor points. Therefore, if you do not have the highest quality preparation of walls for wallpaper, then you may well consider this design option.
Thus, you can use a checkered pattern for wallpaper in any room, the main thing is to correctly build the entire interior, choose sociable wallpaper, furniture, and accessories.
Contrasting interior
This design is now popular: as a rule, these are black and white interiors, but there can also be gray and white, blue and white, etc. To emphasize the contrast, white and dark alternate, so in fashionable contrasting interiors there are often stripes and checkered patterns of two colors.
The checkerboard can be checkerboard or dark and light Scottish. The checkered interior turns out to be truly contrasting, spectacular and even luxurious.
How to properly include a cage in the interior? What to combine with?
Many different checkered patterns will make the interior pockmarked and tacky. Let there be no more than two different checkered patterns: for example, one in the curtains, the other in the upholstery of the chair. Of course, the cells must be similar in rhythm or color. You can combine classic check and tartan.
A combination of checks and stripes is also possible: for example, you can combine two armchairs, one of which will be striped and the other checkered.
Checkered wall and striped chair
Ideally, the cage is combined with plain fabrics and trims. Moreover, it is desirable that the color of the monochromatic finish be present in the cage. If, for example, the checkered pattern is yellow-gray, you should combine the checkered trim with gray or yellow.
The combination with floral and complex, including ethnic, ornaments also turns out to be interesting. After all, a cell is orderly, graphic, geometric, that is, it is an excellent background for something that has rounded shapes and smooth lines.
The combination of checkered textiles with leather is excellent: for example, the duet of checkered and leather armchairs turns out to be very harmonious.
What a cage does not tolerate in the interior is a lot of little things. The cell is already multiple. If you hang a bunch of small paintings, photo frames, posters and other wall decor on a checkered wall, it will be difficult to look at such a wall. Instead of checkered orderliness, you can get complete visual chaos.
Tartan
Tartan is the tartan we are used to
This is also a checkered pattern, which also has a second name: “tartan”. It is difficult to confuse tartan, since these are multi-colored stripes that create an amazing pattern on the fabric.
The background for such a cell is most often used in bright colors: red, green or blue, less often brown or yellow . This check is bright and a little aggressive, so it is best used for men's styles: chalet, country, English style. You can use this cage for retro or vintage styles. Tartan goes well with any plain fabric that matches the color of the tartan. A combination with geometric patterns is acceptable, but provided that the color of the stripes or zigzags matches the color scheme of the cage.
Scottish check looks good with large geometric objects (frame from a modular picture, clear geometry of kitchen facades, wooden furniture or square tiles on the floor)
Plaid check is stylish, fashionable, bright
Watch how to use a designer cage print in your interior in our video:
