The Power of Stripes

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Supreme Interiors muses on the timeless and transformative quality of stripes

Having trouble decorating? Add stripes. Horizontal, vertical, diagonal, it really doesn't matter. You can put them on a wall, put them on the ceiling, put them on a door, a bed, the floor. Adding stripes to a room is possibly the easiest way to transform a space on the cheap. With a little paint, some tape, and a bit of patience you can add a whole lot of excitement to a room, while keeping your spending in check. Feeling adventurous? Carry those lines around the entire room and paint yourself a supergraphic.

Don't be intimidated by perfection. Painter's tape never works as well as the commercials imply - there's always going to be some bleeding and fuzzy edges, and the lines are rarely, if ever, crisp. But the key to stripes is to go so big that nobody will notice the imperfections, or if they did they wouldn't care because of the overall effect. Another easy option is to add stripes to curtains or fabric panels. Cut fabric into strips or better yet, most woven fabrics will tear easily from selvedge to selvedge in one straight line - do this repeatedly and attach them to curtains, bedspreads, pillows, seriously anything. And don't bother with knowing how to sew - fabric glue works just fine. Again, nobody will care about imperfections or a random thread as long as the scale is the main focus.

Stripes within a room have a similar effect to stripes on clothing. Vertical stripes make the room look taller or a hallway narrower, while horizontal stripes will make a room seem larger and the walls longer. Diagonal? Well that's a wildcard. Given this visual effect, many design books will recommend vertical stripes in rooms with lower ceilings, and horizontal stripes when the ceiling height seems out of scale. But this is boring – I say exaggerate what you've got. Have high ceilings? Make them even higher. A narrow hallway? Make it even tighter. A long unbroken wall? Make it the longest damn wall you've ever seen. You want your stripes to make a bold statement, and there's no greater statement than using paint to alter your spatial awareness thus creating a sort of virtual reality in your own home.