From folk-inspired prints to hand-painted motifs and stitched embroideries, this characterful style is anchored by handmade decoration, offering plenty of scope for creativity. Use a stencil on a wall or centred in the panels on a cupboard door. Alternatively, a modern roller, such as the romantic Tapet design from The Painted House (the-painted-house.co.uk), can be applied on a painted floor or over a piece of fabric to run up into a cushion or pillowcase. If you feel even more confident, try a freehand motif at the end of a bed or on a chair. For large areas of pattern, there are decorative wallpaper designs with simple florals, leaf-woven wreaths and small-scale geometrics.
1 Stronger tones of orange and red that are knocked back, as seen on worn pieces of furniture, can work here in small measures
2 In Sasha Waddell’s house (a pioneer of Swedish interior design in Britain), this fabric looks block-printed or stencilled and carries a handmade quality 3 Vintage tea towels and small pieces of linen can be turned into weighted doorstops and cushions to highlight the decorative stitching 4 An outline of ‘tiles’ hand-painted on a colourwashed wooden floor gives a bathroom or kitchen original style 5 Oslo wallpaper in ochre and navy, £60/roll, from the new Country Living Collection at Homebase (homebase.co.uk) 6 Hand-painted summer flower dinner plate, £50, Penny Morrison (pennymorrison.com) 7 Woven rug (140cm x 200cm), £329, Hus & Hem (husandhem.co.uk) 8 Hand-painted Frida children’s chair by Tess Newall, £265, Pierrot (pierrotchairs.com)
9 Create your own pretty embroidery to make into a cushion or café curtain by embellishing a simple fabric print. Jacobean linen-cotton mix by Celia Birtwell (blendworth.co.uk) 10 Many original Scandinavian cabinets have beautifully painted fronts, often decorated with flowers in a bouquet or vase 11 Mix in other classic patterns such as patchwork, stripes and checks to balance the florals 12 Pink cotton (98 per cent recycled) woven throw, £199, Rosanna Corfe (rosannacorfe.com) 13 Floral cushion cover with stripe reverse, £54, Gaynor Churchward (gaynorchurchward.com) 14 Tulip cotton-linen-mix fabric in rose and grass, £164/m, Molly Mahon (mollymahon.com) 15 Vintage embroidered cushion cover, £24, Parna (parna.co.uk) 16 Folk garden appliqué felt craft kit, £14.40, Corinne Lapierre (corinnelapierre.com) 11
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