One Fabric, Two Schemes

Schumacher’s happy and humble ‘Marguerite Embroidery’ features a hand-stitched floral design on a linen ground. Subtle irregularities in the wool yarns adds texture and charm to any room. Here are two very different ways we have used this embroidered fabric in our schemes.

Room 211 at The Soho Hotel is one of our newly refurbished schemes. We have upholstered the walls in ‘Psycho Sprig’ from my latest collection for Andrew Martin. The bright white ground cloth keeps the room looking sharp and fresh. The fabric pattern repeat is large so it doesn’t look too busy.

On the headboard, we have used a geometric fabric by Susanna Davis with a border in one of our favourite parquet wool designs by Moon. The solid wool grounds the headboard against the patterned walling. We have used Schumacher’s embroidered fabric on the bed cushions, which adds a hand-crafted feel to the scheme.

For the seating area, we have used a combination of solid, textured fabric designs. Again, this grounds the room, as the sofa and armchairs sit against a patterned wall. You don’t want to layer too many patterns on top of each other; otherwise a bedroom can lose its restfulness.

On the opposite side of the room, the floor to ceiling Critall windows are dressed in a fabric by Botanica Trading. This red floral design has a similar rhythm to the ‘Psycho Sprig’ on the walls, which adds to the romance of the room.

At Charlotte Street Hotel, we have used this beautiful embroidery in a very different scheme. The walls of this contemporary room are lined in a smart blue linen by Casamance called Cyan. This double width fabric is great for upholstering walls and the smart Azur colourway gives the scheme a tailored feel.

We added Schumacher’s strong hand-embroidered fabric on a panel down the centre of the Flora headboard. The chunky wool yarns add dimension on a linen ground. We have divided the panel using the wool pipe which helps it stand out. We have used this wool again for the headboard depth to lift it from the walls.

For the mannequin we used the ‘Bagru’ linen in pink for the top half and the navy colourway for the lower half. The waist band is our favourite Jumbo Ric Rac trim by Samuel & Sons.

The artworks on the wall opposite the windows are framed French tea towels! We love how they bring a pop of colour to this loft room.

‘Vintage Bird Trail’ by Barneby Gates is a joyful fabric inspired by a 19th Century French quilt reworked with a contemporary twist, with the use of a pretty pink and inky blue. This became the inspiration for the colour palette of this room. We used this design for the main curtain fabric. Molly Mahon’s colourful cottons were the perfect match. We added ‘Bagru’ Cotton for the leading edge, divided by a strong wool piping. The bright and colourful edge detail helps to lift the curtains against the walling.

The West Timber Tub chairs are upholstered in my ‘Ikat Weave’ for Christopher Farr’s in Indigo. The chunky weave works well with the textured headboard and looks smart with the dark piping and mahogany legs. A cosy and uplifting room to help beat the January blues!