How to Style a Room with Tartan, Plaids and Checks
Do you know your check from your tartan, your plaid from your gingham? Fear not, we take a look at the different types of check prints to help you style your room with them. With over 150 leading interiors brands we have a wide range of check fabrics and wallpapers for you to choose from.
We can't decide which is more charming: the rich, earthy tones of the tartan, the beautiful simplicity of checks, or the bold pattern play of plaids. Whatever your preference, it's easy to incorporate these three patterns into any room in your home.
Tartans, Plaids and Checks are timeless style choices, they're great for fashioning out casual spaces or creating sophisticated looks that are sure to make a statement. This blog post will help you find ways to work tartans, plaids and checks into your home decor style with ease.
Why plaids, tartans and checks can work in any room
As we mentioned before, tartans, plaids and checks can work in any room and with any style. To help you get started on incorporating these three patterns into your home decor, we've provided some ideas for spaces of all sizes.
- Create a playful nursery with a gingham crib skirt and mobile.
- For a homely and stately interior use a plaid wallpaper.
- Take the traditional approach with a tartan throw blanket on the couch paired with matching bespoke curtains.
- Cover an armchair in a plaid and match it with bespoke blinds
- Add contrast to a neutral space by adding a checkerboard rug in an unexpected spot like the dining room or bathroom.
- Give your kitchen or dining room a slight French feel with a high back bench in black and white checkerboard fabric.
- Add dimension to your room by using plaid and patterned pillows in different colours and prints.
Plaid & Tartan Fabrics
The term plaid and tartans are often used interchangeably, and tartan is a form of plaid, but a tartan design will have identical vertical and horizontal stripes. Tartans and plaids look visually similar and both can be used to create beautiful and intricate patterns.
The image below shows a classic tartan with identical vertical and horizontal stripes in an Albermarle fabric from Osborne & Little, on the left, contrasted with a Linwood fabric plaid, part of their Beachcomber collection, with the horizontal and vertical strips varying.
Although tartans are best known as Scottish patterns, the prints have been popular for centuries and can be found all over the world. In fact, tartan like patterns can be traced back at least three millennia, although their modern popularity is undoubtedly linked to the pattern"s place in Scottish culture and history with many tartans belonging to specific clans. If you are not fortunate enough to have inherited a clan or family tartan, you can choose from the many tartan fabrics and wallpapers offered by the luxury interiors brands on our website.
Different Types of Check Fabrics
There are many different types of check designs, all of them versatile, but the most popular are:
- Check - a simple chequerboard design of equally sized horizontal and vertical stripes overlapping to form squares. The design will be in two colours and resembles a chess board.
- Harlequin – a checked pattern, but with diamonds instead of squares
- Gingham – overlapping equally sized horizontal and vertical stripes. One of the colours will always be white and the pattern is defined by intermediate squares where white lightens the intensity of the contrasting colour by half.
- Window-pane check - a graph check pattern with larger squares.
- Houndstooth - checked pattern with irregular points on the corners of the squares which is said to resemble dogs" teeth.
There are however many more check patterns which can be found in fabrics and wallpapers, and new designs and twists on traditional check designs are being made all the time, such as the modern take on a check in the Badia Fabric below from Osborne & Little.
What are some ways to work tartans, plaids and checks into your home decor style?
There are many ways to incorporate tartans, plaids and checks into your home decor. One of the easiest ways is by making a striking statement with an artful throw or cushion. A set of bespoke curtains or a made-to-measure blind is another great choice, choose lighter colours such as the blue Saybrook Check from Anna French below for a summery vibe, or deeper earthier tones for a cosier winter feel.
Traditional tartan and plaid designs can also be updated with modern colours and prints: there are plenty of great options for bold pinks, cobalts, lime greens and more. You could even mix up different colours or patterns to create a more contemporary look, such as in the room below where the bold pink plaid of the Chennai Fabric in Fuschia from Designers Guild is paired with a contrasting plain green fabric as well as a cobalt check fabric. The luxurious pure silk Chennai fabric is available in 5 colourways offering a modern update to plaid fabrics.
Check cushions work in any room, for added visual interest mix different checks with different scales whilst keeping to the same colour palette. In the room below, various Ian Mankin fabrics have been used including three diferent sized gingham fabrics.
How to use plaids and tartans in your decor
Tartans are a great way to add a burst of colour to a room that's otherwise much more muted. Tartan is an especially good choice for those with neutral decorating styles because it can help create a splash of colour and visual interest. Traditional colours also add a feeling of both luxury and warmth.
Whilst fabric is the more traditional way of incorporating plaids or tartans into a room, a more modern trend is to use a check wallpaper and mix and match this with plain and patterned fabrics on the upholstery. Choose from plaid wallpapers in classic country colours, such as the Ancient Tartan wallpaper from Mulberry Home (shown below left) available in 8 colourways as part of their Icons wallpaper collection), or modern vibrant colours such as those found in the Chennai wallpaper from Designers Guild (shown below right) available in 5 contemporary colourways.
How to use checks in your decor
Checks are a fantastic pattern to work into your home decor. They're easy to incorporate, and you can do it in numerous ways. The first thing you need to determine is what scale you want to use. A checkerboard pattern or houndstooth design are great for smaller spaces or for accent pieces. It feels fresh and classic at the same time. You could also try using small checks on throw pillows or other furnishings that will sit close to the eye level.
Mid-scale check fabrics work well on curtains and upholstery, such as in the room below left which shows both curtains made from the mid-scale Fenton Check from Sanderson as well as a plaid upholstery fabric from the same Islay Wools collection. Shown next to it is the beautiful woollen Placide Grenat fabric from Casamance adds visual interest with its mid scale check contrasting with the plain fabric and neutral colourscheme creating a wonderful balance.
If you have a larger living area, or larger sofa, you can use larger scale check fabrics, or brighter colours, to add a bold statement to your room like the strong deep olive colours of the window-pane check fabric from Clarke & Clarke's Burlington collection, and below is a large scale check fabric, Wexford, from Osborne & Little.
At the other end of the scale another way to incorporate checks into your decor is by using them as fabric accents in furniture upholstery, window treatments and more. To achieve this look you will want to use a check, plaid or tartan trimming. These smaller details will add visual interest without overwhelming the rest of your space.
Style it Your Way
You might not think that these traditional patterns can work in any room, but they can be made to work in any room and in any design style. If you love the look of tartans, plaids or checks, then you can easily incorporate them into your home.
And if you're feeling especially confident with your sewing skills, there are plenty of tutorials out there for how to make your own throw pillows with check patterns!