Home accents are awash in ribbons. On everything from lampshades to place mats, designers are going gaga for grosgrain.
Marie Bertholet Smith, owner of MLB Designs in Kansas City, saw a lot of ribboned accents on her last buying trip to New York. “It’s the Prada look. That girly-girl look carries over from fashion.”
Smith says ribbons have a lot to offer in terms of visual interest: They create strong graphic patterns, add texture and offer saturated color.
The design team of Dransfield and Ross of New York makes eye-popping curtains and shower curtains entirely of grosgrain ribbons stitched together at the top and left to flutter. The Horchow catalog sells one of the shower curtains for $290–not including the $12 plastic liner you need to keep the ribbons from getting wet. Not a practical option for homes with kids or cats, but inspirational to look at nevertheless.
At the other end of the price spectrum is Garnet Hill catalog’s fanciful room divider for $19. It features colorful felt butterflies sewn to floor-length ribbons.
Pillows with covers made of grosgrain ribbons stitched together are selling well at Crate and Barrel this season, company spokeswoman Lisa Ridolfi says.
“Grosgrain ribbon has a good feel to it,” Ridolfi said. “It has bright, fun colors and a designed look.”
What’s more, Ridolfi points out, ribbons have cozy associations: wrapped packages, for instance, and candy-colored hair ribbons.
Most home decor items made with ribbons should be dry cleaned, although some are machine washable. Be sure to check the care label. You can get the look without worrying about spills by placing festive ribboned mats or cloths under glass tabletops.
Of course, crafters have been hot-gluing ribbons to message boards, desk blotters and baby albums for ages. The difference, retailers say, is the look has moved into formal living and dining rooms.
If you can sew, you can peruse catalogs and Web sites and create your own knockoffs. If you prefer directions, there are projects at the DIY sites www.homemag.com and www.hgtv.com.
In addition to applying ribbons to fabric or sewing them together to make fabric, ribbons can be fashioned into crochet and knitting projects, or woven into mats.
“It’s really simple. That’s part of the look,” Smith said.
See more
– Crate and Barrel, www.crateandbarrel.com, pillows
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– Dransfield and Ross, www.dransfield andross.biz, shower curtains, runners
– Garnet Hill, www.garnethill.com, shower curtain, totes, room divider
– Pottery Barn Teen, www.pbteen.com, lampshades, sheers
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Victoria Rodriguez ([email protected])