The “Decorative” Trend I’m Leaning Into And How I’m Going To Bring It The Kid’s Room – BRING ON THE CRAZY

design by lindsey lane design

I love it when you see something traditional – anything – in a new light and are able to find more love for it and then shove it into your home (even if it already looks like you are crazy). That’s how I am with “The Scallop”. I should have seen it coming what with our current obsession with circles and arches because scientifically the scallop is just a half circle and a low arch. But it wasn’t until I saw it in these inspiration photos that I realized the ways I could bring it into my home, in a modern yet totally EEG (Eccentric English Granny) way. But first – some convincing in case you haven’t seen it around as much as we have.

design by beata heuman interiors  | photo by simon brown photography



design by arent & pyke | photo by anson smart



design by nickey kehoe & doug levine| photo by amy neunsinger

It seems like this trend came first in the headboard (we have a purple scallop bed that we just built for a client that we haven’t shown you actually) but I love it on the bottom of that chaise above. It’s not like the scallop is new, it’s just that we are seeing it so much more or maybe my eyeballs are just more drawn to it.

design by beata heuman interiors  | photo by simon brown photography



design by harriet anstruther | photo by miguel flores-vianna

Then I started finding myself wanting it in bed skirts, blankets, pillows – WHAT? Decorative bed skirts? What in the actual heck is happening to me??

design by matilda goad

But obviously I knew I wasn’t alone when I saw it on this backsplash. OH the scallop, the half-circle pattern is happening and we love it.

My Vintage Chaise?



design by nickey kehoe & doug levine| photo by amy neunsinger

So how am I going to bring it into my life? Well, I had some fast and totally unthought through ideas. First my chaise lounge (below, not above). It’s highly inspired by the photo above by one of my favorite design firms, Nickey Kehoe. I love it so much I had to show you twice:)

photo by sara ligorria-tramp | from: a refresh around the house with parachute 

You see my chaise, above, needs to be reupholstered and re-built because it is ripped and the innards are coming out. It’s 100 years old, she is FRONCH, and has such a pretty shape. So I found the most amazing fabric from House of Hackney to reupholster it in – after searching forever for modern English florals I went straight to the source. It’s a dark floral with all the colors of the room so it “matches”.

I used my patented “throw it on a random chair” method to ensure that I really wanted it in that corner. And I do. Currently, the chaise has fringe, and the plan was to find fringe the same color as the background of the floral fabric, but I, A. Haven’t found it yet and B. Fell in love with the idea of the scallop. I’m just not totally convinced that it will work as well with the shape of my chaise.

photo via lawson-fenning

Currently, my sofa (above) by Lawson Fenning is being made and recovered in a powder blue Crypton velvet, and now I’m like, should I put scallops on the bottom of that instead? Would it look great with the arms or just too much and I should just calm down? I think it would take it into “silly” territory which is a mistake because it took me 41 years to pull the trigger on that sofa. We are even customizing the depth and arm height to ensure it’s as comfortable as we need, so perhaps risking my dream sofa by adding unnecessary scallop trim on the bottom would be the most try-hard mistake I’ve made yet. GREAT let’s DO IT. jk.

Here’s the next place I am thinking of “scalloping”…

The Kid’s Shared Room



design by bre bertolini

Here’s a better idea. I’m just loving this sweet detail that Bre Bertolini did, so I’m definitely leaning towards doing this in the kid’s room. After that controversial update post last week (GUYS I’M NOT DONE WITH THE ROOM YET) I need to either lean in or pull back.

design by emma på långagärdet

So I decided to do both – I’m going to both lean in AND pull it back. How is that even possible you weirdo?! Remember my house is my own laboratory where I get to take risks and fail and you guys get to watch the whole thing and laugh or cheer me on. So what does that even mean?

I’m going first try to reduce the red (take away red rug, quilt, and mirror), but make it more playful in the reduced color palette of mostly blues and greens. PLEASE REMEMBER THE CURTAINS ARE TURNING INTO WOVEN SHADES and the light fixture is changing – amongst other things. The canopy is a lot, I know, so I think that I can choose “crazy” or “colorful” but maybe combined is the problem. Or maybe I’m just reacting to some of your very visceral reactions (guys, no offense taken EVER, well not ever but not about design stuff).

That’s the latest decision (less color, more crazy) but like I said, I haven’t even seen it in person and I don’t know when I’m going to live there again full-time or be able to do it. So these are all just me fantasizing from afar. But meanwhile, imagine a scallop in there.

So if no red (boo) then I need to decide if I should do the scallop paint treatment in a light, medium or dark blue? Or green – except the bookshelf in the corner is green, but maybe that’s ok? Or a pretty pink and have it be blue, green and pink? And then do I paint white above the scallop or leave the gray because I LITERALLY JUST PAINTED IT 2 MONTHS AGO?

left: design by emma på långagärdet | right: design by bre bertolini

Last questions – left or right. The left has different shaped scallops (looking a bit more like bubbles or the ocean) and more of a hand painterly look (and more playful?). But the right is obviously so sweet and cute too and might compete less with the broken stripes. So many decisions that likely warrant a full photoshopped post showing you all the options so we can all make this decision as a nation, together/apart. We need to have some fun things to debate while in the big Q. So if you have more suggestions let me know and we’ll add it to the list for Julie to photoshop because I literally have no actual computer design skills.