Designing With Animal Print: How To Use It in Your Space
Although it may feel intimidating, you can fill your living space with nature-inspired patterns by designing it with animal print if you know how to use it in your space. A vast array of room themes can benefit from adding the patterns, colors, and textures of animal print, and, no matter the season, animal print has never gone out of style. Read below to learn some tips on how you can style your home with animal print.
How To Incorporate Animal Print
You can incorporate animal print into most room themes and styles: minimalist and modern or bohemian and rustic. Keeping in mind the patterns, colors, and textures can help you decide if a touch of these wild prints will add some sophistication to your existing space. These design tips will let you know how animal print functions in a space and if it can add to yours.
Make Use of Nature’s Stripes
Stripes serve a unique function in decorating as an illusionary pattern. Horizontal stripes expand a room’s visual width and depth, while vertical stripes add height. Striped animal print, such as tiger or zebra stripes, help achieve these effects without the harshness of straight lines. Using nature’s stripes on throw pillows or wall prints brings a bold sense of life to any room you put them in while mixing them adds to an eclecticism that suggests a fun side and a worldliness to your guests.
Take Advantage of Neutral Tones
Natural patterns like animal print typically feature neutral, warm tones. This spectrum of orange and brown shades, accented by black and white, pair well with wood furniture and décor. Neutral tans can play a part in tying together various wood types by either repeating existing tones to match wood pieces or forming an ombre palette among your décor by bringing another shade to the table.
Neutral tones are also easy to pair with most color palettes, whether to ground bright and bold designs or add depth to other earth tones. Neutral tones can also do their part to benefit the trendy color palette of jewel tones or the highly saturated but deep colors that are reminiscent of gemstones.
Have Fun With Unusual Colors
Animal prints don’t exclusively come in their natural tones these days, and that’s a great thing! Incorporating animal prints with pronounced colors like blues and greens calls back to the ‘80s without stepping fully out of the modern-day. In contrast, pastel animal prints set against a white backdrop are cute without becoming childish. Though animal prints don’t often feature as part of spring décor, there’s no reason they can’t fit when mixing in pastel reds and icy baby blues.
Animal prints and fabrics cover the full color spectrum. Feather and scale-themed fabric and wallpapers come in all tones, made to match any room’s décor palette. Even a touch of color in a neutral print is game-changing, so don’t shy away from something that’s stepped out of reality.
Perfect Décor for Featuring Animal Print
Once you’ve made the call to bring a bit of nature into your room’s design, choosing where to use it is the next decision to make. Whether through upholstery or wallpaper, tastefully using animal print means deliberately thinking ahead about the role you want the designs to fill. If you want to add just a touch of animal print to a room, any furnishings can all look great with some added spots and stripes.
Use the Classic Animal Print Rug
Though actual animal furs and skins are out, you can capture the same grandiose aesthetic by featuring vivid animal print rugs in your living space. Either set beneath a coffee table, beneath the desk of a home office, or across an open floor, animal print rugs are eye-catching yet cozy additions. No matter how exotic the animal pattern is, having this callback to furs gives a home a rustic feel, making animal print rugs perfect for rooms with fireplaces and libraries where sophistication is key.
Use Animal Print Seating
The most impactful way to utilize animal print in the home is to use it as part of your furniture. Chairs, ottomans, and any other upholstered seating are the pieces that guests will interact with most, so including animal print fabric on your seating is always a striking choice. Add a zebra-striped blanket to the top of your chair to make it pop. However, when you frame animal print with wood or gold, this high-risk style is just as high a reward.
Hang Patterned Curtains
A subtle way to bring animal patterns into the home is by displaying them on your window curtains. Warm light pouring through pale beige curtains makes a room feel alive, especially in the summer and fall seasons. If you use tiger stripe curtains, deep green walls or décor can add a tropical flavor to a room that becomes a luxury when paired with a bit of gold.
Pick a Statement Piece
Choosing one unique item as the focal piece of the room and center of the design is a great way to wow your guests. Animal print furniture such as a cheetah print couch or a single zebra-striped wall command the room and give off an air of regality in your living space. You can accent statement pieces by choosing quieter patterns with a hint of shared color or features for throw pillows, picture frames, or lampshades.
Rooms centered around a statement piece communicate a bold personality and show off your eye for home décor fashion. These also serve as conversation starters, so once your guest has gotten over how striking the room is, home design becomes a great ice breaker.
When designing with animal print: how to use it in your space requires some control as it can easily become overbearing, but that’s no reason to shy away from adopting these gorgeous patterns into your home. With colors and character to match any style, animal print fabric and décor is the perfect chic addition to your next room restyling.
