Living with Pattern: Color, Texture, and Print at Home

by Rebecca Atwood

A design book filled with beautiful photography and clear ideas for how to use pattern to decorate your home. If you focus on pattern, from texture and color to furniture and textiles, everything else will fall into place.   Pattern is the strongest element in any room. In Living with Pattern, Rebecca Atwood demystifies how to use that element, a design concept that often confounds and confuses, demonstrating how to seamlessly mix and layer prints throughout a house. She covers pattern usage you probably already have, such as on your duvet cover or in the living room rug, and she also reveals the unexpected places you might not have thought to add bathroom tiles, an arrangement of book spines in a reading nook, or windowpane gridding in your entryway. This stunning book showcases distinct uses of pattern in homes all over the country to inspire you to realize that an injection of pattern can enliven any space, helping to make it uniquely yours.

Genres: Design, Interior Design, Nonfiction, Art, Coffee Table Books, Art Design, Architecture

275 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 30, 2016

Reviews

[Tisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rebecca Atwood's style is not mine, but that was kind of the point. I'm not sure that I was able to glean anything from this book, though and several of her suggestions/examples border on cultural appropriation with seemingly no awareness.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is both beautiful and useful. It speaks to different styles and spaces, and the recommendations are budget-friendly.

[Missy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love everything in here.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous. Inspirational.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked:
- Styling of the book
- Breakdown by area of the home
- DIY projects
- Influence from author's hometown and where they live now

What I didn't love:
- It's subjective, but some of the designs were kind of ugly, i.e. too many patterns or lack of color coordination, and I didn't agree with the explanations provided for the choices. Arguably, this is the most important part of an interior design book. I think where the author shines is in designing more colorful, playful rooms.
- Agree with others that text was small. This is uncomfortable to read when it's a coffee table book.

Disclaimer: I only skimmed the text; most of my focus was on getting inspiration from photos.

[Tracy]

Not to my taste visually, and the opening chapters were pretty vague and generic if you know anything about color theory. The type was also unhelpfully small for my bad eyes. Took a handful of notes on practicable tips for using pattern.

This is more suitable for people new to design and decorating, who would like a lot of ideas and guidance in exploration. There are a lot of examples for each room in the house with advice to pull from each. The style of the samples was pretty similar so if you don't like her taste earlier in the book the samples may also not be to your preference.

[Олена Рябченко]

Дуже гарна книга комусь на подарунок. Сама по собі як естетичний артефакт, але щоб там було щось революційно нове і корисне особисто мені, то ні. Читала вибірково, те, що цікавило, бо дуже багато очевидностей. Ілюстративний матеріал прекрасний. Візуальна насолода гортати таку книгу.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, after this read, I understand how to mix patterns!

[Христина Лончина · Rating 4 out of 5]

😍 Класна книжка з організації простору вдома з точки зору дизайну інтер'єру!

Після прочитання склалося враження, наче я пройшла якийсь курс, дуже багато теоретичної і практичної інформації, які хочеться втілити в життя.

Зрештою я так і зробила, пішла попереставляла все на поличках у вітальні, додала деталей у ванній кімнаті, а також - повісила картини-афірмації у майстерні, де роблю свічки 😌.

🫣 Чесно?! Я би все кардинально змінила, але, як каже пише й сама авторка, найкраще спершу зробити тло, себто - ремонт. Це база від якої ти потім відштовхуєшся у процесі комбінування деталей і організації простору.

🫠 Ми ремонт плануємо, але скоро зробити його точно не вийде, тому книжка буде ще раз перепрочитана в майбутньому, бо в ній є корисні поради, які мені сподобалися!

📖 Як я згадувала, в книзі є теорія - себто головне про кольори, текстури та принти, як їх вдало поєднувати, а також практика, наприклад, як пофарбувати в різних техніках скатертину чи наволочку, як зробити стілець своїми руками (точніше сплести сидіння для нього) тощо.

Ну а ще - книжка дуже красива, в ній багато ілюстрацій, тому, думаю, вона ідеально підійде на подарунок людині, яка цікавиться дизайном 🪄!

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a perfect book to help you continue to think about pattern in your home. Atwood encourages you to think about color, texture, size and how each affects the whole in any space. You start by gathering things you like (sticks, pictures, fabric, anything), and slowly as you build your pile of favorites and hone it down, it all fits together together to give you a sense of your personality and what brings you pleasure and energy. Atwood has also written a book on color. Each book has heft (250+ pages), and you can refer back to them as you continue to build. This is not complicated but reassuring. It does lean slightly at times toward the Brooklyn millennial style. Atwood sells her own textiles on her website. At times I did yearn for a few textiles that were not cotton or linen--but this is a roadmap, not a bible. She includes weaving and dying projects at end of book.

[Sarah TheAromaofBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting thoughts and ideas here, but I didn't connect with this book the same way that I did Living With Color by the same author (I LOVED that book). In some ways, pattern is weirdly harder to pin down than color, I think. Pattern is influenced by shapes, textures, furniture placement, color, etc. For me, it's harder to get my head around pattern in home decor than it is color, so in the end I felt like I walked away from this book with fewer applicable ideas than I did her book on color. When I was reading the book on color, my husband and I discussed almost every section, but I never felt that same "sharing" energy with this one. Like I said, a fine book with some interesting concepts, but a little flat in execution.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first, I wasn't into it ... too much to read, I just wanted eye candy. But I'm so glad I let myself settle in because this was so good it could be a college design textbook. I tend to be more intuitive about my pattern usage, but Rebecca Atwood has made it a science, and in a good way that allows for tons of creativity and individuality. This book was very, very well done.

I saw another review criticize the amount of white space ... I completely disagree with her. I believe the white space was very intentional and allowed the patterns to shine even more than a cluttered, tacky looking page would. I wouldn't change a thing!

[Jonii · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great introduction to pattern, pattern mixing, and sort of a bit of color theory for the textiles in your home. I loved the styling and there were great tips for every comfort level whether you're new to color and pattern mixing or have been doing it successfully for a while and want to up your game. Recommended for anyone that is looking to get those magazine perfect mixes in their own home.

On a side note: I really appreciate that this book was printed on matte paper; sometimes the high gloss paper in design books detracts from the photos and makes it harder to see the colors and patterns.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really lovely design book. Obviously the focus is on pattern, so there's plenty of stunning textiles -- but there are also textures of woven baskets, the sheen of wall covering, stamped pattern of tile. The author encourages us to create a moodboard: first gather ideas recklessly, but then edit ruthlessly. Identify where you're, but then take your time getting there by slowly gathering things that speak to you.

I also appreciated that she shows examples from a variety of homes and design styles, so you can get a better sense of how the ideas work for different people. Definitely a lovely book to flip through for inspiration

[Carol Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who is familiar with color theory but not quite adept at matching patterns, this is a stellar addition to someone who is interesting in dressing their living space. I'm a fan of owning hard copies of books that I'd like to use as reference -- this would be one I'll be eventually adding to that collection.

The projects I have to say, are take it or leave it, but the examples, process, and tips/tricks/equations really help someone who is still new in learning how to "eye" living spaces are really great!

[Grace Galloway · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me some good ideas to play with at work and in my own apartment, and the photos are beautiful to look at. I came away with lots of tips for mixing patterns, and am excited to try some of the projects that are listed at the end of the book. I liked that the chapters were organized by room, and it gave the reader several differing ways to approach each room in a house. Overall I recommend this book!

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The proof is in the pudding - I went through this book slowly, over a few months, and my home got so much more homey during that time. I've always stuck to safe, simple design, but I incorporated a bunch of new textiles and sewed new curtains, inspired by this book! I liked all the pictures and really clicked with the design suggestions.

[Barbara Vargas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good tips on layering patterns and how to gather inspiration. The idea of the book is that you can build a space that will show your personality and story. I think it’s a good resource for beginners and even if you don’t share the same aesthetic taste as the author you can learn from her experiences.

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading for some little tidbits of good info. Pretty picts and good inspiration for trying out some watercolor patterns. I was left wanting a bit more, and I thought some of the projects at the end of the book looked interesting, but the instructions were a little bit vague.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent ideas about pattern mixing and determining what colors you love. The text in Living with Pattern is fantastic. It's interesting, usually I spend most of the time looking at photographs in design books but this book I spent more time reading Atwood's words.

[Margaret Hotovec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of useful pattern rules at the beginning followed by varied examples. I don’t prefer so much visual stimulation but this book was a nice break from the shiny things we’re so often accosted with.

[Saba Rostamnezhad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like the way author shares her past, stories and memories and that was a lot. I mean she could teach much faster and to the point in a brief way. however, the guidelines provided to mix and match patterns and also techniques to create new patterns were so applicable and interesting.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atwood helps you learn more about working and using patterns in your homes. She is great at giving you fundamental knowledge about which colours and patterns work together. While I'm not one for too much colour in my home this is a great reference book.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful book by a talented designer, but what this book taught me is that mixing patterns is hard. The author does it for a living so she can spend the time and resources to find the perfect mix of color and patterns. So I guess your mileage may vary.

[Andi Butler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty, but too wordy and too much white space, I'm disappointed. A book about patterns should really let the patterns be the focus and it should be lush with color. This was sparse...

[Martha]

beautifully photographed & illustrated

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

More city than country, but I enjoyed this focus on pattern.

[Sandra]

Great book for interior design. Super helpful!

[Alona Nikolaienko (Kiiko) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Книга-натхнення.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are so many pattern choices out there and there are definitely some that are too bold for me, but I loved learning more about the use of pattern in your home. I liked having a visual and how the author would describe what you were seeing and explain the elements. Like I said, there were definitely times when I squinted my eyes at the page and wondered how it made since, but the wide variety of pictures shows that everyone has their own taste and design style. I'm excited to explore more options in my next place!