A client recently asked me if she could use wicker furniture, traditionally very much an outdoor material, in her living room. My answer was a resounding yes!
I am a great believer in layering to create texture and interest in a room and some of my favorite rooms have upholstered furniture and wicker or cane living together very happily. I think it is mostly about colour and scale and as long as these two factors are correct, the furniture will work beautifully.
A perfect example is the image above…subtle colouring and medium sized chairs which fit very well in a medium sized room.
In this gorgeous South African home, you can see the large wicker chairs which the designer has paired with a bold stripe, an animal hide rug and a chandelier. It works beautifully..the ceilings are quite high and I love the fact that there is no sofa, but rather four chairs grouped around a table.
And an image of a dining option…casually chic. This looks like a kitchen in a fabulous French chateau …but it is actually a gorgeous home in Pretoria, South Africa.
While sourcing images for this post, I found a related post by the amazing Habitually Chic blog. She also features some exquisite images of designers who use wicker indoors in their designs.
One of my favourite bloggers, Joni from Cote de Texas blog did a lovely post on the famous Kooboo wicker chairs, which apparently come from Belgium. There are a lot of budget options out there and even Ikea do a good one, which I recently bought for one of my clients . (Stylish choices are somewhat limited in Dubai if you are budget conscious!)
While not exactly the same as the Kooboo chairs, it does provide the texture and look I was after for my client at a very good price point.
I love the finish too, which is more washed grey than the image shows…with some gorgeous striped cushions in grey and beige, they look great!
There is something about these large scale chairs which I adore…the “slubby “texture (is that even a word?)is delightful and they look amazing teamed with the very refined architectural features of the room.
I also think that aside from wicker furniture, wicker baskets are fantastic ways to build texture and layers in a room and create storage at the same time…but I might save that for another post!
A Decorator's Notebook 