Home fun

Kya deLongchamps looks at the increase in fun home interior products and how to make them work well in our homes.

THEY say sales of red lipstick soar during recession as an antidote to the economic gloom, so perhaps recession also accounts for the increasing rise in witty and fun — but essentially practical — home interiors products available to cheer up our domestic environment and bring a smile to our faces.

No aspect of our interiors is escaping the trend, as humour is injected into everything from tablewares and textiles to wallpaper and furniture. As with all trends, it’s best to proceed with caution unless you want to end up with a look that will date quickly. With this trend, brevity is advisable unless you want the house of fun look, bearing in mind that an injection of fun can run from subtle wit to laugh-out-loud ridiculous and requires an approach that is more opportunity led that deliberate. In other words, don’t go hunting for something fun which will seem contrived and probably miss the point. Keep an eye open and wait for the right item to come along.

Consider a single chair or a sofa upholstered in a fun print fabric. If your space is small then such a chair will provide a great focal point, but beware of cluttering the room with furniture as your witty chair will likely scream fuss. A large room will carry off a fun sofa and, teamed with neutrally upholstered furniture and plain walls, will make for a great conversation piece.

For a subtle hint of wit, try a quirky lamp or simply replace a plain lamp shade. Pop Art and cartoon depictions applied to lampshade material is popular and can reinvent an otherwise ordinary lamp stand. Our old reliable friend the cushion has become the subject of much re-design. New shapes ranging from animals to letters of the alphabet provide a quick, easy and affordable way of providing a subtle hint of fun.

More humble items normally bought purely for their function rather than their looks are enjoying elevated status. Door mats sport witty greetings to stop guests in their tracks before trampling the mat underfoot. Tea-towels have been given the design treatment for some time now and moved away from the predicable checks to witty patterns lovely enough to display, thanks to the naive-style and cartoonish graphics of kitchen produce and activities.

A clever development in recent years has been the advent of the dining chair cover idea has transformed many a shabby seat into a colour co-ordinated beauty, often finished with a bow as seen at wedding receptions. Now the idea has gone a step further with the application of stylish graphics to the fabric which are bound to stimulate conversation.

Also consider some wallpaper, especially the interactive variety with peel-away sections so when you tire of the pattern you can remove the sections to reveal a new pattern. Or rectify the eternal problem of how to hang pictures on patterned paper without making the walls seem busy by using a paper that have ready-made frames drawn. Just think about the dusting you’ll avoid.

Next week we go wild for animal prints and motifs.