Introduce the fish look to your home

A nautical theme can lift the look of any room, from textiles to shower curtains, writes Carol O’Callaghan.

FOR an island people we have a very poor relationship with fish. It seems the texture, and aroma steaming up from the plate is just a bit too, well.....fishy.

So how are we going to react to the idea of decorating our interiors with motifs of the creature we love to loathe?

The first and most obvious place to introduce the look is the kitchen where platters bearing pictures and motifs of anything from herrings to lobster provide a themed background to prawns and dips. Textiles too — tea towels and napkins — are a new find for the kitchen, looking their best in summer when the mind drifts on sunny days to thoughts of sand dunes and salty air.

Bathrooms with their strong emphasis on watery matters are an opportunity to have fun. Seashore treasures like shells and starfish propped on the rim of a bath add some texture to what can otherwise be a cold and clinical room. Plain and practical shower curtains over baths can be swopped for fish patterns. Ikea has a fun version with images of fish that might have come off the set of Finding Nemo, but by no means unsuitable for an adult or family bathroom (Svalen shower curtain €11).

Wall stickers allow for a little more creativity, letting you free to create a wall pattern. An alternative is to follow the line of bathroom fittings, or to create a frame of sorts around what can often be plain, if not dull, wall mirrors. Even consider making a mural on a blank stretch of emulsion (stickers from www.dottyfrogdecor.co.uk approx. €16.79).

A shoal of sofa cushions with subtle chalky drawings of sea creatures makes a change from chintz, florals and stripes.

So, if the fishy theme reels you in and you’d like to experiment, wallpaper is an option. It’s brave, but interesting designs that from a distance are not immediately seen to be fish patterns, are worth considering. Versions where it takes a close-up viewing to appreciate the detail, can create a conversation piece and an eclectic aesthetic.

Log onto www.timorousbeasties.com for the most unusual selection of wallpapers you’ve ever seen. Watch out in particular for their sepia lobster pattern. At a glance it looks rather like a traditional vintage pattern, possibly garden related, but close expansion shows it to be multiple images of quite a primitive, if not scary, lobster.

Graham & Brown’s Fishy wallpaper is finished in mustard with black detailing which helps to make the pattern’s theme even less obvious at a glance. Its tight repetition has the same effect, but if you’d like to give the pattern authentic context, it’s also available in a sea blue (Graham & Brown wallpapers approx. €30 p/roll at B&Q). Although it may be best to confine it to a single wall unless you want the effect of swimming in the sea.

* Next week it’s wedding gifts with a difference.