Toile

Recognise the picture? It featured in the dream post of a few days ago. Vix clearly knows me too well as she quite rightly pointed out that a pink room would have no place in any dream house of mine! I used it mainly because I was struggling to find a proper boudoir photo but also because I absolutely love toile.

For those that aren't as in love with it as I am, toile de Jouy is a type of pattern, originating in the eighteenth century in the village of Jouy-en-Josas in France. This is halfway between Paris and Versailles so was very well placed for manufacturing the sort of expensive textiles likely to appeal to the French court at the time. It generally features quite complex pastoral scenes based on a white background and is most common on fabrics but also appears on decorative things like wallpaper and porcelain.

A couple of late eighteenth century examples

I absolutely adore it in country house rooms but they usually have the benefit of being on a somewhat grander scale than your average house and so can get away with slightly more busy designs. If and when I ever get a house of my very own then it won't be anything grand. I definitely want to fit toile in somehow but I'll have to be canny about how I do it.

I think it's a bit like chintz in that people seem to go nuts with it. It can be a tad overpowering at the best of times but a quick google image search will show that it's usually accompanied by swags and pelmets and more occasional tables than you can shake a stick at. For example:

Argh, pattern overload!

This honestly makes me feel queasy

Too fussy, plus I don't understand beds with gazillions of cushions and pillows on them. You only end up throwing them on the floor.

This, toned down by several hundred notches would be really rather nice. As it stands at the moment, I think you'd develop some sort of vicious eye strain just sitting in there.


I still haven't found the perfect room so I'll have to steal some ideas and inspiration from other places instead.

Come on, did you expect me NOT to find a green one? I certainly wouldn't go for that particular style of curtain but I love the colours.

This is excessively pretty wallpaper. Not quite so keen on the white shabby chic features though.

Now this, I absolutely love. It's just so sunshiney. You'd automatically wake up happy in a room like this.

I like the fact that toile is popping up in more modern forms and unexpected places as well. It's not just limited to soft furnishings.

I like this pattern very much - it fits my love for buildings and skylines.

How glorious is this design please? I can't stop giggling at the maypole dancers. It's from the utterly wonderful tshirt website Threadless but alas it's sold out. I've got my fingers crossed that they reprint it.

Equally modern and fun is this design from Coco de Mer. It's rather raunchy, hence the small photo (don't want to corrupt any younger readers!). If I was the sort of girl that frittered that sort of money on bras then this one would top my wishlist.

My other problem is that toile designs seem most common in blue, red and pink at the moment and I don't want any of those. I prefer it in green, yellow or even in black and they're not so easy to track down. The hunt is ongoing.



I managed to source these two big pieces of fabric towards the end of last year. I think they're technically curtain fabric but it might be just about possible to make dresses out of them instead - if it's good enough for the Von Trapps it's good enough for me! I know they're both quite busy patterns but I think if I pick the right style of frock, I could look quite chic rather than a piece of walking wallpaper.