How to decorate with wallhangings and tapestry
Tapestries and wallhangings sometimes suffer from a rather fuddy-duddy reputation, associated with images of crumbling country houses and musty rooms. We're here to make clear that this is far from the truth. Decorating with antique tapestries, Turkish rugs, and precious textile fragments can add warmth and richness to traditional schemes; we've taken some tips from Robert Kime, a master of decorating with textiles. But there's also a wealth of fabrics out there that can enhance even the airiest and most contemporary of interiors. Plus they're completely brilliant for filling those awkwardly large expanses of empty wall - many of our designers use them in hallways or above sofas and beds. If you have a particularly valuable textile, why not consider framing it and hanging it as you would an artwork? From colourful Indian kanthas to artist-designed rugs, scroll down for inspiration on hanging fabrics on your walls.
Elsa Young1/16In a rural house in Ibiza designed by Joanna Plant, lamps from Magus Antiques, with shades made from saris, pick up on the colours of an antique Indian hanging. The cotton bedcover is from Oka.
Elsa Young2/16In the hallway of the same house, a vintage table from Puckhaber stands in front of an antique English crewelwork hanging in the hall.
Rachel Whiting3/16Our Creative Director (Interiors) Gabby Deeming's Bloomsbury flat is full of clever ideas to copy, including this kantha hung over the sofa. "The bare expanse of wall above the sofa required a bit of thinking. I am not an enormous fan of gallery-hung pictures so a vintage kantha quilt, which had been living on the back of the sofa, solved my problem. I bought it in India and the colours are perfect – it’s almost an abstracted version of the Etro fabric on the ottoman."
ERIC PIASECKI4/16The well-travelled design duo behind the artisanal furniture brand Casamidy have built a ranch in a remote area of northern Mexico, in which their handmade pieces mingle with family heirlooms and objects collected over time. Textiles play a large part in the space; as well as being hung on the walls of the double-height living room, a traditional Mexican Otomi fabric serves as a headboard in this bedroom.
Paul Massey5/16A Matisse-style throw from BFGF hangs on the wall behind an antique sofa with cushions in ‘Victor Hugo’ linen mix by Le Manach in this unconventional country cottage by Beata Heuman.
Paul Massey6/16Joanna Plant has updated this elegant Georgian house in the Cotswolds to meet the needs of a family, reconfiguring the layout and creating inviting yet practical spaces for the owners and their children. In the sitting room, an ancient Ottoman textile fragment from Esther Fitzgerald hangs above the chimneypiece.
Simon Upton7/16Interior designer Robert Kime is known for his expertise in antique textiles, often using tapestries and carpets as dominant decorative features. In the hallway of his own London flat, rugs hang on the walls, framing a large, distinctive animal portrait.
Paul Massey8/16In the spare room in Rita Konig's London flat a Guatemalan tapestry hangs on the wall, paired with curtains in 'Broadcloth' felt from Hainsworth, Tyler Hall's 'First Bloom' wallpaper from Tissus d'Hélène.
Simon Upton9/16The scheme for the drawing room in this restored farmhouse was designed around a set of seventeenth-century Soho tapestries, which hang on each side of the chimneypiece. Various shades of green, notably the British racing green velvet armchairs and the white and lime green chairs, bring the room together.
Andrew Montgomery10/16In Bridget Elworthy of The Land Gardeners' home, Wardington Manor in Oxfordshire, neutral walls are the base to show off French hangings sourced from junk shops.
Richard Powers11/16When interior designer Douglas Mackie and his partner Julian Jackson bought this house in the Languedoc region of the South of France, it was a chance for him - a knowledgeable collector of textiles - to show off his stock of older, pieces. 'I have always been an avid collector, and now their rich saturated colours sit wonderfully well in the shafts of sunlight of a southern home.' In this spare room, aPersian jajim hangs in the spare room, contrasting with the vintage Moroccan rug.
Richard Powers12/16In the main bedroom of the same house, a French, eighteenth-century tapestry based on the story of Abraham and Isaac hangs behind the bed.
Ngoc Minh Ngo13/16Tapestry doesn't have to be antique. In the living room of Jos and Annabel White's town house in Manhattan, huge tapestries by contemporary artists Kara Walker and Julie Verhoeven line the walls.
Tessa Traeger14/16Robert Kime created this opulent bathroom featuring an elegant freestanding marble bathtub for a Regency house in Scotland.
Tessa Traeger15/16Another Kime scheme, this time in his seventeenth-century house Upper Farm in Wiltshire. Robert is the king of mixing tapestry with eclectic textiles from around the world to create a look that strikes a balance between warmth and formality.
Tessa Traeger16/16A room decorated by Robert Kime for the Prince of Wales, the Garden Room of Clarence House has a sofa covered in a colourful antique fabric. "He shares my love for textiles, especially near-Eastern ones, completely."
