When I first painted Sunken Garden, I pictured it on a cream background.
That was the pattern in my head.
But once I started playing with it and putting the artwork against different background colors, something interesting happened.
It worked.
And then it worked again.
And again.
A different background could make the exact same hand-painted flowers feel quiet and traditional, deeper and moodier, fresher, warmer, or completely different from the version beside it.
It's probably why there are so many versions of Sunken Garden now.
I couldn't stop.
But it also reinforced something I've learned after years of painting patterns and decorating houses:
Color doesn't work alone. It works in relationship with everything around it.
And that is actually very good news when you're choosing wallpaper.
Because you don't need to find a wallpaper that “matches” your room perfectly.
You need to understand what the pattern is doing—and what you already have.
“I Love the Wallpaper. Now What Do I Put With It?”
This is where people often get stuck.
You find the wallpaper.
You love it.
And then suddenly one lovely decision creates twelve more:
What color should I paint the trim?
Does the rug work?
Can I keep the sofa?
What about the chairs?
Does the artwork compete?
Do I have to replace everything?
Before long, choosing wallpaper has somehow turned into redecorating an entire room.
It doesn't have to.
When I'm standing in a room and someone asks me what should go with a wallpaper, I don't just stare harder at the wallpaper.
I look around the room.
What's already there?
The furniture.
The rug.
The upholstery.
The art.
The wood tones.
The things we're keeping.
Because unless you're planning to start completely over, those things are part of the color story too.
And frankly, after you've lived in a home for a while, they're often the most interesting part.
Start by Reading the Pattern
One of the simplest ways I know to make sense of a wallpaper is to stop seeing it as twenty different colors and instead look for three things:
The dominant color
This is usually the background or the color that carries the most visual weight.
It establishes the overall mood.
Light.
Warm.
Cool.
Moody.
Soft.
This is often the color I look to first when I'm thinking about walls, trim, or the general direction of the room.
The secondary colors
These support the pattern without taking over.
They give you wonderful options for upholstery, fabrics, painted furniture, rugs, or other elements in the room.
The accent colors
These are the little sparks.
- Maybe it's a tiny blue flower.
- A dark green leaf.
- A touch of pink.
- An unexpected brown.
They're tempting because your eye notices them.
But that doesn't mean every accent color needs to become a pillow.
Sometimes it can simply remain an accent in the wallpaper.
A room needs somewhere for your eye to rest.
Sunken Garden: One Pattern, Completely Different Personalities
Sunken Garden taught me this lesson while I was creating it.
The hand-painted floral artwork remained the same.
But every time I changed the background, I changed its personality.
That's the power of the dominant color.
And it's why choosing between colorways shouldn't necessarily begin with:
Which one is prettiest?
They may all be pretty.
Instead ask:
Which one belongs with what is already happening in my room?
If you're keeping a rug, upholstered chairs, a sofa and artwork, let those things help narrow the decision.
If you're redoing the entire room and don't have to answer to anything that's already there?
Well, then you have much more freedom.
Pick the one you love.
There isn't one universal right answer.
It depends on how much of the room is already telling its story.
You Probably Don't Need (or want) to Replace Everything
I think this is particularly important as we get older and our homes become more layered.
At 25, you may genuinely be starting with an empty room.
Thirty or forty years later?
Not so much.
- You have things.
- And hopefully, some really good things.
- Maybe there's an old rug you're keeping.
- A chest from your parents.
- A chair you've already reupholstered twice.
- Art you bought on a trip.
- A portrait.
- A table that has followed you through three houses.
- Those aren't obstacles to decorating.
They're clues.
If you aren't planning to replace them, let them help determine which wallpaper colorway makes sense.
Your house doesn't need to be cleared out before something new can come in.
I Learned This in the Room I Didn't Know How to Decorate
Our current house is the newest house we've ever lived in.
I've almost always lived in vintage or antique homes, so this house asked something different of me.
When we moved in, we worked our way through the front room, dining room, sunroom and bedrooms.
Eventually we were left with the den/living room.
It has a massive fireplace and a vaulted ceiling.
And I didn't know what to do with it.
So instead of going out and buying an entire room's worth of things, I started looking at what was left.
And what was left were portraits.
Over the years, I had painted portraits of my children.
So those went up.
Then I had other pieces of art that needed a home, and they began joining the portraits in a gallery wall.
Somehow, all those things that hadn't been purchased together looked wonderful together.
It was a happy accident.
Except I'm not sure it really was an accident.
When You Buy What You Love, Things Have a Funny Way of Belonging Together
After nearly forty years of marriage and making homes, we've collected a lot.
Not because everything followed one decorating plan.
Quite the opposite.
We've tried to buy and keep things we genuinely love.
And I've found that when you do that over a lifetime, those things often speak to one another in ways you couldn't have planned twenty years earlier.
That's what makes a room interesting.
It doesn't have to be one theme.
It doesn't have to look like the Pinterest photograph.
It doesn't have to look as though everything arrived Tuesday afternoon on the same delivery truck.
A collected room has history in it.
Coordinating Isn't the Same as Matching
I've actually always loved mixing pattern.
Even back in the Laura Ashley days, I loved the formula:
A hero print.
A smaller coordinating print.
A stripe, plaid, gingham, or pinstripe.
I still feel that in my soul.
There is nothing wrong with coordination.
The trick is leaving enough room for personality.
You could match the wallpaper, paint and fabric beautifully, but then bring in the antique table, old portrait, funny little trinket, stack of books or piece of pottery you've owned forever.
Suddenly the room loosens up.
It doesn't look like you tried to make every single thing match.
Or, as I like to say:
It doesn't look like Garanimals.
Your collected pieces break up the perfection.
And that's usually when a room begins to feel like a home.
What If the Wallpaper Is Already the Star?
Some patterns have a lot to say.
If the wallpaper has strong movement, saturated color, or a large-scale pattern, everything else in the room does not need to compete for attention.
This is one reason you often see designers pairing patterned wallpaper with abstract art.
The simplicity can create breathing room.
But not everybody loves abstract art.
And you don't need to buy art you don't like simply because a designer told you it “works.”
Look at what you already own.
Maybe it's a charcoal sketch.
A portrait.
A landscape with a quiet palette.
An old architectural print.
Something with a simple mat and frame.
The question isn't:
Does this perfectly match the wallpaper?
Ask:
Can these two things live comfortably beside one another?
That's a much better standard.
Before You Choose a Colorway, Decide How Much of the Room Is Staying
Here's the practical question I'd ask before ordering:
Are you keeping most of the room?
Start with the rug, upholstery, furniture, art, and wood tones you already have.
Let those help guide the wallpaper background.
Are you changing a few things?
Choose the pieces that absolutely stay and give yourself flexibility with the rest.
Are you truly starting over?
Then stop worrying so much about what “goes.”
Choose the pattern and colorway you love most and build outward from there.
Your wallpaper can become the first chapter instead of the last.
The Goal Isn't a Perfectly Coordinated Room
It's a room that feels connected.
That's different.
Some things relate through color.
Some through shape.
Some through age.
Some through mood.
And some belong simply because you love them and they carry part of your story.
Your home should have room for all of that.
That's what I mean when I say:
Collected, not coordinated.
You aren't trying to make your house look as though everything was selected on the same afternoon.
You're allowing the things you've gathered over years to live alongside something new.
And wallpaper can be the layer that helps pull those things together.
Bring the Pattern Into Your Own Room
If you're considering Sunken Garden, don't try to choose the colorway from your phone.
Start with a sample.
Put it beside the rug that's staying.
Hold it near your sofa.
Look at it with the wood tones in the room.
Put it beneath the artwork you already love.
And then step back.
This is exactly what I love about seeing Sunken Garden Ivory with an old landscape painting, warm wood, brass, pottery and that wonderfully worn blue table.
Nothing is trying terribly hard to match.
The blue table picks up the cooler notes in the pattern without being the same blue. The warm frame and aged wood bring another temperature entirely. The landscape has its own colors and its own story.
And somehow, it belongs.
That's the goal.
Not matching.
Relationship.
A $5 sample lets you see whether that relationship works with the things that already make your house yours.
Explore the Sunken Garden Collection, choose the colorway you're drawn to, and bring a sample home before making the bigger decision.
Explore Sunken Garden & Order a $5 Sample
Because after thirty or forty years of collecting a life, you don't need to start your home over.
You just need to know how to add the next layer.
