Decorating
10 Reasons to Love Toile (and How to Make it Work for You)
This picturesque, French-style fabric and wallpaper can look fabulous – or fussy. Choosing fabulous is easy if you know how to use it
More than any other patterned fabric, toile evokes reactions ranging from fervent devotion to deep dislike. For some, toile will never darken the doors, or anything else, of their homes. For others, it’s worth flaunting in every room of the house – and therein may lie the trouble with toile. An excess of anything cancels out its impact and toile is a prime example. So, to toile or not to toile? Read on for some compelling reasons to reconsider this opinion-splitting fabric and some tips for using it with flair.
2. Toile is fun, fresh and modern
Don’t assume that toile belongs only to the lace doily-and-lavender school of design. A range of bright, contemporary colours and less densely detailed patterns has changed the look to suit today’s light, open and informal homes.
TIP: A piece of contemporary furniture upholstered in toile is a stylish way of showing off the form of the furniture – the contrast between traditional and modern can really work. These chairs are covered in a vibrant toile from Manuel Canovas.
Don’t assume that toile belongs only to the lace doily-and-lavender school of design. A range of bright, contemporary colours and less densely detailed patterns has changed the look to suit today’s light, open and informal homes.
TIP: A piece of contemporary furniture upholstered in toile is a stylish way of showing off the form of the furniture – the contrast between traditional and modern can really work. These chairs are covered in a vibrant toile from Manuel Canovas.
Toile prints appear all over, on wallpaper, china, shower curtains, bed and table linen and clothing, even sneakers! This Swedish home shows just how fresh and unexpected toile on the wall can be. Although the print is very detailed, a restrained colour palette of soft grey and white teamed with white trim and panelling doesn’t overwhelm the pretty room.
3. Toile adds elegance to traditional interiors
The versatility of toile is one of its advantages. If your home is more suited to formal spaces with classic architectural features and antique furniture, more traditional toiles in a monochrome and white combinations, as first produced in the Jouy factory, are an elegant addition.
TIP: Too much toile in a room already blessed with an outstanding feature, like these fabulous doors, would detract from their impact. Keep toile to, say, a special chair and cushions, rather than large areas of sofas and curtains.
10 Remedies for a Lame Living Room
The versatility of toile is one of its advantages. If your home is more suited to formal spaces with classic architectural features and antique furniture, more traditional toiles in a monochrome and white combinations, as first produced in the Jouy factory, are an elegant addition.
TIP: Too much toile in a room already blessed with an outstanding feature, like these fabulous doors, would detract from their impact. Keep toile to, say, a special chair and cushions, rather than large areas of sofas and curtains.
10 Remedies for a Lame Living Room
4. Toile is feminine without being fussy
A friend described toile as “too girly” but used in moderation, it can look beautifully delicate and feminine, as this bedroom shows.
TIP: To avoid fussy ‘frou frou’, if you use pink toile in a bedroom, go for soft peach, almondy or pale plum pinks, rather than more obvious bubblegum and candy pinks.
Decorate With Pink Without Going Into Shock
A friend described toile as “too girly” but used in moderation, it can look beautifully delicate and feminine, as this bedroom shows.
TIP: To avoid fussy ‘frou frou’, if you use pink toile in a bedroom, go for soft peach, almondy or pale plum pinks, rather than more obvious bubblegum and candy pinks.
Decorate With Pink Without Going Into Shock
5. Toile is masculine without being macho
Being a guy doesn’t mean patterns are out of the picture. Not all masculine bedrooms have to be bold, dark and rugged. Soften an austere feel with a crisp, contemporary palette and a toile with a widely spaced print. This is a gender-friendly look, too.
TIP: For a boy’s or shared bedroom, choose a toile with architectural or hunting motifs rather than milkmaids and shepherdesses – much more manly!
Balancing Act: Designing a His and Hers Bedroom
Being a guy doesn’t mean patterns are out of the picture. Not all masculine bedrooms have to be bold, dark and rugged. Soften an austere feel with a crisp, contemporary palette and a toile with a widely spaced print. This is a gender-friendly look, too.
TIP: For a boy’s or shared bedroom, choose a toile with architectural or hunting motifs rather than milkmaids and shepherdesses – much more manly!
Balancing Act: Designing a His and Hers Bedroom
6. Toile is oh-so-French
French Provincial loyalists are in design heaven when it comes to using toile. Imitating the style gives free rein to lashings of toile in the traditional tones of its birthplace – burgundy-reds, gold-browns, and dresden blues with a slightly faded and old-world air.
TIP: Working the French Provincial look hangs on the seemingly unstudied layering of a potpourri of patterned fabrics, such as floppy unbleached linens, canvas and cottons, with gently aged furniture and rustic accessories. To prevent overload, stick largely to natural-toned neutrals and muted accent colours.
So Your Style Is: French Provincial
French Provincial loyalists are in design heaven when it comes to using toile. Imitating the style gives free rein to lashings of toile in the traditional tones of its birthplace – burgundy-reds, gold-browns, and dresden blues with a slightly faded and old-world air.
TIP: Working the French Provincial look hangs on the seemingly unstudied layering of a potpourri of patterned fabrics, such as floppy unbleached linens, canvas and cottons, with gently aged furniture and rustic accessories. To prevent overload, stick largely to natural-toned neutrals and muted accent colours.
So Your Style Is: French Provincial
In a French Provincial design context, being more lavish with toile, and patterns generally, enhances the effortless flair that attracts many to this style. The harmonious elements of this bedroom – dresden blue panelled walls, French bed, side tables and lamps, toile quilt and cushions on a soft-toned rug – get a “oui” from me!
7. Toile is for kids
Paper a wall in a child’s bedroom with an engaging toile for a built-in bedtime story. Tell them about the characters and let them think up names and make up their own stories about the scenes and people depicted. This pretty raspberry pink toile is by Laura Ashley.
Paper a wall in a child’s bedroom with an engaging toile for a built-in bedtime story. Tell them about the characters and let them think up names and make up their own stories about the scenes and people depicted. This pretty raspberry pink toile is by Laura Ashley.
Original toiles featured a white, sun-bleached cotton background with the design printed in just one colour. Modern textile techniques now produce a range of multi-coloured toiles, like this gorgeous playful Circus Toile from Pollacks.
8. Toile loves to mix it up
Combining toiles with other prints is not as hard as it may seem. The general guidelines for patterns apply, like linking them in some way and contrasting textures. You’ll find some useful advice here.
TIP: If you are throwing toile into a pile of plump bed cushions, make sure that at least one of them picks up the exact colour of the toile print – such as the linear stripe on this bed. Mixing two toiles of different colours in the same room is way too busy.
Combining toiles with other prints is not as hard as it may seem. The general guidelines for patterns apply, like linking them in some way and contrasting textures. You’ll find some useful advice here.
TIP: If you are throwing toile into a pile of plump bed cushions, make sure that at least one of them picks up the exact colour of the toile print – such as the linear stripe on this bed. Mixing two toiles of different colours in the same room is way too busy.
9. Toile tells tales
Few fabrics can claim to have recorded centuries of history. Early toile mainly featured country scenes, but it soon became a kind of fabric journalism, reflecting many of the happenings and fashions of the period – as well as some of the less savoury aspects of La Vie Francaise. The Mongolfier brothers’ balloon adventure, the publishing of Don Quixote, the rise of chinoiserie and contemporary architectural achievements all made it to the front pages.
Few fabrics can claim to have recorded centuries of history. Early toile mainly featured country scenes, but it soon became a kind of fabric journalism, reflecting many of the happenings and fashions of the period – as well as some of the less savoury aspects of La Vie Francaise. The Mongolfier brothers’ balloon adventure, the publishing of Don Quixote, the rise of chinoiserie and contemporary architectural achievements all made it to the front pages.
Just as original toiles reflected events and opinions of the day, modern toiles are responding to our current world. Some designers have taken toile further than mere design, into the realm of social and political commentary. One of these is New Yorker Sheila Bridges whose Harlem Toile de Jouy shows black Americans, dressed in aristocratic French costumes, dancing to boom boxes, shooting basketball hoops and skipping rope.
The Glasgow company Timorous Beasties’ edgy wallpaper, London Toile, goes even further, with scenes of a homeless man and his dog and an armed hold-up in progress, against a backdrop of London’s city skyline. Their Glasgow Toile is even more alarming. Timorous Beasties’ co-founder Paul Simmons recalls a couple who unwittingly bought it for their son’s nursery wall.
More: And yes, there is a ‘gay toile’, available in bedlinen, by Vice Merchants in ‘Cowpoke’ pattern.
More: And yes, there is a ‘gay toile’, available in bedlinen, by Vice Merchants in ‘Cowpoke’ pattern.
10. A little goes a long way
Still a bit nervous about toile? Dip your toe into the water with changeable accessories rather than expanses of wallpaper or upholstered furniture that are expensive to recover.
TIP: Take a hint from this charming bedroom. The peachy bedcover toile is coordinated with a fabric-covered lampshade of a slightly different print, while keeping the colour the same.
Still a bit nervous about toile? Dip your toe into the water with changeable accessories rather than expanses of wallpaper or upholstered furniture that are expensive to recover.
TIP: Take a hint from this charming bedroom. The peachy bedcover toile is coordinated with a fabric-covered lampshade of a slightly different print, while keeping the colour the same.
Toile prints are optically quite ‘noisy’, especially in large expanses. Instead of a long curtain drop of toile, which can swamp a space (especially when closed), opt for a wide central band, a trim on the bottom or luxurious puffy toile tie-back. Pick up the colour of the toile elsewhere in the room, such as the buttons on this chair.
TELL US
Is toile a favourite fabric or a no-go area for you? Tell us your toile tales in the comments section.
MORE
Flower Power: What to Pair With Floral Upholstery
Curtain Call: Drape Your Home in Unexpected Ways
Fabric Shopping: Where to Find the Best Materials for Your Needs
TELL US
Is toile a favourite fabric or a no-go area for you? Tell us your toile tales in the comments section.
MORE
Flower Power: What to Pair With Floral Upholstery
Curtain Call: Drape Your Home in Unexpected Ways
Fabric Shopping: Where to Find the Best Materials for Your Needs
Toile emerged from the French mania for colourful, printed cottons coming from India in the 16th and 17th centuries. They were so popular that Louis XIV banned their import, seeing them as a threat to the French textile industry. The ban was lifted in 1759 and one of the first cotton printing factories sprang up in provincial Jouy-en-Josas – the origin of toile’s full name, Toile de Jouy. Copperplate printing replaced wood-blocks, enabling fine three-dimensional repeating patterns of scenes of French life – et voila toile!