Recently, vintage floral fabrics, reminiscent of the flowery cotton fabric prints of the fifties and sixties, have been making appearances in contemporary interiors. The key to successfully including these fabrics into a modern setting without the look of stuffy Laura Ashley rooms is to keep it minimal. Unlike the typical floral setting where printed fabrics are placed on every conceivable surface, in a minimalist, stark setting, one piece of floral fabric will add the necessary punch to keep the space from feeling boring, and add a needed focal point for the eye to rest on.
The best kinds of floral prints are simple, almost Asian-inspired florals printed on solid colors, preferably white or off-white, or shades of light blue and gray. Softly muted tones work best, but often bold colors such as hot pink, red, maroon, turquoise, or purple look great in crisp, all-white interiors. The key is to only use one fabric accent as contrast to the space itself. My favorite thing to do with vintage floral fabrics is to pair them with modern furniture; I recently upholstered a midcentury plywood and metal chair using an off-white and pink floral (pictured above).
Older fabrics tend to have more character than most modern ones, and often they have an already softly worn texture to them that adds to their beauty. Good places to search for vintage fabrics are antique stores, thrift stores, flea markets, Ebay, and sometimes fabric warehouses, where remnants of out-of-stock fabric can be found on the clearance rack for mere dollars.
