My favorite Animal Print decor for Fall
Every fall someone announces that animal print is back, and every fall it’s just leopard print that has been doing the job of a neutral in good rooms for a hundred years — on stair runners, on a slipper chair in the corner, on the one pillow that makes an otherwise very polite sofa interesting.
What we’re actually watching this year is the stripes. Tiger and zebra are what are popping up now. Treat it like an organic stripe. The rule that makes any of it work is contrast–opt for cream instead of white, and deep brown instead of black–and scale. Squint at the piece from across the room: if you see an animal, it’s a novelty, and it’s going to read costume the minute the rest of the room settles down. If you see warmth and movement, it’s a neutral, and it will sit next to plaid and a floral without anyone asking questions.
As with anything, start small if you’re skeptical. A throw over the arm of a chair, a bolster, one box on the coffee table. Or in this case, some zebra print lamp shades in the powder bathroom:
The shades pair perfectly with a wallpaper full of tonal florals. And when lit from the inside, the print isn’t reading black and white at all; it goes amber and umber. Very sophisticated and not costume-y at all. The zebra stripes, although technically an organic shape, are doing all the heavy lifting of a geometric in here. A dark powder room is also the most forgiving place to test any of this. Small surfaces, low light, and permission to be a few degrees more interesting. Take a risk.
The other animal prints popping up this season are tonal and textured, some with no printed pattern at all — croc and shagreen, where the animal is only in the grain. A shagreen box on a stack of books does the same work as a leopard pillow with none of the noise.
The catch is that the good ones are outnumbered about fifty to one, which is why the search keeps landing at Wayfair. The range there is the real advantage: a leopard velvet on one end and a zebra throw under $70 on the other. The right animal print is specific — a fringed leopard ottoman for under $200 (the surprising green tone feels fresh!), a zebra throw in exactly the right dusty brown, a crocodile waste basket that has no business being as good as it is.
