Gradient materials palette inspired by clotheslines in Venice

While in Italy this month, we visited the magical city of Venice. Aside from the unusual waterways and ancient buildings, there was another stand-out feature: laundry hanging in the streets. There is no section on outdoor clotheslines in any guidebook, but Venice wouldn’t be the same without it. You’ll see clothing pegged up on street after street, and these outdoor clotheslines have become a symbol of Italian culture. They connect the buildings of one house to the next, zig-zagging across the street. There is something authentic and personal about it, showing a glimmer into the homeowners’ lives.

It is this laundry hanging in Venetian local streets that we used as inspiration for our latest mood board. In particular, we choose this shot of blue sheets waving in the wind against orange-toned buildings and brilliant blue skies. These two highly contrasting colors in various shades make for a great gradient materials palette for any interior project. As the backdrop for the mood board, we chose the Handwoven carpet by Ege Carpets. The sky is the background for our inspiration photograph, so we recolored the carpet a similar blue.

On top of this, we layered several orange and blue products to complete the gradient materials palette. Inspired by the Venetian buildings, we used the Scenes Mosa tiles. We love the raw, grainy finish which matched the brick buildings. Striata Fusion Surface by TorZo Surfaces is another textured orange material in our mood board. The various tones blend seamlessly together and introduce multiple shades into our gradient materials palette. Additionally, we chose two paint colors – Ochre and English Ochre, both by Benjamin Moore – for the mood board. These paints match the paint on the houses in Venice. However, we opted for a slightly higher saturation for a better juxtaposition against the blue Handwoven carpet.

Echoing the sheets hanging out to dry, we added three blue materials to the mood board. These are Allure by LBI Boyd Design Resource, Xorel Comet by Carnegie, and Union Cloth by Designtex. Each is a soft blue fabric, mirroring the laundry both in color and texture. In comparison to the sleek paints and textured tiles, these materials soften the space and create contrast in multiple ways. Finally, we included Sierra Nevada by Fireclay Tile and Ochre Tempera by Nevamar. These neutral materials make the bright palette easier to digest, complementing the other products.

If you like our gradient materials palette, you might be interested in our Easy Recolor Program. We used this to recolor our Handwoven carpet, enabling us to source the perfect backdrop for our mood board. Using our online tool you can do the same. Choose from any of our carpet patterns and recolor them to match your interior’s inspiration. You can visualize the carpet to see how it appears in the space before ordering physical carpet samples. Once happy, you’ll receive your samples within three business days, all at an affordable price. Get in touch with our team today to learn more.