Phillip Jeffries: These Walls Can Speak

Source: blog.rethinkdesignstudio.com

While flipping through a recent issue of Elle Decor, I stumbled on a gorgeous ad (yes, I actually stopped to look at the ads!) featuring Phillip Jeffries Spring 2014 collection. If you don't know Phillip Jeffries, let me sum up their brand in one word: texture. I could also rhapsodize at greater length with these descriptors: raw, fiber, natural, tactile, sensual, moody, etc. etc.

Why all this fuss about wall-coverings, you say? Well, think about it. A room is no more or less than the sum of four walls, and all that resides within. Most of us congratulate ourselves if we get around to hanging our pictures, and even homeowners typically limit wall treatments to a coat of paint.

But the fact is that wallpaper has had a HUGE - huge! - comeback in recent years, and has much more to offer than the acres of tiny flowers a la Laura Ashley. What's more, as you can tell from the term "wall-coverings," we're not just dealing with paper anymore. Nowadays, you can bedeck your walls in grasscloth, silk, raffia, you name it. Suddenly walls are being allowed to take center stage, attaining a character and presence of their own. Phillip Jeffries have a marvelous sensibility for dressing walls in luxe textures and materials. They employ a variety of textiles that span from the extremely fine (silk) to the richly textural (grasscloth and hemp).

Source: Phillip Jeffries

This is not to say that hue and paint alone can't make a room--they absolutely can. But a textured wall-covering takes it to the next level; has a sensibility of its own. Rooms with wall-coverings seem to reverbrate with their own pulse and to actively cast a mood onto their surroundings. Below you can see for yourself the different effects of paint (left) and grasscloth (right).

Sources: Apartment Therapy, homeshoppingspy.com

The challenge, of course, is that these options don't come cheap. Phillip Jeffries is not sold through its own retail channels, for example, but rather through "trade" channels. What this means is that they sell directly to designers and distributors, so you have to buy their products through a third party.

That said, if you ever find yourself flush with cash and considering a redesign project, you could rethink the paint swatches and invest in some luxurious wall-coverings. Check out what Philip Jeffries has in store for this season:

Source: Phillip Jeffries

My absolute favorite, however, is the Enchanted Woods line. Like the bark of birch trees, these wall-coverings have a peeling, rough-hewn texture that belongs in the untamed natural world. I love the organic and asynchronous 'tears' in the fabric, which reveal metallic slivers that peep out like fragments of mirror-glass. 

Imagine a room or even just one wall paneled in this paper, with shards of gold beckoning us to an "enchanted" place just behind the wall; almost within our reach. Wouldn't it be nice to bring this promise of Wonderland into our homes?