With beauty and color, new interpretations of quaint toiles grace four interior spaces, including guest and breakfast rooms.

Traditional and Timeless

What Is Toile?
Just as the Eiffel Tower is a Parisian icon, toile is a symbol of French decorative ingenuity and panache. Created by German fabric printer Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf in Jouy-en-Josas, France, around 1770, toile relieved the people's boredom with rococo curves, showy swirls, and flamboyoant flourishes of the day.

Named for its birth city outside of Paris, the fabric became known as toile de Jouy (pronounced twall-de-jhwee), meaning "cloth of Jouy."

Lucky for us, toile crossed the ocean and made its way into American homes, where blue patterns on neutral or colored backgrounds remain a favorite.

Fabrics and wall coverings allow us to lavish rooms with toile. Like all things decorative, toile continues to evolve to accomodate a variety of tastes, appearing on textured fabrics and in a variety of patterns.

Breakfast in the Orchard

When interior designer Catherine Callahan decided to bring an alfresco atmosphere to the breakfast room of the Beechwood Manor Designer Showhouse in Glen Cove, New York, she started with a single toile fabric for the window treatment, upholstery, and tablecloth.

Clusters of fruit, climbing vines, and birds in soft sage green on a mottled background of creamy yellow "allowed me to create an airy outdoor feeling," she says. "I wanted it to be as if you were in an orchard."

Toile Tips

• Toile colorways aren't just about style; they also evoke different emotions. "Blue and white can feel very cool and open," interior designer Millicent Barwick says. "Reds are more dramatic"