Decorating & Design
How To Bring Moroccan Style Home
Published on April 6, 2016
Designer Sam Sacks — a regular on the pages of House & Home — shares tips to master Moroccan style.
If you ask me, there is almost nothing in Moroccan design that isn’t stomach-flipping, drop-dead gorgeous. From decorative encaustic tiles to a utilitarian toilet roll holder, it’s as though every square inch of anything made in Morocco has beauty woven through it. It’s for this reason that my annual shopping trip to far flung places found me scouring the souks of Marrakesh hunting for deeply hued rugs, wildly colored pompom blankets and those irresistible poufs. So how to to use all that color in our conservative Canadian design landscape? Here are a few tips.
My office was so crammed full of awesomeness when I arrived home from Morocco, I would just sit and stare at everything. The pompom blankets are particularly spectacular. Woven from sheep’s wool and then dyed in eye-popping hues, it was so hard to choose that I brought dozens back.
Clearly, my daughter couldn’t resist them either — here’s one sitting pretty on the end of her bed! Pairing these bright woolies with crisp whites or paired down linens is the ideal way to tame the color temperature and incorporate them into your space.
These beautifully versatile ottomans — also known as poufs — come in every color under the sun. Traditionally stuffed with newspaper or old linens, they come flat-packed and are easy to transport.
Use them in a child’s playroom or as I did, in my sunroom, featured here in House & Home‘s June 2014 issue.
These double-knot heavy wool rugs are woven in the North Eastern Atlas Mountains by Berber tribes and traditionally used as bedding and floor coverings. With their easy-on-the-eye geometric diamond pattern and cozy shag finish, they’re ideal for warming up cool Canadian climates.
Here’s a Beni Ourain rug in my own living room featured in House & Home’s June 2014 issue. I love how it brings warmth to the space.
To purchase a rug from Samantha Sacks’ trip to Morocco, visit samsacksdesign.com.
Hammam towels are actually Turkish, but can be found in every color under the sun in the Marrakesh markets.
Use Hammam towels as hand towels, bath towels, beach wraps or scarves! I’ve slung one over a wall-hung sink in the powder room, as featured in the November 2015 issue of House & Home.
Azilal and boucherite rugs are woven in the Atlas Mountains and feature bold designs that pop beautifully against our neutral Canadian backgrounds.
To purchase a rug from Samantha Sacks’ trip to Morocco, visit samsacksdesign.com.
Use them as runners, at the foot of a bed or layer these smaller scale rugs on top of larger sisal rugs to ground a room. Here is one in my client’s bedroom featured in the November 2015 issue of House & Home.