A Reading by MaggieBanquette & Kitchen Nook Cushions
A cobalt cabana-stripe banquette cushion, the one pattern in a white and oak kitchen
Maggie reads a kitchen nook by counting patterns: one stripe, a room of plains, and enough rattan and oak to keep the blue from shouting.
The quick answer
A bold striped banquette cushion works best as the only pattern in the kitchen: pair a cobalt cabana stripe with plain white surfaces and natural textures such as rattan and oak. Run the seat stripes front to back so they continue from the back cushion, and keep the pendant and table plain. The cushion can change later without touching the joinery.
SavePinned by Maggie: the cabana banquette
Begin at the tall striped back, drop to the seat, then cross to the rattan chairs, the pendant and the olive tree.
- Tall striped back
The back pad fills almost the full bench back, giving upright support for dining.
- Striped box seat
Seat stripes run front-to-back so they flow on from the back cushion.
- Rattan chairs
Natural rattan opposite repeats the cabinet texture and softens the bold stripe.
- White pendant
An all-white pendant keeps the stripe as the only strong color.
- Olive tree window
The green view adds a Mediterranean note to the blue and white.
- Tall striped backThe back pad fills almost the full bench back, giving upright support for dining.
- Striped box seatSeat stripes run front-to-back so they flow on from the back cushion.
- Rattan chairsNatural rattan opposite repeats the cabinet texture and softens the bold stripe.
- White pendantAn all-white pendant keeps the stripe as the only strong color.
- Olive tree windowThe green view adds a Mediterranean note to the blue and white.
Count the patterns first
Right, then: count the patterns before you choose one. In this kitchen the answer is one. A cobalt and white cabana stripe on the banquette, and nothing else you could call a print.
Everything around it is plain or woven. White bench, white table, white pendant, white fronts. Then the textures: rattan seats on white-framed chairs across the table, pale oak cabinets with woven rattan fronts, an olive tree in the strip window. Texture is the quiet third partner in any pattern mix. It gives the eye something that is not flat, and it softens a stripe this strong.
The back pad fills nearly the full height of the bench back, so the stripe rises like an awning behind the diners and gives upright support for long meals. On the seat the stripes run front to back, flowing straight on from the back cushion instead of meeting it at a right angle. Get that wrong and the corner looks like two cushions from two different shops.
The piping is self piping, cut from the stripe, so the edge stays graphic rather than outlined. White contrast piping would draw a box around each piece: handsome on a plain cushion, one line too many on a stripe that already has white in it.
Want a second pattern? Keep it small and in the same blue, a narrow ticking or a gingham on one pillow, never a second wide stripe. See the banquette cushion atlas, the striped cotton and ticking shelf, the kitchen nook room and the stripe direction pattern. How many patterns does your kitchen already have?
Have it made
Have this made — ask Maggie’s workshop
Have the tape measure handy when they call. Old cushions shrink and sag; the seat underneath does not. — Maggie
Leave your details and the workshop will call you to confirm measurements, fabric, foam and piping. No prices, dates or payment on this page: it is a request, not an order.
Stitch straight — Maggie
