My Conservative Wild Side

 

I have been obsessed with animal print for as long as I can remember.  I have always felt it was a classic neutral whether it be in clothing or home accents.  There has always been a fine line of animal print being sophisticated or tacky and I believe it’s the classic “less is more” to pull it off correctly.

Animal print has become my personal signature.  My favorite print is leopard but have been known to like zebra and other patterns as well if they are done right. Here’s a sampling of different rooms in my home.  I limit the animal prints to one or two items per room or area.

This animal print vase was one of three that I bought at Home Goods.  I love that they are small so when I entertain, I often use them for my floral centerpieces so guests can see over the flowers.  I have used them as toothbrush holders in my bathroom as well.

I live in a center hall colonial and the first thing you see when you enter my home is our staircase off to the left.  It was the perfect spot to add my touch of animal print.

We spend a lot of time in our great room so I had some very durable leopard pillows made out of some Ralph Lauren sheets.  I can unzip the pillows and wash the pillow case.  I loved the scale of the print for our large room.

Another obsession of mine is low lighting.  I love to light up my rooms at night with accent lamps instead of overhead lighting.  As you can imagine, these lamps are two of my favorite.

This silk fringed suede table topper was a splurge of mine over 20 years ago and I have enjoyed it ever since.  Leopard with camel is one of my favorite color combinations and paired with my red walls, this was the perfect accent for my den.

 

I’ll never forget when I found these chairs and ottoman for our master bedroom.  They were on sale at a clearance center at our local department store, Lazarus.   I liked them but second guessed myself that it would be too much animal print.    I usually just have an accent piece here and there.

That following weekend my husband and I went to St. Lois for our friend’s wedding.  We had some spare time to shop and while in the mens department at Neiman Marcus,  I was so pleasantly surprised to see these exact same chairs.  I sat in them while waiting for John to try on some clothes and decided if they were good enough for Neiman’s, they were good enough for my humble abode.  I was lucky that they were still available when I returned home.

This frame was a gift from a friend and I love the print against my cream colored bookshelves.

 

While visiting New York City, I came across this glass plate which has found its home on top of my built-in entertainment center in my great room.

Reviewing this post it appears like a lot of animal print in one place but it is truly spread out throughout my home.   What do you think … too much or just right?  Am I like an addict and don’t know that I crossed the line of too much 🙂  Would love your opinion.