Decorating With Unexpected Stripes

In a never-ending quest to add interest and texture to spaces, my mind comes back to stripes time and again. No matter how formal the space, stripes never fail to lighten the mood. Stripes can also perform a real task. When they run horizontally they tend to widen a space. When they're placed vertically, they tend to draw the eye up and imply height whether it's there or not.

Here are some great examples of unexpected stripes. Sometimes they're subtle and sometimes they're loud, but there's no doubt that the spaces here wouldn't be the same without their stripes: