Looking to get inspired on how you can use Spoonflower products in your home? Get ready to spend some time in the home of one of Spoonflower’s graphic designers, Kristina Thomas. Get a glimpse of Kristina’s Florida upbringing through her love of designs with warm, fun colors. Meet her Haitian family—and get inspired to create your own family tree—using Linen Cotton Canvas. See how Kristina sprinkles Spoonflower products throughout her home in unique ways below!
Kristina: Welcome to my home! When I started decorating my space, I knew I wanted bold colors wherever I could get them—whether that was on the walls, or within the artwork or the textiles. I grew up in South Florida, and I come from a big Haitian family, so I have always loved the tropical Caribbean aesthetic when it came to designing a space. Thankfully, Spoonflower has literally everything I wanted to fit my aesthetic.
Primary Bedroom – Sheets, Extra Long Lumbar Pillow, Standard Pillow Sham
I designed my room to be a calm and relaxing space for myself. I still incorporate color here, but on a smaller scale. I have this large Haitian painting above my bed that I used loosely as my color scheme.
Let’s get into the bedding: for my sheet set, I ordered this fun, geometric design. I like that the design seems hand-drawn, and that the colors are soft. What I also love about Spoonflower sheets is that they soften with every wash.
When choosing my accent pillow, I thought about color scheme and design style. I wanted it to work well with the shams and sheets, but also the painting above the bed. This Italian villa design was traditional enough that it wasn’t going to clash stylistically with any of those other elements.
My mother used to tell me stories of the big 1800s-era coastal house she grew up in, in Haiti. They had a lot of imported Italian furniture, so this lumbar pillow felt like a small piece of my history. The Belgian LinenTM cover feels durable and has kept its color after a number of washes.
I love stripes, so I chose them for my pillow shams. I think stripes have a very tropical feel to them depending on the color, so whenever I get the chance to mix them with other patterns and prints—I go for it! When I saw these large-scale stripes, I was thrilled to see a color way that worked for my aesthetic. Coincidentally enough, it’s called “tropical teal.” These pillow shams are perfect and really brought all of my bedding together!
Guest Room – Sheets, Throw Pillow
My guest space has a bigger collection of art pieces including Haitian art—some vintage pieces and some new—and Black Art prints from contemporary black artists. I toned down where I could by keeping the walls white, though I still got to play with texture on one of them.
I kept the color scheme of my bedding pretty neutral to create a cohesive look with the artwork. I found these white sheets with brown hand-painted marks that make the bedroom feel light and airy. The colors remain bright after washing and my guests love how comfortable they are!
These throw pillows checked off all of my aesthetic boxes, while pulling in the dark tones around the room—like the rattan fan, curtains and artwork. The abstractly tropical, feathered design with its dark and lighter elements are attractive and consistent with the light and airy vision. They added the perfect touch to the space.
Shop the Designs
Bathroom – Wallpaper
Repetition helps me feel like I’ve created a cohesive space. I’ve brought that theory to life in a comfy way. What started as a couple throw pillows became an entire accent wall in my guest bathroom. I wanted to continue my aesthetic with a sense of calmness.
My guest bathroom was a major DIY project but a lot of fun. I started by selecting the wallpaper, then chose flooring that would complement it. I’m a novice when it comes to installing wallpaper—especially Non-Pasted Traditional Pebble— so my tip would be to hire a professional installer, haha.
Stairwell- Fabric Photos
Story time: I’ve gotten into ancestry and genealogy research in the last year or so, and I love discovering old photos. So last year when my grandmother turned 100, we had a pretty big birthday party for her. I was tasked with creating a photo slideshow documenting her years.
I received emails from family members with all of these incredible photos dating as far back as the 1910s that I had never seen before. So I decided to make a little family tree using a yard of Linen Cotton Canvas.
I compiled them into one artboard in Adobe® Illustrator®, leaving some space in between each photo so that once it was printed I would have enough space to cut the individual photos.
I got a pack of canvas boards to adhere the fabric to once it was printed—making sure the dimensions of the photos matched the dimensions of the canvas. Once I recieved my fabric, I cut them out and used fabric glue to stick them to the canvas. Next, I painted matte finish Mod Podge® over the top of it. To clean up the borders I used matte black painter’s tape on all of the canvas boards. Honestly, the toughest part was getting the grid on the wall to be straight. As I learn and discover more family history, I hope to add to this wall!
Living room – Square Throw Pillows
My home was designed with an open-space concept, so my living room flows into my dining room. I kept this in mind when choosing how I wanted to fill the space. The tropical vibes definitely continued throughout this part of my house. I found square throw pillows that had bright colors and fun designs. There were a lot of vibrant blues, pinks and coral for the summertime. I was pretty obsessed with the pink alligators immediately and knew I had to order it!
Pile On the Pillows!
Dining Room – Napkins
To save money—and help the environment—I’ve made the switch from paper napkins to Spoonflower’s cloth napkins. I think the cocktail napkins are the perfect size for daily use, like eating dinner on the couch while watching Netflix. The dinner napkins are ideal for meals at the dinner table. I think they elevate the dining experience, even if it’s just a Thursday night meal.
Cocktail Napkins Dimensions:
- 10″ x 10″
- 25 cm x 25 cm
Dinner Napkins Dimensions:
- 20″ x 20″
- 51 cm x 51 cm
Tea Towel Dimensions:
- 16″ x 24″
- 41 cm x 61 cm
I like to go for prints that look fun and fit my Caribbean vibe. I usually wash all of my napkins and tea towels together so that I can pre-treat them with stain remover (if I need to) and sometimes allow them to soak in some oxi–detergent before washing. The napkins always come out great.