It’s hard to find a space that wouldn’t benefit from a touch of stripe, and it seems this has been the case for more than 60 years. Enter – Sonny Bono and Cher, who were using it in their Encino, California, home in 1966. Specifically, they introduced a striped sofa into their living room, and it remains a testament to this pattern’s staying power.
The couple’s space is a blueprint for decorating with stripes in an utterly timeless way. They give the sofa definition without making it feel formal or fussy. When leaning into midcentury modern aesthetics and retro styles, their sofa is an eternally beautiful option.
To capture the same low-slung silhouette with a modern twist, Anthropologie’s Celine Corduroy Modular Armless Sofa uses ribbed corduroy to mimic a subtle stripe that’s stripy, without being over the top.
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Joanne Levin, the co-founder and president of Levtex Home, points to the scale of a sofa as one reason stripes work so well. ‘A striped sofa is so popular today, in part, due to how well a stripe works on an otherwise visually heavy piece of furniture,’ she says. ‘Stripes add structural interest as they provide visual rhythm to a large item like a sofa.’
(Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images)
Shop the Striped Living Room Edit
Celine Corduroy Modular Armless Sofa
For a softer, modern interpretation of sofa, this piece replaces bold print with ribbed channels. The physical corduroy lines act as a tone-on-tone stripe, giving a dense a rhythm without overpowering the neutral spaces.
Latitude Run® Fred 86.5″ Upholstered Sofa
An accessible take on Cher’s piece, this sofa pairs clean linear stripes with plush cushions. It has the same structural presence and high-contrast impact, feeling retro but perfect for any contemporary living room.
Striped Linen Beautiful Drew Sofa
The stain-resistant linen fabric on this Drew Barrymore-designed sofa makes the East Hampton coastal style more accessible than ever. It’s a little more subtle than Cher’s, but just as versatile (and certainly not limited to the summertime).
Maeve Striped Ruffle Pillow
To put the designer’s advice into practice, pair your seating with accessories that offer varying scales and silhouettes. This pillow mixes linear stripes with a feminine ruffled trim for a Cher-approved statement that doesn’t involve changing your sofa.
Lima Reversible Alpaca Throw
If you’d prefer to incorporate stripes through a blanket, this reversible alpaca version is wonderful for year-round warmth. The simple pattern adds a beautiful texture, and it would look gorgeous layered with other blankets, pillows, or, better yet, atop a striped sofa.
To upgrade a block-colored sofa, you can add an accent to your sofa with this soft gray and white striped pillow. Its farmhouse-style is warm and inviting, and the textured material adds even more visual interest.
The stripe itself is the driver of this sofa trend’s perseverance. A narrow design can be subtle enough to read almost as texture, while a wider stripe has considerably more presence. ‘A thin, tone-on-tone stripe looks very much like a texture, whereas a wide, high-contrast stripe can be used as a bold focal point,’ Joanne emphasizes.
There’s also no need to keep the rest of the room pattern-free. Stripes are surprisingly easy to layer with checks, florals and organic motifs, particularly when the patterns are varied in scale. ‘A simple pattern makes it easy for stripes to be paired with other types of patterns or design elements such as solids, checks, florals, or organic designs,’ she adds.
For a striped living room sofa to feel well-curated in a modern home, Joanne suggests keeping the surrounding elements relatively pared-back and introducing contrast through cushions. ‘One of my favorite ways to balance a striped sofa is to use quiet walls and add in pillows that have different scales and forms; this creates a sense of collection versus coordination in a space,’ she says.
In Sonny and Cher’s living room, the striped sofa has a presence without feeling overwhelming. Over half a century later, the photo still feels convincing – proof that, when it comes to upholstery, a good stripe rarely dates as quickly as the room around it. Long may it continue.
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