A strawberry tea towel is a fairly small commitment to a color. You can hang it in a kitchen, fold it beside the sink, and see how you feel about a few strawberries in the room. No new cupboards required.
We carry a few different household textiles that bring in color this way. Their patterns may get your attention first, but the fabric and size tell you where they'll be useful. Here's how the tea towels, bathroom towel and napkins compare.
Two tea towels made in San Francisco
Seamripper's Strawberry Tea Towel has a watercolor strawberry design. The Pastel Checkerland Tea Towel uses a hand-painted checker pattern. Both are cotton-and-linen blends, approximately 24 by 15 inches, and made in San Francisco.
Think about how much of the design you'll see where it hangs. Opened out, a towel gives you the whole picture; folded over a rail, it becomes a strip of pattern. If the space between the rail and counter is short, measure that drop before choosing how to fold it. It sounds like a very practical way to choose something cheerful, but it saves you from a towel that keeps brushing the surface below.
A bathroom towel with two different sides
The Neon Pink + Orange checker hand towel is 16 by 28 inches. Its printed front is polyester, and the plain white reverse is cotton. The towel is imported and printed in the United States.
That's a different construction from the cotton-and-linen tea towels. If you're choosing around a fiber preference, both sides matter. If you're choosing around the room, the neon pink and orange bring a much brighter direction than the pastel checkerboard. Hold those colors in mind next to the wall, basin and towels you already have.
Checkerboard on the table
The Checkerland Napkin Set has four 100% cotton napkins, each approximately 16 inches square. They're made in San Francisco and printed with the hand-painted checker pattern.
Four might cover your whole table or join an assortment you already use. You can fold them into simple squares; there's no need to learn an elaborate fold to make the pattern work. We'd happily let them sit beside everyday dishes, with one color repeated elsewhere if you feel like connecting things.
Our cup-size guide and tray and low-bowl guide are useful if you're choosing the other pieces too. For the people sitting around that table, mealtime ideas for kids turns to the routines rather than the objects.
A small household gift
A towel or napkin set can be a nice way to give someone a pattern you think they'd enjoy without deciding how their whole room should look. You might add a porcelain cup, or write down what made you think of their kitchen. More possibilities are in the gift guide.
Keep the care information with the textile. These pieces have different fabrics and finishes, so use each one's instructions rather than washing the whole assortment on an assumed setting. With the practical part settled, you can choose the strawberries or checks for the reason they caught your eye in the first place.
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