Moroccan Riad

Since 2008, my family and I have chosen a theme for Christmas; countries/regions, historical periods or generic themes like “Hollywood”. Anything with enough to theme the food, drinks, decor and outfits. Christmas 2023’a theme was “North Africa”, combining Morocco, Egypt, Lybia, Sudan, Tunisia and Algeria. Here’s how I turned my parent’s conservatory into a Moroccan Riad for the festive period.

Reference images were sourced online to establish the traditional features and iconic elements that would could be reproduced from available materials. Features like arches, tiles, palm trees, lanterns, drapes and cushioned seating were integral elements of the Riads in the reference images. Anything installed in the conservatory needed to be temporarily secured to that it could be easily removed.

Flat sheets of polystyrene from a recent furniture purchase were cut and shaped into arches to wedge between the existing brick columns where they could be uplit. Plinths were also made to fit tightly around the columns and help support the arches.

Tile-patterned self-adhesive lino was used to cover the arches, which saved a lot of time as opposed to creating and printing the individual tiles.

To cover the bare brick, a single tile pattern was traced and split into three stencils for the various colours to be printed. The colours were chosen to echo the colours from the lino patterns. Rolls of craft paper were cut to the height and width of columns, then printed with the stencils, building one colour at a time.

The tiles were only printed on the front face of the columns, the white paper on either side of the tiles was left blank to look like white rendered plaster. Adhesive pads were used to hold the paper in place below where it was wedged behind the arches and plinths.

A brief video of the finished room, complete with additional lights, candles, plants, table, chairs, blankets and cushions.