The trick is to alternate lights and darks. In the first example, all the fabrics read toward the dark side. The second example was better and included some fabric reading light. Going further down this path and including more of the lighter fabrics should be more appealing. In the black and white photo, the 3 fabrics on the left in the bottom row are the ones reading toward the lighter side. The very left one reading slightly toward the medium side. I do like the pattern very much and hope you are able to get it to your liking.