Home decor involves a number of different elements including color, balance and of course, texture. With so many different elements, it can be difficult even picking out home accessories and decor for fear of making a mistake. Fortunately, it’s easy to incorporate texture into your space, especially with home accessories. Here is the low down on what texture is and how it is used in interior design.
What is Texture?
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| What is Texture in Interior Design |
The key thing to remember is that texture applies not only to how an item feels in your hands, but also how an item looks. If you take silk and hold it against linen, you can clearly see that both of these fabrics have different textures. These textures will affect the look of the furniture you apply them to, so it’s important to take note of these minor differences, no matter how insignificant they may seem. After all, the linen texture may be more visually appealing, but it may cause the upholstered furniture to look overwhelming visually, especially when the linen features certain vivid colors.
Texture allows you to add visual depth to a space. While it’s great to find all of the right items for any given space in your home, you may find yourself feeling as though things look a bit ‘bland.’ This may be because you have not quite incorporated enough texture into the space. If you’ve got smooth lacquered furniture paired with glass vases for table decor, you can see the items, but they don’t draw your eye in as much as a lacquered table with hammered metal bowls for table decor might.
How Do I Incorporate Texture Into My Space?
Incorporating texture into your home decor is easy, not because it already exists, but because once you realize you need to pay attention to it and that it’s actually already there in your space, it becomes easier to mix in. For example, let’s look at the living room.
In a living room space, you have a number of different furniture pieces: the sofa, perhaps some chairs, a coffee table, side tables and a media center. There may also be book shelves or other furniture used for storage. Each of these items have a different type of texture: the furniture is likely upholstered, your side tables or coffee tables are likely made from wood, but they could also be made from plastic or glass. Wood and upholstery are two different textures that add visual interest to the space.
Moving on to the other portions of the room, you’ll find that everything features texture: your table decor, your wall art and all of the other little home accessories that you use in your space. Once you realize what texture is and that it isn’t just about how an item feels, but how an item looks visually, you’ll find that it’s easy to incorporate into your space.
As a final tip, remember that with visual texture, items that are not clear with plenty of texture, such as a hammered metal bowl, have more visual weight than a bowl of equal size and shape made from glass or plastic. This is because the hammered metal features a different and more visual texture than the glass or plastic, which gives it more visual weight. Heavier textures tend to have more visual weight, so keep this in mind as you decorate. Too many heavy textures can make a space feel cluttered.
Texture is just one of the basic elements of interior design. Other elements include balance, harmony, rhythm, portion and scale, and all of these elements need to be combined together to create the right look for any given style of home decor.
