How To: Use Texture To Enhance Your Home

What is texture?

Texture refers to the surface quality of an object or material – both how it feels when we touch it, and how we perceive it with our eyes.

*Twiggy Check by S. Harris fabrics is a texture lover’s dream*

Why is it important to interior design ?

Texture is absolutely integral to good interior design. You could have the most stunning colour palette and spend a fortune on beautiful furniture, but without a variety of texture, a space will feel incomplete, flat, and cold. Textural differences between elements in a room create depth and dimension, which give a space personality, vibrancy, and warmth.

*Chenille can get a bad wrap for being boring or dated… Barton Jungle from Kravet is anything but.*

The well thought out inclusion of varying textural elements is where you can often spot the difference between amateur and professional interior design.

*A layering of lush textures on our Tribeca sofa by Vogel, offset by the rough, undone palette knife artwork on canvas*.

Read on to learn how you can easily create a layered, textural space that sings.

Avoid purchasing matching sets

This was a big trend in decades past, but it’s been considered rather dated for a while now. Regardless of whether you believe in trends or not, having too many pieces of matching furniture is a wasted opportunity to add variety into your home – especially when it comes to texture. Having too much of the same material and texture in your main furniture pieces means you have to work even harder to bring variety into the design scheme, and the result will still likely feel underwhelming.

Generally speaking, PAIRS of things work well to create harmony and balance, but anything more than that has a tendency to look dated and flat (of course there are exceptions, such as dining chairs.) So, instead of purchasing a sofa and pair of chairs in the same leather, consider swapping out either the sofa or chairs for a fabric (bonus points for a hearty weave to offset the smoothness of the leather.)

If you’re going for a cocktail ottoman as opposed to a coffee table, we are begging you to choose a covering that is different than both the sofa AND chairs. A cocktail ottoman or accent chair in particular is a chance to do something fun that you might not consider for larger or more prominent pieces of upholstery.

*The shag rug and all-over-tufted sofa make this neutral space feel warm, inviting, and intentional.*

If you’re into a neutral and/or monochromatic palette, paying attention to your texture choices is even more important as it will be one of the only differentiating factor between elements (pattern play can be key here too.) You can still create a rich a layered space by paying close attention to the materials you use to decorate.

Use the sandwich method to create balance

The sandwich method is commonly used by fashion stylists to help create balance within an outfit. This involves “sandwiching” a certain type of garment in between two others of a contrasting style/weight/colour (i.e. pairing a delicate shoe with visually heavier wide leg pants and a lightweight top, or a crisp white shirt with jeans and white trainers.)

This method can be applied to interiors to simplify the decision making process. Let’s say you’ve fallen in love with a beautiful linen fabric for your sofa, and are trying to choose coordinating materials for your accent chairs, toss pillows, rug, and drapery.

The next step might be selecting a fabric for the accent chairs and ottoman which will be directly adjacent to the sofa – you’ll want to look for a material that has a contrasting texture, so perhaps a chunkier woven fabric for the ottoman, a silky chenille for one accent chair, and a smooth leather for a second style of accent chair. All of these textures work to balance each other and create harmony within your room

From there, you can continue to fan out within the rest of the space, layering textures and elements until you have a balanced design scheme. Of course, this is not the only method that works, but it is a great place to start if you’re feeling overwhelmed.

Design: Elizabeth Kiser for Rousseau’s | Photography: Ashley Adams

Consider the space as a whole

While it’s important to choose your main furniture pieces with texture in mind, you don’t want to stop there. By the same token, what we are NOT doing is letting accessories do all the heavy lifting (aka running out to Homesense, buying some baskets and chunky knit throw and calling it a day.) You want to be thinking about the walls, flooring, drapery, lighting, architectural details, and accessories as the beginning, middle, and end of your design story.

When we talk about texture, we aren’t just referring to the literal tactile sensations of materials – objects can also create visual texture. Everything from decorative mouldings, to vases arranged on a bookshelf, to a statement chandelier contribute to the visual texture of a space.

We adore using grasscloth (or similarly textured) wallpaper in almost any space for a subtle encompassing of warmth – like being wrapped in a luxurious cashmere scarf. You’d be surprised what a difference this can make, as opposed to sticking with paint.

*Phillip Jeffries African Raffia wallpaper used on the walls and ceilings give this dining room a lovely sense of warmth. Design: Mandy Cheng*

Flooring plays a very important role in the overall texture story of your space, as it physically takes up a lot of surface area. If you’re dealing with wall to wall carpeting, you can offset that and add some sharpness by introducing leather, wood, stone, glass, etc. If you have hardwood, laminate, or tile, it goes without saying that you NEED an area rug. We are constantly fighting this battle with clients who don’t want to “cover up” their new hardwood floors, or those who just don’t see a rug as a necessity, but we’re telling you that it is (truthfully, even with wall to wall carpeting, you still need an area rug, but that’s a whole other topic – and today we’re focusing on texture.)

Look for pieces that already include a mix of textures

You can think of this like layering on easy mode – akin to wearing a great jacket with unique contrast piping or beautiful statement buttons. When you choose furniture or decor pieces that include a blend of a few different materials or textural treatments, you have visual interest already built in, which means you don’t have to think quite as much about layering.

*Something as simple as these slatted doors transform a basic wooden chest into a statement.*

Consider a coffee table with a beautiful stone top and wood base, as opposed to a piece made entirely of wood, or perhaps a metal and glass piece (especially if you have a lot of wood in the space already.) Details such as caned, fluted, or carved door fronts add an element of texture to an otherwise plain piece of furniture.

*The caning on these dining room chairs add a hit of texture, while tying into the burl front bar cabinet.*

We love incorporating exposed wood chairs to break up a fabric heavy space, and quite often this is something our clients already have (perhaps a family heirloom), and can easily and cost effectively be transformed with a reupholstery (read our blog post on the subject to learn more: link)

The key here is looking for pieces that add variety with the least amount of effort – work smarter not harder!

The Devil Is In The Details

*Phuket Poms by Kravet Couture are the hit of whimsy you never knew you needed*.

An often overlooked aspect of texture in the home is all the fun little details that can be added to custom pillows, drapery, and upholstered furniture. We’re talking trims, tassels, and embroidery! We are so excited that all of these elements are coming back into the mainstream with the return of a more traditional aesthetic. They add so much personality and yes, texture to any space, as well as a bespoke and personal touch.

If your style leans more minimalist , you can still embrace these beautiful details by adding a sleek band to drapery panels or border on toss pillows. While you could get a similar effect with a flat printed trim, the embroidery adds so much more depth and dimension – the power of texture!

*The French General collection by Kendall Wilkinson for Fabricut offers a large selection of soft, timeless, and classic trims for those who prefer something a little more understated.*

The options are truly endless: from a simple grosgrain ribbon trim to full on whimsy using pom-poms and bullion fringe.

In the same vein, elements such as tufting and channeling on upholstered pieces of furniture add both character as well as visual texture to a design.

*Channeling offers a more contemporary alternative to tufting, as seen here on the Stanhope chairs by Wesley Hall*

Moral of the story: Embrace the finer details, and reap the rewards!