Interior design technique and decorating solution: Texture

Interior Design Technique, Decorate with Texture

Texture is the interior design technique that brings a sense of depth and interest to your rooms rather it is wall or ceiling texture, wood, stone, brick or texture of decorator fabrics. Decorating with texture is the life of your rooms. This is the decorating element you see and touch.

Imagine your room completely smooth - no pattern in fabrics, no trim, no carved or shaped wood furnishings or doors, plain flat walls and ceilings, a room texture free. Even with lots of color in this room, one glance around, you would be bored and disinterested.

What is the decorating challenge? The texture free room is boring and has absolutely no life.
The interior design technique and decorating solution: Give it a life? Decorate with texture, pattern and texture!

Rooms filled with texture are boldly stimulating or quietly relaxing. You are invited to linger, touch, look and experience - something like a bouquet of flowers invites you to pause, look and smell.

Texture doesn't come from just what you feel (tactile) but also from what you see (visual). For example a brick wall provides visual texture while a woven nubby fabric on your sofa provides tactile texture. Knowing this, a chair covered in a smooth fabric doesn't have tactile texture, however the stripe pattern print supplies the visual texture.

Notice how the pattern of the fabrics, the woven shade and the books add texture to the room above.

You may not have control over all the texture in your rooms. However, you can still create and control your desired decorating effect with this interior design technique. When you understand how to manipulate texture you have mastered a big decorating challenge and know the third decorating principle; interior design technique, decorating with texture.

Interior design technique: Decorating with texture

This is one area of decoration you have complete control of. What is the overall look you want to achieve? A quiet, reserved look? A homey, friendly space? One that stimulates and is busy?

Layer on the texture to decorate with style, your style. As you add each layer use the interior design technique to take the time to step back and check your progress.

Decorating tip: You can add or abbreviate, even eliminate texture!

Structure and Architectural Details
The first layer of interior design texture is in the structure and basic architectural details of the room: Ceiling texture, wall texture and the texture of moldings and doors.

If you want the details to stand out paint them a contrasting color to the walls. This will give you texture and accent. If you want them to disappear, paint them out ( the same color as the walls).

Background Colors
Interior Design Technique and Decorating Tip: Remember dark colors on ceilings make the ceiling seem closer. If you are in a home with ten foot high ceilings or higher this is very effective to create a cozy, friendly space. However, if your room is small and/or have eight foot or lower ceilings dark tone walls and a dark tone ceiling can make a room feel very small, even cave like. In this case use several shades lighter on your ceiling.

Flooring
The next decorating layer is the texture of walls and flooring. You have lots of decorating control here. You can just paint the walls as your background. For texture on an accent wall use faux painting as your interior design technique. Use wall paper or wall coverings. Use stone, brick, marble or tile to add texture interest to fireplaces or other architectural areas you can accent with texture.

Wall to wall carpet, tile, wood, pavestone, area rugs. All of these materials give you wonderful interior decorating options in texture.

How do the elements of texture make this room appear? How many are there?

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