MARKET WATCH
Get in touch with your home: Karl Lohnes shares six ways to add compelling texture to your rooms.
I’m loving the trend to texture and how it warms sleek contemporary spaces. Texture also adds interest to monochromatic rooms and gives personality to decor accessories. This summer, look to natural elements like woven grasses, wood, silk and linen to bring high-texture interest and natural beauty indoors.
TEXTURE WITH PLANTS
Incorporating houseplants into our rooms is having a huge resurgence in popularity. Plants offer beautiful natural colours (I’m enamoured with agavegrey colours lately), organic shapes, and free-form texture and pattern. Whether real or everlasting (artificial), large or small, this trend can be appreciated year-round.
Tip:
Display multiple plants in small modern pots atop a bookcase or on a windowsill. Large plants are great in corners or to divide open areas. Position them as you would a sculpture and add nighttime drama with an up-light.
Houseplants add big personality and texture indoors. Colm Dracaena 53" potted FAUX TREE, $140, urbanbarn.com.
TEXTURE ON FLOORS
The obvious form of texture on floors is wall-to-wall carpeting and area rugs. Also look for tiles with scratchy-linen patterns (opt for non-slip tiles for wet areas like bathrooms, foyers and laundry rooms). For casual or country-style decor, try wood floors with a textural time-worn look. If you love the look of highly textured floors, balance the room by adding small textural accessories.
Tip:
If your room has textured walls or furnishings, avoid highly textured floors. Too much is sometimes too much!
Hand-tufted 4' x 6' nuLOOM RUG in Belini Ivory, $242, homedepot.ca.
TEXTURAL ACCESSORIES
Handmade is the easiest way to add interesting texture in small home accessories, such as vases, lighting and textiles. Unglazed pottery, blown- and etched-glass, and hand-knit textiles are all on-trend high-texture treasures – and if you happen to be purchasing one-of-a-kind creations, even better!
Tip:
Use a maximum of three textures in a room. Too many textures, just like too many prints, can be overwhelming; three allows each to stand out.
TEXTURE ON THE WALLS
Seagrass wallpaper has been a long-time decorator trick for adding texture to walls. Other ways to add texture include oversize stone-look tiles, strip moulding and bead board, all of which help to theme a room’s decor.
Tip:
Texture tends to add visual weight, but a topheavy room can feel imbalanced. To avoid this, ensure the flooring has a more highly textured finish than textured walls. Remember that good design is balanced design: use highly textured finishes and darker colours on the bottom; lighter on top.
TEXTURE AT THE WINDOW
Create a compelling layered and textural effect at the window by pairing nubby fabric drapery with a fitted shade detailed with a natural-woven element like raffia.
Tip:
Vary the weave of textured shades and drapes (one should be a looser weave, one tighter), and opt for monochromatic colours so the shades and drapes look like a set.
TEXTURE ON FURNITURE
Nubby linen or textured velvet are classic choices for traditional upholstery fabrics, while modern quilted fabrics add texture with a contemporary vibe.
Tip:
Wherever you use textured fabrics, add some smooth textiles to create a balance. Use my 70/30 rule (good for so many things) to create a balance between highly textural and smooth. Arie CHAIR, from $1,399, eq3.com.