Texture exists everywhere in nature. We grasp it through our senses of sight and touch. We see the grain in wood, and feel its splintered or sanded surface. We see the
shiny or dull surface of pebbles, and feel their smooth or rough surface. A seashell, a maple leaf, e wildflower, grass, moss, sand, sea water - each has a unique texture that deepens our
experience of nature. The textural impact of organic materials is fundamental in interior decorating. As in nature everything in your home influences everything else. As you concentrate on
mixing textures as life does naturally, you'll bring out the charm and integrity of each object and add style, interest, and harmony to your home.
What texture do you want to incorporate in your decorating schemes that will enhance your vital energy, your life force, and enrich your home decor?
If you begin to pay
attention to different to different textures you encounter outdoors and their effect on you, you can become skilled in the fine art of combining textures in your rooms. You will be able
to establish an interplay of materials.
- Stone can be brought inside for floors, fireplace mantels, even walls. To add texture to a bland room, a scratch coat of plaster on a wall will add depth and interest
- Glass takes on different texture depending on whether it is cut, beveled, hand blown, spun into cones, or infused with design.
- Metals, whether stainless steel, gold, brass or silver, all shine and bring in light. Traditional
houses have shiny brass hardware gleaming brightly as a textural contrast with carved or raised panel doors.
- Leather sofas, benches, chairs, and books arouse a masculine refinement and sensuality, warm to the touch
- Cotton and silks provide the softness a room needs for emotional and physical comfort
Wood, the most popular material in most homes, can be carved and cut to any shape and size and always brings the energy and sensual beauty. You can lay a wooden
floor, panel your walls, and have a wooden furniture to maximize wood's energy in your home.
To
add variation to a room that's predominantly wood, you can put antiqued Tole table lamp
on the top of an eighteenth century table highly polished with lemon beeswax, so that it gleams in the sunlight.
A shiny
wood chair can have contrasting brass nail heads and a silk
seat cushion. Woodwork with cut outs brings in light and, as trellis does. Some woods feel soft, while others have a harder appearance and tactility. Mahogany, when painted with dark
stain, takes on a formality that is more elegant, yet more rigid, than fruitwood or pine.
Flowers, fruit, and plants bring in the life force of nature. Lemons, limes, and oranges in a clear glass
bowl bring the warmth of the sun inside, adding texture with their bumpy rinds, shape, and color.
With a woven basket filed with flowers you can achieve the effect of summer's days in the garden.
Explore you bond with certain substances, materials, and elements of nature. You can translate those passions into the decoration of your house.
- If you love the bark of your old oak tree, you can translate it into a cork floor in your kitchen.
- If you love your rustic brick patio, have old brick laid in the sun room or in front of the fireplace.
- If you enjoy mountain climbing, you may want a stone fireplace mantel in your living or family room.
- If you are in awe of the changing clouds, you can create that texture on
your dining room ceiling by painting the flat surface with cloud to create the illusion of an infinite sky.
- Should you love trees, you'll be delighted to have bare, shiny floors to highlight the grain of the wood, making you feel as though
you're taking a walk in the woods when you coming home.
- If you have a passion for sand on the beaches of Florida, you can bring it home by using natural canvas on your rattan furniture in the sun room or bedroom.
- If you love the coral send of Bermuda, fill a clear glass vase with this magical substance, place some shells on the top and you'll have a conversation piece.
