Artfully Compiling Textures
Those familiar with my aesthetic can recognize DMB’s work primarily from its cleanliness. I abhor clutter, and I try to make every design feel refreshingly simple. However, the line between simple and plain is often all-too thin. As a designer, an over-reliance on color to make a space feel fresh and new can back you into a corner creatively. The texture you choose to add to a space will pull all the individual components of your design together. They allow you to play with the space of the room, drawing the eye and engaging your other senses.
Like most aspects of Design, texture is cumulative. All aspects of the design: flooring, rug, upholstery, and drapes should have individual characteristics that make them interesting to the hand and eye. Artfully curating the textures you choose for a space will keep even the most muted color palate from becoming boring. My goal is always to put as many textures in a space as I can. This way, the design is kept unique and interesting even with a minimalist color scheme of whites, blues, and grays. The more you can add items of visual interest, the longer your design will feel fresh, consistently surprising you with new details that bring joy.
Our Studio Space offers examples of a few different favorites for adding texture to a room. On the floor we have a substantial, chunky jute rug from Annie Selke. This provides a muted base from which to build. The visually interesting aspect comes from the natural, grassy complexity of the surface rather than a striking color or pattern. It earns it’s place in the design, without demanding so much attention that it becomes a focal point.
Texture can mean many things, I look at it as the character a design takes on to draw your attention outside of color and quality. It is the unspoken and irreducible element of the spaces I create. If your color palate is neutral, you can usually add quite a few elements of visual interest without pitting them against each other in the mind’s eye. I adore white linen because it never looks perfect. The wrinkles and lines make upholstery and window treatments feel more relaxed and organic.
In my blog post on inspiration, I talked at length about my sources coming from nature, and the raw materials that end up in my final design. If that texture found in the natural world isn’t carried forward into the actual design, the final product will feel flat and inauthentic. Good materials will have a natural character that sets them apart from their surroundings and allows them to change over time. I constantly come back to white oaks specifically because of the grain and texture it has. The wood grain helps a piece or furniture feel closer to it’s natural form, and the natural quirks and subtleties of the grain ensures that no two pieces are exactly alike. Texture is what differentiates one design from the next, making sure that a room is unique on every level. Even the smallest!
Texture also refers to the architectural decor you add to a space, like woodwork and other wall treatments. If you want to change how the size of a space feels, architectural elements allow you to diversify the look of large expanses that may otherwise feel empty. In our Studio, the horizontal shiplap covering the wall n our entryway creates a lengthening affect, enlarging the feel of the overall room. Vertical shiplap offers a similar affect to the perceived height of a room. If you wish to draw focus to a fireplace, but the fireplace itself doesn’t have enough height, vertical shiplap is an excellent method of drawing the eye where you want it to go. Architectural wall treatments are an excellent example of how adding texture creates an extra layer without disrupting the color palate of your design.
These are just a few examples of textures I’ve chosen over the years. Making a space “prettier” usually means adding as many elements of visual interest as you feel able without cluttering the design. If you start with your color palate, you’re given a lot of room to play with where you draw your viewers eye without eliminating balance. One of the biggest perks of maximizing the amount of texture you give your space is the fact that it simply allows you to have less stuff. You don’t need as much wall decor if an architectural element has rendered an entire space visually interesting in a new way. Adding the right amount of texture helps your space to feel full, without feeling like it’s about to overflow: and that’s what balance is all about.
Happy Designing!