Timeless Textural Elements Enhance Interior Design

It Takes So Little To “Feel” Good Design

We live in a tactile world.  How often do we see with the touch of our fingertips?  It’s human nature to caress something that appeals to us.  It’s also nearly impossible to keep our hands off something that says “Do not touch!”  No where is this more real than in the interior designs of our homes.  We just have to feel how good the design is!

Hard Surfaces That Feel Good in Our Homes

Wood and Stone

Flooring made of wood is smooth on our bare feet and warmer than tile in the winter.  Who hasn’t done the Risky Business sock slide, perhaps singing at the top of our lungs, on a slick wood floor?  Or watched our pups skid all the way across the room racing for a ball?  Painted wood door and window casements let our fingers run down the somewhat glossy surfaces.  Wood ceilings and walls offer a bit more texture.

And stone, oh my!  Natural field and cobbles stones grace our fireplaces and patio floors.  Smooth marble, granite and quartz travel our counter tops and inch their way up our walls.  Natural and reproduced tiles line our floors, cooling us off in warmer climates.  Have you showered on a pebble floor?  It’s truly therapeutic!

The Natural Textiles

Leather and Glass

Before you send a batch of emails about how it’s cruel to use leather in our interiors, we respect your opinion and approach in your lifestyle.  Our design firm has successfully designed beautiful homes following a clients philosophy of using only plant based natural materials.  We have also enjoyed helping clients who appreciate the longevity of natural textiles such as leather.  Natural hide area rugs and leather upholstery can work in so many decor styles and are pieces that can be passed on from generation to generation.

We are going to include glass in this section.  Glass is made from sand which is of course a natural element.  Looking around our homes, we see glass everywhere.  Let there be light!

Fabrics Are So Textural in A Design

Cotton, Silk and Wool

Cotton, silk and wool are all natural fibers.  Each have a unique texture we can feel immediately.  Even tho we do not know exactly what fibers are shown in the photo above, we can see both smooth and nubby bed linens and a rougher textural rug. With the sunlight streaming in, this looks like a wonderful spot to linger a bit!

Furnishings In Design Offer Amazing Textural Elements To A Decor

Look around your home. All of the furnishings that make up your decor are tactile in nature.  Smooth, rough, fuzzy, fluffy, nubby, slick, cool, warm, even wet and dry…these are all the textures that make up our wonderful homes.

Can Lighting Be Tactile In Interior Design?

If we go with Webster’s definition of “feeling” – an emotional state or reaction, “a feeling of joy”, then yes we are adding lighting to the list of textural elements in our decor.

Years ago, when I was in school, a professor told me my first lighting plan was like that of a “housewives”.  Well, today he would never get away with a statement like that and at the time I profusely objected to his statement asking what was wrong with that anyway.  The outcome, and what I now know what he was trying to say, is that using various forms of lighting in a decor is so very important.

Looking at the photo above, even in broad daylight, the up lighting under the bar beckons us over.  The backlighting on the shelves invites us all to plan on a beverage here as we gaze up into the single bulb dome that artistically engulfs us all.   Yep, let’s include lighting in this post!

How Many Textile Elements Did You Spy With Us Sunday?

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