How to Decorate a Room with Texture

Upcycling Furniture & Home Decor For Dummies

Walls, floors, and ceilings are your rooms’ background. Some people give more thought to the color of these surfaces than the texture. Think of them as equally important. Color can create spatial illusions, but the tactile sense adds another, unique dimension to style.

Traditionally, texture is distributed in the following way:

Use a fine texture on the ceiling (so that it never seems heavy or as though it’s falling).
Use a medium texture on walls (so that they seem supportive).
Use a heavier-looking (hard, smooth, and even) texture on the floor (so that it appears sturdy and people can walk on it).

Certain textures and styles traditionally go together. You may pair:

Antique brick with a Traditional family room or a city loft
Barnboard siding with a Country family room
Decorative ceramic tile with a French kitchen
Grasscloth with a tropical room
Stucco with any room in a Southwestern or Tuscan style
Knotty pine boards with an Early American or Country-style interior
Mirror and other glass with a penthouse
Shirred cotton fabric with a room with ethnic origins

Floors are for walking on, so no matter how rustic they look, they must have flat, smooth surfaces. This still leaves room for plenty of textural interest:

Brick contrasts richly with wood paneling and wallpaper and adds a slightly rustic, vintage note.
Ceramic tile contrasts nicely with many wall coverings, such as paneled and faux-painted walls, and can look dressy or relaxed, Historic or Contemporary.
Quarry tile works well with a variety of wall textures, including barnboard, linen-textured wallpaper, and fine or lightly textured paint in a casual room.
Resilient flooring pairs nicely with wall coverings, paneling, plaster, and painted wall finishes and, depending on its pattern, is at home in a variety of room styles and periods.
Wood flooring offers mild contrast, so it relates well to all wall materials and is appropriate for all decorating styles — whether the pattern is dressy or casual.
Wool carpeting with a cut pile provides a contrast to wall coverings, wood paneling, and plaster walls, and wool carpeting generally looks urbane, whether the room style is Traditional or Contemporary.

Country-style rooms often have interesting textured ceilings (with wooden beams that contrast texturally) that need no other decoration. Ceiling textures in Traditional and most Contemporary style interiors are generally smooth.

A ceiling places visual and tactile textural interest overhead by the use of contrasting materials.

Furniture frames count, too! Many pieces of upholstered furniture have exposed frames made of wood or metal. Count them, along with upholstery fabric, into your texture mix.

Wicker furniture adds complex textural interest that makes it a natural star.

So consider some of the following tips for using texture in your house:

Texture is all about contrasts. Remember, more contrast means less unity. Keep contrasts subtle in small spaces, but go bolder in larger spaces.
Window shades and blinds in natural wood and metal are relatively high-contrast textures. In small rooms, reduce contrast by visually blending window treatments with walls with the same color.
Shag rugs with furry textures seem bulky, even in light colors. Use them to make big rooms seem smaller. Avoid shags in small rooms.
Sleek textures seem streamlined, lightweight, and Contemporary. They appear to take up very little space. That’s what makes them ideal for small spaces. Rooms with backgrounds in these textures may need help from more heavily textured furniture and accessories that add depth, warmth, and comfort.

Texture is key to style. Be as subtle or bold as you want, just don’t forget that this powerful tool is part of your decorating bag of tricks, ready, when you are, to rev up excitement and add more interest to that too-quiet room.

About This Article

About the book author:

Katharine Kaye McMillan, former senior editor of a New York City-based national magazine, is a writer whose work appears regularly in magazines and newspapers. She is a contributing writer to internationally circulated Florida Design Magazine. She is the co-author of several books on decorating and design, including Sun Country Style, which is the basis for licensed signature collections of furniture and accessories by three leading American manufacturers and importers. A graduate of the University of Texas in Austin, she holds a masters degree in psychology and is a doctoral student in psychology at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida.

Patricia Hart McMillan is a nationally known interior designer, whose interior design work for private clients, designer showcases, and corporations has appeared in publications worldwide, including the New York Times and USA Today. Known as a trend spotter and for clearly articulated views on design, she is quoted frequently and extensively in both trade and consumer publications. She a ppears on TV and talk radio. A prolific writer, she is coauthor and author of seven books on interior design and decoration, with Sun Country Style signature collections of furniture based on two books. She has taught decorating courses at several colleges and conducted numerous seminars across the U.S. She is decorating editor for Christian Woman Magazine and reports on design trends for The Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune newspaper based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She has been editor-in-chief of two publications and was head of a New York City-based public relations firm representing some of the most prestigious names in home furnishing and building products. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a minor in art history (with an emphasis in architecture), from the State University of New York (New Paltz). She was awarded a certificate from The New York School of Interior Design.