Your living room is a blank slate that encourages creativity and relaxation, and the right living room textures can make this space more appealing, comfortable, and functional. No matter what your preferred interior design style is, it’s important to familiarize yourself with an assortment of textures to make this space work for you in the best possible way. This guide offers some insight into a variety of living room textures, including furniture and accessories, to help you design the ultimate space.
Physical Elements and Objects
The actual physical objects in your living room may feature a plethora of textures ranging from soft and smooth to rough and bumpy. Living room furniture like sofas, loveseats, and chairs are typically constructed with a solid frame. Still, the upholstery helps to add a softer layer, while bookshelves, wall shelving, and tables tend to be sturdy and smooth.
Home decor and accents like window curtains and area rugs help to soften the look and feel of the living space. It’s easy to incorporate a greater variety of textures by adding accessories, including decorative sculptures, vases, wall art, plants, or throw blankets and pillows.
Types of Living Room Textures
No matter your design style, it’s good to incorporate several different textures into your living room decor so everything isn’t one-note. Here are some examples of both tactile and visual textures you can bring into this part of your home:
- Smooth: This texture adds a sleek, modern component to the living room, and it’s commonly found on flooring, walls, shelving, entertainment pieces (like home entertainment centers), and tables. Glass vases and glass cabinet doors are other examples of smooth living room textures that work well with any interior design style.
- Soft: Adding some soft textures makes your living room warm, cozy, and inviting. Look for soft or fluffy textures on everything from upholstery and throw pillows to colorful area rugs and warm throw blankets.
- Visual texture: Unlike soft and smooth textures, which are tactile, visual textures add depth to a space just by looking at them. Satin and matte finishes are good examples of visual textures that can be utilized in a living room setting. Finishes that bring out the grain pattern on wood furniture and floors also contribute to a visually richer space.
- Rough: This tactile texture is often found on major living room elements like furniture and flooring. Materials like metal and wood tend to have a rough texture that brings rustic, modern, or industrial-inspired elements to a living room. You’ll also find bumpy textures on various pieces in a living room, such as certain types of light fixtures, sculptural elements, and small details like furniture legs.
How to Incorporate Living Room Textures
Not only are the types of textures you use in your living room important, but so is how you utilize them, and where. Each type of texture you incorporate will relate to how they look and feel with the rest of the textures in the room. A thick, fluffy area rug contrasts nicely with the smooth texture of a hardwood or linoleum floor.
A matte finish living room wall paint or a textured wall with stone tile creates a beautiful backdrop for rougher, bolder textures like solid wood or metal furniture. Mix and match a variety of bold and subtle texture options to bring visual interest to the living room and help it look multi-dimensional.
How each texture functions also matters when it comes to creating your living room design. Soft blankets, luscious velvet furniture upholstery, shag rugs, and cushy throw pillows make any living room feel warmer and more inviting. Rough textures add visual depth, while smooth textures lend a cleaner and more modern feel to the space.
Using Texture to Design a Living Space
Before you begin your living room transformation, think about how you want to use each type of texture and its functionality. Walls and flooring tend to be more dominant, so it’s important to start with these first if you’re updating these new elements. A smooth tile floor will look and feel much different from a rugged hardwood floor, so think about the overall style you want to portray.
The same concept applies to the paint finish you use, whether it’s matte, flat, or satin. Once you decide on the foundational textures, you can bring in different and more subtle elements through the furniture, artwork, and other accessories you choose.
To group specific textures together, look for similar materials like chenille and faux fur, smooth textures like glass and tile, or harder and rougher textures like metal and wood. Remember that all of these textures should play nicely together, so don’t be afraid to combine as many different materials as possible. The more diverse textures you use, the easier it is to create a dynamic and more eclectic living space.
Consider the type and variety of textures you like best to enhance your design goals. Natural textures and natural materials like bamboo and rattan lend your home a boho-inspired interior design style. Add textured wallpaper to an entire living room wall or try layering pillows and using soft furnishings to make the room feel warm.
You can incorporate luscious, soft materials like velvet, faux fur, or linen to create a warm, comforting environment. The more textures you use, the more interesting the room will be. Alternatively, using fewer textures makes it easy to create a more coordinated and cohesive living room that has a sleek, modern feel.
Tips for Adding Texture to Your Living Room
Here are some tips to help you add more visual interest and texture to your living room:
- Instead of white walls, use a vibrant color or a different texture paint other than flat or matte.
- Use different types of fabric for a pillow, on furniture, and for window treatments to combine smooth textures with a rougher textile or material found in the living room furniture and floors.
- Add a dramatic wall mural and punctuate it with shelving to bring a different textural element to the room.
- Try layering pillows on top of your sofas and chairs to give the space a cushy, inviting feel.
- Bring in soft furnishings like a pouf to help soften the hard edges of solid wood, glass, or metal furniture.
