The minimalist trend is all about doing away with what we don’t need and making the most of only the bare necessities. Less is more in minimalism, as the saying goes. But one of minimalism’s pitfalls has to be its tendency to look cold, uninviting, and almost lifeless. With the amount of open space in most minimalist interiors and its cold and neutral choice of colors and furniture, it can be hard to make a room look warm and welcoming. Thankfully, adding texture to the room can help with this.
In interior design, the texture is more than just how something feels. It’s also about the way it looks—its “visual texture.” Imagine a room where everything, from the walls to the furniture, is just flat, plain, and all in one color. Nothing sticks out, and the room just feels drab and one-dimensional. Add in some fabrics, though—a rug, curtains, or a sofa with some throw pillows—and you add some more life into the room.
Texture can add balance, depth, and visual weight to a room. Playing around with the right textures could vastly improve your minimalist design and save it from looking cold and dreary. If you’re unsure where to start, here are some ways you can play around and add texture to your home.
Fabrics
The first thing you thought of when you thought of texture in interior design was probably fabrics. And you’re right; fabrics are usually the primary source of texture in a room. Aside from being naturally textured, they’re versatile and fun to mix and match with. You can use fabrics in your sofa, throw pillows, curtains, floor and wall rugs, lampshades, carpet, and maybe even your walls.
Try experimenting with colors or adding one signature bright color, like red throw pillows or rugs in a predominantly white room. You may also want to try patterned fabrics. A nice touch would be to layer contrasting fabrics with each other to create even more texture and balance. Just be sure not to go overboard and don’t go wild with the bright colors or the patterns so that they don’t clash. Remember, this is still a minimalist interior.
Furniture
Adding variety to the texture of your furniture can add a lot to a room. You can make use of smooth marble or more textured wood to easily incorporate texture while still keeping the functionality of your furniture. Texture can be found in the natural grain of wood, the overlapping lines of woven wicker or bamboo, and the plush fabrics of sofas, ottomans, and armchairs.
The texture doesn’t have to mean anything that isn’t completely smoothed down. Marble, for example, contains texture in its subtle swirling designs rather than by touch. Texture in interior design is mainly about the look and recreating the feeling of actual texture through that look.
Wall Design
Whether you’re using wallpaper, paint, or sticking with the natural look and feel of a wall, wall design is another simple way to add texture to a whole room and make it look and feel completely different. Even something as simple as having exposed brick rather than covering it up can make all the difference. Having one accent wall to contrast with the rest of the walls lightens up a room and is also one more way you can add visual weight.
Try a patterned wallpaper or accent wall. For a traditional touch and modern insulation, clay brick slips are your best option, and they are easily achievable with the help of rendering and building suppliers like Licata. Again, just take note that minimalism is all about restraint. Make sure to pick a color and pattern that would complement the rest of your furniture rather than clash with it.
Artwork and wall decorations
Adding artwork and decorations isn’t only one other way to bring life to a minimalist room. Accent pieces like a colorful painting, an ornate mirror or a long vase, and other ornaments bring a sense of comfort and sophistication into a home and make it look more aesthetically pleasing. The right decorations, just like the right accessories in fashion, can really elevate the whole look of a place and make the perfect accent pieces.
Think of decorations as the ribbon that ties all of a room’s pieces together to make one overarching theme or design. It’s all a matter of figuring out what that design is and making it all blend and come together nicely.
Indoor plants
What’s one other easy way to brighten up a room? Other than pulling back the curtains, adding indoor plants and flowers can do wonders. If you can’t be bothered to take care of real-life plants, using artificial or plastic ones are fine. But an added benefit to having living plants is the freshness and spirit they can bring into a room. There are ornamental plants that are very easy to care for and thrive as indoor plants, such as the monstera and the snake plant. A well-placed plant with the right height and shape and planted in the right pot can bring a lot of light and life to a room.
Conclusion
Adding texture to an interior is all about exciting the eyes, a visual feast, if you will. Textures naturally draw the gaze towards them, but rather than taking away from the rest of the interior, they accentuate them as well, making the viewer appreciate the textures themselves and the simplicity and subtle beauty of the minimalist design.
Don’t be afraid to make bold choices in pattern or color, as long as you can tie it in with one central theme and make it complement the rest of your interior. But always remember the golden rule of minimalism—less is more.