- Follow us:
Thursday, December 15th, 2016
The smooth, sturdy surface of the Hooker Furniture Living Room Melange Lincoln Cocktail Table is the epitome of smooth surface that’s perfect for modern homes.
Have you ever looked in a room and felt that there’s something missing? And yet, you couldn’t quite put your finger on so you dismiss what’s missing on the design and head on with your life. Yet, more often than not, that feeling was there because there was something that’s lacking whether on the color scheme, decorative stuff or the furniture.
A room that feels dull or flat often lacks one common thing – texture.
Defining Texture
Texture becomes an afterthought in many homes. It’s about time to change this notion since texture can make a room pop. This is the very element that brings up the level of design to fine design.
In the world of design, texture is known as the sensation brought about by the external surfaces of objects by using your sense of touch. Texture is basically how things feel when you run your hand through their surface.
For a more vivid description of texture, try thinking of the sensation that you feel when you walk through a plush carpet or when you sit on a velvet couch. Perhaps a better interpretation of texture for interior design is how one perceives what he touches. You might have seen a lot of interior design websites and magazines and you’d know as you go from one page to another that you don’t need your hands to know how the elements in the room would feel.
Many times, texture plays second fiddle to the room’s function but this doesn’t equate to it being unimportant to the design’s triumph.
CYNTHIA ROWLEY FOR HOOKER FURNITURE ASTOR QUEEN BED COMPLETE
Texture and Visual Weight
Odds are, if you’ve read the blogs here at www.mccreerys.com, then you know what visual weight actually means. This means that an object or a group of design elements have the power to draw attention.
Having an ample dose of texture means you won’t have to worry about visual weight. If you already know how warm or cool colors affect the human psyche, then you should also be able to comprehend how textures work in the same manner. Rough textures, for instance, tend to make spaces look and feel more intimate while smoother textures look sleek.
Consider also how you would place the textures throughout the room. Putting a smooth and rough textures right next to each other will make the latter stand out. It will seem like the rougher object is weightier but only if you keep them together. Put a space between them and there’s a notable visual effect.
Texture and Balance
Since contrast is crucial when it comes to interior design, then it only shows how important texture is. Texture can provide the visual balance by adding something that’s not similar to all the other design elements. When all the design pieces are alike, then your eyes would have trouble concentrating on what to look at. This is where texture should come in since it can make things leap from the backdrop.
It is also important that you practice restraint in using texture. Going texture crazy means chaos so just stick with the 2-3 distinct textures in one space. Pick three if you want people to drink in the space as a whole concept. Just stick with two if you want to emphasize a focal point.
Texture in Homes
Effectively bringing texture to your home means knowing which elements to work on. Architectural parts that are interesting to the eyes such as crown molding or tray ceilings can be emphasized as a focal point. Wooden benches, marble tabletops and satin chairs have a unique feel when placed inside any space.
As for the decorative items, you can use your collections, some flowers or shadow boxes. The use of interesting textiles is also common in bringing texture to your home.
Tags: design textures, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, texture, texture in interior design, textures
Posted in Interior Design 101, Interior Design Elements | No Comments »
Saturday, September 3rd, 2016
FFDM Vintage Classics provides just the right amount of traditional charm.
Traditional theme is often characterized by classic European décor. Furnishings come from the 18th to the 19th centuries in Neoclassical, English or Colonial Revival styles. French countryside, 18th century England, even the exotic lands from the East also work. These often include wood tones, beautiful architectural details, and chic lines. It is a posh style that may still be complemented with personal elements. This can be the perfect style for your home but are you ready to learn what elements you need to work on?
Essential Elements
The fundamental elements of traditional design are symmetry and classic styling. Both can create orderly, calm and elegant décor. Traditional style also means using soft, curvy lines and wing-backed chairs for furnishings. Talk of the Queen Anne design. The more antique-looking the piece is, the more that it would work for your traditional setup.
If you love furnishings made of dark woods like maple, cherry or mahogany, then you are the perfect candidate for a traditional style enthusiast. Tables, chairs and other furniture pieces that offer a luxurious appeal with carving and lacquer are the right pieces to look for.
While it is an elegant style, traditional design highlights symmetry when it comes to furniture layout. This means that you can use a pair of armchairs right in front of the traditional fireplace. You can also place a candlestick duo on the mantle or a huge wall art that would balance a neutral room.
The Best Traditional Color Palette
Neutral and muted mid-tone walls should be a part of the traditional style. Use different fabrics in solids, florals, plaids or stripes. The neutral walls will serve as the perfect backdrop for those upholstered chairs and sofas that come in rich shades of navy, brown or burgundy.
Green and peach tones will balance the marriage of tan and aubergine. This is an unfussy palette that would work for anyone who is on the lookout for sheer elegance.
The traditional palette can also be rich and deep and the home for anything that is regal yet muted. These colors also offer a timeworn effect which is typical in Old World pieces. Dramatic colors include forest green, cream, ochre and just about any dark-stained surface.
Hooker Furniture Home Office Grandover Tilt Swivel Chair fits perfectly in a traditional home office.
Textures and Shapes for Traditional Design
Though elegant, traditional design can also emphasize comfort and simplicity. Fabrics can come in damask, floral or paisley patterns. You are likely to see luxurious fabrics such as velvet, silk and cashmere. You can also use fabrics that are easy-to-care-for such as linen and cotton.
Go ahead and use luxurious accents such as throws and pillows. Small print on pillows can pair beautifully with floral-patterned sofas. Damask is the best choice for traditional design enthusiasts who want to achieve both a shiny and dull textures.
Another way that texture can be used in your traditional home is to have some still life paintings hung. To highlight this artwork further, invest in a chandelier or some silver candelabra. Polished ceramic jar surfaces as well as rustic wrought iron pieces will also render the perfect traditional look. Add some silk or fresh flowers in a vase and the look is complete.
The Traditional Window
Traditional design spells tailored windows with that formal swag and panel combo. Panels can be gathered using tasseled cords. The fringe can accent the swag treatments. These can add design details to scalloped edges.
Traditional Architecture
If you want to take the traditional look all the way to your home’s architectural features then have rough-hewn beams line a ceiling. These can easily balance the more chic elements inside the room. Other notable features include arched windows and doorways. Feminine curves can be used to balance a mainly masculine design.
Tags: 18th century, 19th century, design textures, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, Old World interior design, textures, traditional interior design, traditional interiors, traditional style, traditional theme
Posted in Architectural Elements, Interior Design 101, Interior Design Themes | No Comments »
Monday, August 29th, 2016
Winners Only Dining Room Dining Table DSB14296C offers the warm brown colors of fall.
People use art to express themselves. These can be framed paintings or photos, it could be a bust, but all are aimed at making your home look more interesting. The art that you display tells a lot about your personality. Don’t be afraid, though, to add large pieces on those big, blank walls. If you are feeling more creative, then make your own art. There are many ways that you can hang some stylish art especially this fall.
Display Gorgeous Harvests
Now that summer is saying farewell, it’s time to embrace the gorgeous style that the fall season has to offer. There are many fall elements that you can use in designing your home. Think of pumpkins, falling leaves, spices and earthy hues. You can bring in these elements to the porch, right into the living room and all the way to the bedroom.
Impress with Metals
Metallics are quite in during fall. These are great accent pieces since they shimmer – they are practically begging for attention. Use anything from silver, bronze to gold on table lamps, candlesticks, or side tables. A great thing about metallics is that they can stylize without even trying.
It’s All About Geometry and Texture
Fall is also rich on geometric patterns. Beautiful shapes can amp the look in your home. Use diamond shapes, stripes, even chevrons. Your favorite shape should be the star of the design.
This season is also the perfect time to add a little texture to your design. Use rich velvet, chunky knits, rustic woods, etc.
Canadel Dining Room Side Chair CHA1261 has both green and brown; both colors of Mother Nature.
Seasonal Colors
You can never go wrong with the autumn palette during fall. Check the colors that are trending such as jewel tones, spicy hues, classic neutrals, white, black and certain shades of blue.
Look all around you and see where you can add fall décor. Add a table to the foyer, put a tall vase of colorful flowers in the living room, hang a wreath right on the front door, and welcome all your guests with the orange pumpkins in your front yard.
Make the Fireplace Useful
With the weather turning cooler each month, you can now look at decorating your fireplace and mantel. Right before lighting up the fireplace, though, make sure that it has been inspected and properly cleaned. Once it’s okay to use, have it decorated with garlands made from fall leaves, pumpkin and other hearth décor.
That Room with the View
This is also the season to refresh the windows with some new window covering. This should complement the current season, palette-wise and pattern-wise. Keep the sheers but you may trade out the curtain panels with something that is more appropriate for fall. Look outside of your home for inspiration. Mother Nature has a lot to offer.
Change up the florals from the sunny summer look to the autumn flowers with richer colors. Redecorate with red, orange or brown area rugs in the living room, bedroom, or the kitchen. Bird feathers and leaves are huge design inspirations.
Garden Wagon Decorating
Your garden will serve more purpose this upcoming season so go ahead and lay down the straw at the bottom of a garden wagon. Place a few pumpkins in the wagon but make sure they show through the sides. Put two huge pumpkins in the middle then stack the little ones all around.
Have a pot of mums in the hay that are all around the pumpkins. Use LED lights to add sparkle during dark nights.
You can also add a fall table display for your upcoming dinner parties. An orange, yellow or red table runner should complete the autumn look.
Tags: design geometry, design textures, designing for fall, fall, fall color palette, fall color scheme, fall colors, fall design, fall interior design, geometric, geometric design, geometric elements, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, metal, metallic, metallic design, metallics, texture in interior design, textures, tips
Posted in Color Schemes, Fall Season, Interior Design 101, Interior Design Themes | No Comments »
Thursday, July 21st, 2016
Living Room Uttermost Snowden Tan Wing Chair 23158
There is an ever-growing trend on velvet interiors lately. There are many beautifully-designed places – some are even featured in interior design magazines – where this lovely material is used. Using velvet as a replacement for any other material can surely be considered an upgrade. Before you set out and find furniture pieces clothes in this classy material, you might as well learn its history to appreciate it more.
Velvet and Its Rich History
Velvet, believe it or not, has been around for thousands of years. Different nations have used it for different cultural reasons, through the centuries. Velvet is a highly-valued material that was equated to power, wealth and royalty.
The modern world now has manufacturing methods that made velvet available to everyone. Thanks to the expertise of Englishman Edmund Cartwright who made the power loom in 1785. In our day, velvet is known to be more versatile than the type that ancient people used.
What’s great about this textile is that it will never go out of style. Imagine this material lasting through the early Renaissance, to the early Asian palace dwellers, all the way to Belgium which became a major producer of velvet during the 1500s.
Silk Velvet
This kind of velvet has a signature sheen and it is also soft to touch. One touch and you know you’re feeling a luxurious material. Use this material in areas that have light traffic only. Take note of this as it is keen on revealing the pressures that it goes through. Highly-exposed silk velvet will end up with a lot of marks and creases so limit it to rooms such as the bedroom.
Maitland-Smith Dining Room Hand Carved Side Chair 4030-621
Linen Velvet
In contrast to the first type, linen velvet is more matte, hence, it has a shorter pile. It even feels drier when you touch it. It is easy to detect this kind of velvet; just look for that subtle strie and you know you’ve found one. This is not a defect, rather, a natural result of not being able to spin uniform-gauge yarn.
Here’s a tip, if you want to know the fiber content of a fabric, then be sure to read the showroom tags. The first item is often the face fiber while the second one is the ground fiber.
Cotton Velvet
This is considered as a tufted fabric. It is plain-woven with the pile and has about three millimeters of surface fiber length.
Cotton velvet may not be easy to clean, it even absorbs dyes well, but it is a thing of beauty if you know how to take care of it.
Nowadays, modern cotton velvet contains polyester fibers which make the fabric more resistant to wearing and tearing.
There may be dye-lot issues so ask for the showroom staff to order you swatches of the present dye lot. You would be surprised that velvet color may look different in the store than when you bring the actual swatches in your home.
Wool Velvet
Coziness and warmth are two of the elements that make velvet stunning. Wool velvet is a durable upholstery for those wintry months. This will feel hot during the summer season, though, so use a slipcover during the warmer seasons. Just make sure that the slipcover is loose, though, as it may ruin the nap if it’s too tight.
Mohair Velvet
This is a kind of wooly, soft fabric made from the silky hair of an Angora goat. And, nope, this is not the same as the Angora rabbit wool. If you want to cover your headboard or sofa with mohair, then be sure that you are really decided. This material could last for a very, very long time.
Tags: design textures, history, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, texture in interior design, textures, tips, velvet, velvet design, velvet designs, velvet furniture, velvet history, velvet in interior design, velvet pieces, velvet styles
Posted in Accents, Interior Design 101, Interior Design Elements | No Comments »
Follow us on our social media
© McCreery's Home Furnishings | All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy
