You don’t need to be a professional interior designer to turn your home into something stylish, but it does no harm to follow the same interior design principles they have been taught. Interior designers spend many hours carefully selecting and putting together interestingly colored and patterned materials. It is also very simple to choose highly expensive items. However, interior designers know that neither of these precautions will guarantee a successful outcome if insufficient attention is given to the textural quality of your choices. A completely “flat” scheme of materials with similar finishes will lack life and can appear dull, however, by adding textures you will create excitement in a scheme. Think of how a shiny lacquer console table against a wall of suede would look, or a polished marble top on a floor covered with rough medieval matting, or lustrous chintz cushions on a matt flannel sofa.
Designers know how texture can have a big influence on how interior design color is perceived: a matt material such as velvet fabric or emulsion paint will absorb light, rendering it darker, while a shiny one such as chintz or gloss paint, will reflect it and make the color appear brighter and more intense. They also know that to get good value from your selected textures, and to complete the overall scheme, focused lighting is imperative. A useful tip taught at interior design schools is to obtain a powerful torch and point it at different furnishings within your home. You will notice how the beam of light brings out the textural quality and gives objects a three-dimensional “moulded” effect.