Top British interior designer Abigail Ahern ran a style surgery via her Facebook page a few days ago where we were invited to send in our design dilemmas and she would give her advice. First in, best dressed, so I dashed off an email and was delighted to get a reply. This professional advice has got to be worth a few dollars and I hope she won’t mind me sharing it here with you.
My question: “Finding it hard to add texture and layers in a very modern open plan apartment in Sydney. Any advice?”
Abigail’s answer: “One of my favourite components is texture – people often automatically assume texture is all about adding fabrics but texture is created in many different ways including colour and lighting. So here goes – decorating a room in purely one colour makes a room look flat so add as many colours as you dare. If you can face it paint the ceiling a darker hue – the ceiling is like an important fifth wall so painting it out in a darker tone adds oddles of texture. Make sure pillows or cushions on sofas and chairs are not all the same fabric so mix wool with linen, leather with silk. A rug adds an instant layered textured effect and layer lighting. I’ve got a zillion different lights of varying heights on table tops, floor
standing, suspended from the ceiling not forgetting candle light. It’s all about creating as much friction as you dare as if a room strikes the same visual tone it can feel really flat. Hope that helps.”
How helpful, and how nice, is that?! I LOVE Abigail’s interior design work and her Facebook page is always entertaining, featuring regular musings from her dog Maud. What’s not to like?!
I interviewed Abigail last month and you can read it here if you’re interested.
Jen x