Following up on yesterday’s post, here are some more thoughts on grey spaces and how you can create a beautiful interior with a palette of soft neutrals.
There are a lot of subtleties involved in creating an almost monochrome interior. The less color you include in your room, the more important texture becomes so that you don’t end up with a space that is a giant yawn. If you fill your room with light grey and beige colors with flat walls, smooth floors and cotton upholstery, you’ll end up with a very uninteresting room. Combining elements that are hard and smooth with others that are soft and furry and others that are aged and patinaed creates the visual interest that will keep your eye moving around the space and discovering all the details of the room.
Natural plaster walls are a great way to add texture to the room and they also have the advantage of having natural color variation. This top room is very Restoration Hardware- romantic furniture shapes, slip covered in Belgian linen with natural steel coffee table. Pretty, but a little on the spare side. It looks like it really wants a plant and something hanging over the sofa. Love that antique wood floor though- lots of great texture!
There’s a lot of textural layering going on in this space to make it look so soft, calm, and inviting. You’ve got the vertical patterning on the wall paneling against the metal grid of the chair, smoothness of the floor with the softness of the hides piled on top, woven texture of the sofa upholstery, and the carved wood accessories.
An example with a 60’s mod bent. This one’s got lots of great texture- soft, nubbly rug; smooth, shiny cocktail tables; and a lacy chair! Subtle colors but, anything but boring.
