My Favorite Textiles to Enhance & Elevate Your Home's Interior Design

Hair on hide flooring, performance velvets and leather come together for a warm luxurious feel.

I love fabrics! In this business, there are endless amounts of fabrics to choose from and I wish I could use them all! Since I work on a lot of family vacation homes, the usual name of the game is "practical" but in every project I try to add in some more luxury textiles because they definitely elevate a room by adding in either color, a unique pattern or just a beautiful tactile touch.  If the budget is generous I like to use a more luxurious fabric on the upholstery and really set the foundation of the room.  If I can only add in bits and pieces of luxury fabrics, making custom pillows with the fronts of the pillow being the splurge fabric can add a big impact.

Vibrant Velvet for Touchability & Texture

Velvets win me over almost every time. They are durable and versatile while feeling quite luxurious. I feel comfortable using velvet as upholstery, pillows and when heavy drapery is needed. Velvet can be woven out of any fiber and now you can get great performance velvets for family friendly interiors.  A low pile velvet in a solution dyed acrylic could be your perfect vacation home sofa fabric!

This lounge chair is covered in a light blue performance velvet to create family friendly seating in a summer home on Cape Cod.

Layered Linen for Classiness & Comfort

Linen is the classically casual understated fabric. It reacts with the weather, humidity and dryness; and of course it wrinkles easily; so you must know yourself if you are going to be comfortable with linen in the house. If you don't expect it to look impeccable, it's the perfect “luxury-on-a-holiday” type of textile. Linen works well for drapes (as long as you know they will grow and shrink with the seasons) and a heavy Belgian linen is great for upholstery, especially if you have it knitbacked for stability.  (You can have it treated with a nano protectant spray if you are worried about spills.)

Embroidered linen was used for drapery and an accent pillow in this Cape Cod guest room, the bench pillow was also linen!

Luxe Leather for Durability & Design

Leather elevates a room with its ease of use and classic appeal.  You can go rugged or fancy, depending on your audience.  There are even performance leathers so your boxer toddler can still jump up on the sofa without making scratches. (Okay, maybe only I would allow that.) Seriously, a pair of swivel chairs in a caramel colored soft calf leather can really add warmth to a room. Leather can be the perfect choice for an ottoman as it can take the abuse of a foot rest or table top. You could even use it as a layer of flooring with hair on hide rugs.

A caramel leather swivel chair pairs well with a velvet chaise, hair on hide rugs and wood accent pieces.

Warm Wool for Softness & Sophistication

I think of wool as the work horse of fibers. Depending on the weave, it can have a beautiful soft drape for window treatments, or it can be a thick and durable upholstery choice. Wool is always my first choice for an area rug or wall to wall carpet.  The fibers clean easily and tend to bounce back which is why wool rugs last so long.  If you have the budget, invest in wool and you'll have that rug forever!

Sheer wool drapes fall beautifully behind a cerused oak desk and linen slip covered chair to create a classy home office corner.

These are all textiles that I love to use in my interior design projects to elevate the luxury.  While velvet is a weave and can be made from any fiber; linen, leather and wool are all natural materials that can be incorporated to raise any style.  Since many of my projects are vacation homes, I will often use performance fabrics that look like linen or leather in order to get a more family friendly textile. The key is to use a variety of these luxury materials to add layers and textural interest to any interior.

If you would like a professional's eye on your space, we would love to help. Reach out and let's make a plan to elevate your space together.

All the best, Molly