Mixing Materials: Ideas and Inspiration for Your Home

When it comes to designing your space, mixing materials can be a great way to bring a bit of extra pop into your home. Whether you veer toward a more subdued color palette or like to live loud, mixing materials and textures can be a fun design choice to help you explore your style through your décor. 

Whether you’re looking at fabrics, rugs, flooring or throw pillows, a bit of variety can be exactly the change your home needs. There are so many interesting ways to mix materials and explore your design choices fully and spontaneously.

In Monochrome

If you’re really looking to let texture do the talking, creating a monochrome room is a great way to achieve mature, styled and adventurous design. Pattern mixing or using different materials may seem at face value like a loud choice, but if you’re looking to keep it neutral, a room in beige or white that acts as a sea of different textures can be subtly captivating. 

However, if you’d like to go bolder, you can pick one solid color for matching materials. Just picture the calming tones of a soft mint green from the walls to the drapes in your living room, or the dim ambiance of a bedroom doused in deep red or navy. 

Go Bright and Bold

Mixing materials is the perfect opportunity to create a sea of color and pattern. If you’re searching for that eclectic shine, you can try using different throw pillows or layering rugs. Using various fabrics, furniture and even wall décor can be bold and fun.

Mixing up your textures is just the beginning — you can go bright and bohemian, vintage, or flirty and feminine. There’s no end to the possibilities. 

Bring It to the Kitchen

When thinking about mixing up textures and materials, you may not imagine anything beyond soft items like pillows, drapes and bedspreads. However, the kitchen is a great place to think about mixing up those harder textures for a more striking look.

A great example of this is adding a backsplash you can match with your countertop. Coordinating textures and subtle colors between fixtures like your counter, backsplash and even flooring can make your kitchen a much more dynamic space — one designed with intention and creativity. 

Take It Outside

Your outdoor space is an endless opportunity to experiment with materials and textures. Especially when designing an outdoor seating or entertaining area, the mix of materials is already present, so why not use it to your advantage? 

If you’re working with wooden fixtures, detail with metal. If you’re putting some finishing touches on your wicker porch furniture, mix and match your outdoor pillows and cushions. If you’re building a walkway, use different textures of stone. Your outdoor space offers so many possibilities.

Mixing materials and textures is the perfect way to bring a subtle kick to your home design. Whether you’re looking for sleek sophistication or you want to bring on all the colorful fun, there’s something for everyone in material mixing. What space are you excited to try out this unique design technique in?

About The Author: Kacey Bradley is the blogger behind The Drifter Collective, an eclectic lifestyle blog that expresses various forms of style through the influence of culture and the world around us. Along with writing for her blog, she has written for sites like U.S. News, SUCCESS, Guides for Brides, Hotel Online and more! Follow Kacey on Twitter and subscribe to her blog to keep up with her travels and inspiring posts!

Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash