Kelly Wearstler’s 5 Tips for Working With Texture

Textures can contribute to the subtle, rustic feel of a living room, or be an eye-catching component to a kitchen backsplash. World-renowned interior designer Kelly Wearstler shares her insights for bringing texture into your home decor.

Kelly Wearstler is one of the world’s top interior designers, and her design work has been featured in publications the world over, from Architectural Digest and Elle Decor to Vogue and The New Yorker. Born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, she moved to Los Angeles in her early twenties and rose to fame by redefining the look of West Coast design. She has designed everything from Hollywood homes to boutique hotels (like the Viceroy in Malibu and the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills); has created collections of everything from home accessories to fine china to wall coverings; and also runs her own firm, Kelly Wearstler Interior Design (KWID), and eponymous luxury lifestyle brand.

Different textures can add visual weight to your design elements. Textures are important to consider in paints, textiles, plasters, marble, furniture, art, woods, moldings, and other surfaces. Below are some tips on how Kelly works with texture for her own interior design projects:

1. 1. Use texture wisely. When working with texture in a space, remember to think about scale: Textures can clash when too many similar scales compete with one another in close proximity. Allow room for the texture to breathe in a space, and look at how the weight of certain textures plays off of architecture.
2. 2. Touch everything. Head to a fabric store where you can look at and touch as many bolts of fabric as you can find. How does velvet compare to a bouclé or a jacquard? Bring fabric swatches home and add them to your vibe trays. Go to a hardware store to feel and view all the different grains of wood on offer. Notice how the texture contributes to its other visual properties. Consider how the feel of your different materials affects how it looks, both individually and in a group.
3. 3. Research at museums. Visit a museum and look at all types of art. How do oil paintings, with heavy, visible brushstrokes and layered paint, compare with the texture of a photograph? When you’re looking at ancient relics, what do those textures evoke? Keep these different material properties in mind when thinking about your project. The more inspiration you can gather about different visual and artistic elements, the more prepared you’ll be for deciding which elements in your own design will achieve harmony.
4. 4. Find your throughline. Use materials that reflect the feeling you’re trying to convey. For example, at the Santa Monica Proper, Kelly uses natural, earthy, textured materials in order to make the room feel casual and relaxed. This textural feat was achieved by working with wood (which references surfboards), stone (a nod to seashells), a sculpture that references kites and sails, and a chair that looks a bit like abstract kelp. Each material contributes to its overall essence, creating a rounded aesthetic experience. Your textures should work together to create an exciting visual landscape. Finding your throughline means staying cohesive with your styling to create visual interest and constantly return to your design story.
5. 5. Use plaster. Plaster has a tactile quality that can help bring visual texture into a space. Plaster can delicately provide movement and color by allowing light to play off of its irregularities. It can also be applied in several different patterns (stippled, swirled, fanned, knifed).

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