Female Focus
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Home & Garden
continued from previous page If you are starting from scratch then this choice is usually the main fabric in the room, i.e. the sofa or the curtains. You can then go on to select others that will work with it, for example, picking up on a colour in the original. If however, the main fabric is already in place and cannot be changed, its colour, pattern and texture needs to be taken into careful consideration when introducing additional fabrics.
Fabrics can also be an extremely useful means of redressing any design imbalance within an existing scheme. If a scheme is too hard and cold, then it can be warmed and softened by introducing pattern and texture.
cost and their practicality. The texture of a fabric says a great deal about how it can be used.
For example, a heavy stiff fabric that refuses to drape is more suitable for upholstery than curtains, and although smooth silks drape well, their tissue paper crispness and tendency to fade in strong light make them unsuitable for everyday use. Linen however, is soft and hard wearing, drapes well and is suitable for upholstery as well as curtains, and is one of today’s most popular furnishing fabrics.
Next month we will look at soft furnishings more closely and how to choose and use them successfully in your home.
If a scheme appears too bland and featureless, then adding a dash of colour can transform the whole look and feel.
The missing link. A scheme can effectively include several patterns of different scales, colours and texture, but the key to its success is having a link that pulls them all together. This link is often colour, but this does not mean that you have to stick rigidly to the same colour. Provided that your choice harmonises, or is of a similar tone, it is unlikely to clash. Accent colours, and those which contrast with existing colours, are important in preventing a scheme from becoming too bland, and by introducing complementary elements of pattern, plain colours can be effectively used in larger spaces without the resulting effect appearing bare.
Which fabric? Decisions about which fabric to choose will largely depend on how they are to be used, the overall effect required, their
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