3 Reasons To Introduce Velvet Into Your Interior Design
As a home decorating fabric, velvet comes from the finest traditions. Velvet drapes were often used in richly decorated Victorian homes, for instance. Starting at £20 a yard, though, velvet is expensive.
It comes with such a reputation for class, though, that it finds its way into every kind of home today. You are just as likely to see velvet-upholstered chairs in a museum as in a theatre offering low-end entertainment. The fabric can look extremely sophisticated and also tacky – it depends on how you employ it.
The Softness of Velvet is hard to Substitute
Velvet nap was originally made out of silk and wool. Craftsmen would densely weave and loop soft little threads in and out of a length of base fabric and then chop the tops of the loops off to create the fuzzy texture of velvet.
Affordable velvet varieties use cheaper material – rayon or cotton, for instance. While silk velvet is the softest and most luxurious of all varieties of velvet, it’s only a good idea for home use if you use your furniture gently. Silk velvet is fragile; the nap can fall off with rough use. While cotton velvet is somewhat less soft, it is a stronger material.
If you want velvet in your home for its luxurious softness that it brings, you need to choose thick, crushed velvet. The material is very heavy and lustrous. Velveteen is similar to velvet. It’s usually made of both cotton and silk and has its own distinct appeal.
Patterned and embossed velvet can feel soft to the touch and can also bring a kind of old world charm to any room. If you want to be adventurous, you can try using Devore velvet on your upholstery. It’s a kind of embossed velvet that is sheer in places that don’t have a pattern.
Velvet Makes the Room Softer
Velvet has a special effect on people. You don’t even need to touch it to know how soft it is. The characteristic silkiness when you run your hand along the nap and the fun resistance you get when you draw your hand across is so distinctive that a mere look at the fabric can get people to think of the feeling it offers.
Home decorators often use velvet’s ability to inspire feelings of luxurious softness. When they use velvet that’s a deep color, people can actually imagine that the fabric feels softer than it is. Mohair velvet bedcovers can make an ordinary bed feel more luxurious than it really is. Velvet drapes and even velvet wall covering can instantly transport you to the cocooning environment of a luxury hotel room.
Velvet brings an Opulent touch
It’s difficult to make a room feel modern when you use velvet. The fabric has been around for centuries, after all. What the material does is to make any living space feel far more opulent than it really is. When you look up velvet-upholstered sofas, armchairs and other furniture on online sources like Made UK, you come by a number of possibilities.
- You can choose to mix and match different velvet colors and textures for an artistic look. Mixing and matching patterned velvet with solid colors can be one way to make an article of furniture feel a bit modern.
- Pairing the opulent feel of velvet to something that’s the very opposite – like distressed wood – can only make velvet look even more luxurious.
If you’re trying to make a room feel expensively decorated without actually bringing in a decorator, you should use velvet upholstery in moderation. Often, the difference between making a room look expensive and making it look tawdry lies in the amount of velvet that you decide to use.
