How To Style A Room With Softness

Adding softness and femininity to your interior design doesn’t have to mean fuss, frills and a sickly colour palette. In fact, adding softness to your decor can make all the difference between creating a space that feels inviting or not. Rooms that integrate a feminine approach prioritise curves over rigid lines and play with form, colour and the positioning of accessories and features in a more arbitrary way. These styling tips can help add modern femininity to your interiors, enhancing the allure of any room.

Calming colours

As a rule of thumb, try keeping your palette of colours to no more than three. This will help unify the aesthetic of the room and will automatically make it more inviting. Feminine colour palettes extend far beyond the traditional realm of candyfloss pink. Smoky shades, ivories or even navy can be made to look incredibly feminine when set against metallic accents or contrasting pastel shades. The trick is to use light and dark colours together. Our Morgan collection features a herringbone chenille that’s perfect for upholstery on a signature armchair – try it in ‘Navy’ and pair with cushions in ‘Heather’ to accentuate the contrasting hues.

Minimalist mystic

Contemporary design makes excellent use of empty space, so rather than filling a room with clutter, a minimalist approach often works best, particularly if you’re trying to add a sense of feminine serenity to a room. To exaggerate feminine softness, it’s essential to choose details that delight. Pick a few statement pieces of furniture that can be enhanced with a cushion or two, and where possible choose pieces that have curves or that can be softened with well-placed accessories. Candles, pot plants, floor lamps, rounded vases and luxurious throws can all add a soft, feminine nuance.

Tactile textures

Feminine appeal in interior design often comes from using a combination of fabrics that contrast with each other to lend a subtle strength to the overall design. By using a fabric with an embroidered weave like Adara Smoke for feature curtains, and adding a mix of scatter cushions in velvet and cotton, (our Cole collection is made with a beautiful brushed cotton blend), you can create a sensual depth with tactile textures that seduce.

Playful prints

Adding a floral print to a room is a sure way to add a feminine feel. Whether you choose to use florals for your wallpaper, blinds, curtains or bedding, go for bright colours, painterly blooms or prints that use white space effectively. This will keep things fresh rather than fussy. In fact, a well-chosen floral fabric can look very dynamic when used for feature cushions or as upholstery on an armchair. In our Rosetti collection the Shelley Navy fabric would make for a gorgeous accent print on a chaise longue or tub chair.

Cosy and covetable

The most important thing you can do to style a room with softness is to focus on creating a sense of comfort and cosiness. This can be done by co-ordinating your interior design so that there’s a cohesive theme or look to the room. For example, if you use a bold colour palette on curtains, like Shola Multi be sure to echo these tones within the rest of your furnishings. For a bedroom you could choose a duck egg blue duvet, a soft cream bedspread and cushions in cornflower blue and chartreuse. Go for fabrics that bring light and shade as well as sumptuous texture. Satin finishes, like on our Asina range or opulent velvets like those in our Como range from KAI create a sense of visual drama while keeping the styling welcoming.