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If you walk into a beautifully designed
room in your favorite style, you might notice
immediately that the designer has made a
stunning focal point out of a majestic
fireplace, a wall sized mirror, or large piece
of art. Your eye, drawn to its beauty, notices
that the designer has successfully achieved a
very important part of the design process, the
focal point. You begin to deconstruct what it is
that you like about the arrangement. The
interior designer might have used scale to
resize the room or textures to enhance the
visual appeal. Whether a contemporary design
with a minimalist flavor or a traditional décor
brimming with design elements for warmth, most
good design has a common methodology in the
placement of decorative elements.
You have a good idea about how to build
your focal point in a room, but do not neglect
the other walls in the process of a new interior
design. While the things that you place on the
adjacent walls need not overpower the focal
point, there still needs to be great care taken
in composing beautiful, complimentary
arrangements. Your focal point might be the
tallest object in the room. It may be the most
unusual object. In any case, the focal point is
meant to be an eye catching arrangement or
design element that will attract attention. The
other areas of the room are its supporting cast.
A
symmetrical focal point:
If you have created a symmetrical focal
point, you might find that adorning the other
walls in the room with asymmetrical compositions
is a good way to add variation and interest. As
your eye moves around a room there should be a
natural flow of heights. Points that are
visually low should work there way up to peaks
and then begin to descend again. If everything
were the same height in the room it would be
boring. Likewise, if all of your largest and
tallest objects were grouped together and all of
your smallest and shortest objects were grouped
together, then your room would be out of
balance. There is a skill in blending objects of
various sizes and heights for visual flow. While
this is not something you may define as you
deconstruct a room, notice that the pages of
design magazines are filled with balanced
compositions.
An
asymmetrical focal point:
If your focal point is asymmetrical then
try setting it off by juxtaposing the asymmetry
with symmetrical compositions. Think about it
this way. If you didn’t have “heat”, then you
would not comprehend “cold.” A bit
philosophical, but the metaphor works here as
well. A room filled with asymmetrical
arrangements could visually become an abyss.
While a room filled with symmetrical
compositions has a tendency to lack flow and be
too rigid. The mixture of both types of visual
compositions uses one to define and illuminate
the other.
The Result:
Great care should be taken when planning
your space to evenly distribute your design
elements by size and to arrange them in a way
that creates a natural flow. Try your
compositions, make an initial arrangement and
then live with it for awhile. You will begin to
notice what needs a bit of adjusting and
gradually, as you refine the space, your room
will take on a designer look filled with
beautiful vignettes complimenting your room’s
focal point. |
