SO, WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN? 

There are five principles of design that play important roles in creating a functional and satisfying space.  Here is a description of each one. 

• HARMONY is achieved when a consistent personality is created for both the style of your furnishings and for the furniture arrangement.  Harmony is produced when you are consistently true to the aura you selected for your room.  All parts of the room and all aspects of the furnishings should contribute to the same theme of the room.  Take time to really think through this planning stage and determine a very accurate word or phrase to serve as your standard for all the decorating elements of the room.  All components of the room should have your chosen theme as the decorating goal. 

Everything is this room works toward the same goal of a girl’s stylish bedroom and it is achieved by the straight lines of the cabinet, the window-shade, canopy top, and the floor tiles.  In contrast the gentle curves of the chair back, legs of the small white tables, and the mirror frame provide interest.  There is a general color theme yet there is quite a bit of diversity and some unexpected hues incorporated.

Here the goal appears to be a sophisticated, elegant public room used for conversation and reading.  The absence of striking color enhances the dramatic patterns of the fabrics which receive no competition from the lamps and lighted etageres. The architecture provides great drama for room as well.

• RHYTHM is repeated patterns in shapes and arrangements.  A shape in one area is reprised by a similar or matched shape in another part of the room.  For example, a curved sofa may rest on an oval rug.  Rhythm and harmony are partners in that rhythm weaves patterns of shape, form, color, and texture all around the room.

Likewise, rhythm exists within the furniture arrangements.  By placing a single chair at each end of a dining table and two at each side, your arrangement is in a pattern and thus is pleasing to the eye.

This storefront window illustrates rhythm in the similar shapes, sizes, and the arrangement.  It appears comforting for the eye to follow it.

The repetition of the soft folds of the drapes, wall hanging, and dust ruffle reveal the rhythm of the bedroom.  The soft curve of the upholstered headboard blends in with the gentle rhythm of the entire room.

•  An EMPHASIS OR FOCAL POINT creates drama and order for a space.  Just as a person’s head is the focal point of the body, a single aspect of a room should be the most striking or eye-catching spot in the room.  Architectural features that often create emphasis are fireplaces, large windows, or glass doors.  If your focal point does not please you, there are many ways to minimize or distract from it; however, you will need to establish an alternative one.  A beautiful large painting hung above the sofa could serve nicely. 

This photo exemplifies the principle of a focal point in that the two largest pieces of furniture (the sofa and the coffee table) are together under the largest framed piece in the room.  Everything leads to this most important part of this living room. 

The striking bed and its beautiful linens are the focal point of the room which is accentuated with the grouping of prints above the bed.  This area is the “must-see” portion of this gorgeous bedroom.

Another type of focal point could be a functional one, such as an entertainment center housing a television.  Ideally the conversation grouping could provide views to both focal points.

• SCALE is achieved by relating the size and proportion of things you place in a group and by relating them to the space they occupy.  Keep the heights and the hefts of your furniture similar to each other and relative to the size of the room.  For example, do not place a small delicate-looking dining table in a room that is too large or too tall for it.  Do not hang an oversized lighting fixture above it or surround it with large fabric patterns.  Likewise, the chairs around a dining table should be similar in proportion to the table, to each other, and to the people likely to be using them.

The grand Gothic room pictured here is an excellent example of employing large scale furniture such as the central table in a huge room with extremely tall ceilings.  Likewise large bookcases filled with numerous books and topped with many plates provide sufficient mass to be included in the room.  Therefore, the scale is consistent throughout the room. 

This dollhouse room uses doll furniture that is all the correct size for the room.  Each piece is in appropriate proportion to each other.

• BALANCE is comforting to the eye in that an approximate equality is perceived among the different weights of parts of a room.  Strong visuals have importance or visual weight.  All major features of a room: windows, fireplaces, alcoves, and built-ins have visual weight.  Because the dimensions of an object are defined by edges and corners, these are what most engage the eye.  The eye uses edge lines of walls, wall corners, fireplace edges, and corners of furniture arrangements to make its calculations.  The eye does not know where to land and rest when these edges are in randomly different places.  The solution is to relate the most powerful edges to each other by aligning or centering them on each other.  Here the eye finds peace and balance.

Above, balance is achieved here in two ways: the mass of the back windows is about the size of the mass of the bed; the ceiling, being dark adds weight and balances off both the windows and the bed.

In the rear of this dollhouse furniture display, there is too much weight in the three pieces on the right.  It appears that corner may fall off!  The settee arrangement is better balanced in that the end-table and the teacart are nearer in size and weight to each other.   

O.K., NOW THAT YOU KNOW THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF DESIGN, YOU MAY FEEL FREE TO BREAK THESE RULES AS YOU SEE FIT FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL SPACES.

“I like to walk about amidst the beautiful things that adorn
the world.” George Santayana