Try arranging furniture in middle of room

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This article was published 07/04/2002 (8630 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

QUESTION: I hope you can help me find a pleasing arrangement for my awkward living room which has had me stymied for months.

In particular, I find the corner fireplace in my living room difficult to work around.

My furniture includes a matching sofa and love seat, upholstered in a white stripe on a wine-coloured background. Two large chairs and their matching foot stools are covered in a dark rose velour.

I also have two petite point chairs that are done in a light rose background and the wood furniture is all walnut.

I have placed the two large chairs against the wall and window, but I find the size of the room is large for this smallish conversation grouping.

The fireplace is made of fairly dark brick and the room is painted in the same butter yellow used throughout the house, and the house is carpeted in a plush, light grey pile.

We would prefer not to re-upholster and would like to keep the same wall colour. However, if you can suggest a better arrangement for our furniture, we would be delighted.

ANSWER: Creating a pleasant environment in a room like yours requires a bit of background knowledge in what makes a wonderful room spectacular.

The five guiding principles of interior design are: harmony, proportion, balance, rhythm and emphasis, and an analysis of these elements with reference to your room should help you to arrange a space that is comfortable and attractive.

Harmony can be defined as a pleasant and orderly arrangements of parts that form a compatible whole. It’s coordinating things that go together.

On this first point, your mix of styles and colours is not only harmonious, it is also the most interesting type of design.

Proportionately, the components of your room seem to have a good scale of one to the other. A variety of differently sized objects is attractive to the eye (monotony — too much of the same — is just downright boring).

Proportion also involves the relationship between furniture pieces in proximity to one another. You would not, for example, place a massive contemporary painting over a delicate Louis XVI table. The proportion would be all wrong. Your fireplace, for example, with its rustic qualities may be disproportionate to some of your furniture pieces.

Balance is, arguably, the most important yet possibly the most misunderstood of the design elements. There are two types of balance: formal and informal. Formal balance generally has a symmetrical organization, informal is often asymmetrical.

Emphasis adds excitement. It is the focal point in the room around which much of the room is built.

Based on your description of your living room, you are looking for a more formal feeling.

With that in mind, a symmetrical balance of furniture will be the most successful, keeping pieces of a similar style, colour or size together.

In seeing the plan of your present arrangement, I would surmise you were trapped by the tendency to put all furniture against the walls.

But in a sizable space like yours, it’s more exciting to create an arrangement in the middle of the room, leaving the perimeter for interesting wall decoration and to show off unique architectural details.

I have shown your love seat and sofa symmetrically arranged in the centre of the room orientated towards the window and the fireplace.

Your fireplace almost seems lost in the corner of this space so I have gathered the two wing back chairs flanking each side the of the fireplace to give it a more balanced, substantial look.

In decorating, rhythm is achieved by the regular reappearance of accent features or elements. Repetition is the easiest way to develop rhythm. You can repeat a colour, design line, motif or object more than once and rhythm begins to develop.

Your design is well on its way to developing a good rhythm in the way in which you are orchestrating the upholstery colour. Continue to integrate the same colours throughout the room in the form of accessories. Using a consistent wood tone throughout is a way of achieving rhythm.

You can contact Toronto-based interior designer David Ferguson through his Web site, below.

www.creativespaceonline.com