Interior Redesign and Home Staging Blog

The 7 Elements of Great Design

Balance, Harmony, Proportion, Scale, Color, Style, Rhythm/Flow
What are the things that will make your dream interior come to life? Every décor is composed of specific elements and each piece has to work together to create a cohesive whole. Everything needs to flow together or have a rhythm, a balance, and work together in harmony to create a room or a home that is comfortable, welcoming, and a reflection of the tastes and lifestyles of the occupants.

When designing a room or an entire home, there are specific things that a designer takes into consideration when planning the space. There are key elements that must work together to create a harmonious whole. A room, or a home that conveys a sense of balance and harmony, has architectural elements and furnishings that are in proportion to each other and in scale with the proportions of the room. The room or home also uses color and style as key elements to bring everything together.
Color can set the mood or tone of a room, and style is what makes a room or home unique, gives a room personality, expresses the tastes and lifestyle of the occupants – and rhythm or flow is what you achieve when it all works together as a balanced and harmonious whole.

One way to achieve balance is with harmony, color, and scale. The success of a room is due, in large part, to the sum of its parts. The proportions, the number and shapes of the objects in the room, the various windows and their shape and proportion, the amount of light and the type of light that comes into a room, how light reflects off various surfaces, the architectural details that give a room it’s style. Transforming a bare room into a comfortable, visually appealing, and welcoming space with a purpose is the specialty of
design professionals who are trained to work in 3 dimensions and with great thought. The thoughtful aspect of decorating is also a vital part of the whole process, whether or not a professional designer or decorator oversees the process.

Color and texture sets a mood. A lot has been written, studied, and discussed about the psychology of color and its powers. But the most persuasive argument for any color remains personal preference. Through the ages, color has performed a variety of roles – from energizer to tranquilizer. Whether composed of warm, cool, light, dark, gently varied or highly contrasting hues, the color palette used in any room is very influential in setting the ambience. Color is very subjective, personal, and to some people – very  intimidating.
There are so many options, with infinite possibilities and limitless possible effects that may be dramatically different or so subtle that we hardly notice them. We each recognize the “perfect color combination” when we see it, but many of us stumble when we try to describe or explain it. Add to the choice of colors and the way they are used in a room – how much of each and where, and this part of interior design gets more complex.

Finding the colors you love isn’t that complicated. There are three things that will help you choose colors with confidence.

• First – Your eyes or visual sense—use them to discover color combinations that you like or colors that you are drawn to.

• Second – a basic understanding of the language of color will help you to understand how to use the different colors you like to create the right mood or ambience for a room.

• Third, there is a lot of help already out there to help you with your choices. Your local paint store, books, magazines, TV, and trained professionals. You don’t have to reinvent the color wheel. Ask yourself what tone do you want your colors to set? Warm & cozy? Upbeat & bright? Dreamy? Earthy? Fun & playful? Relaxed? Soothing? Once you know the tone you want to set, it’s much easier to pick the right colors for you.

Along with color, texture and scale are essential components in the development of a room’s character and comfort level. Texture is derived from the furnishings in a room – the upholstery, rugs, artwork, window treatments, accessories. The gloss of polished marble, laquered woods, silver and crystal accessories suggests a more formal look. While berber carpet, canvas upholstery, and wicker furniture suggest a much more casual look.
Texture and color rely on one another for the integration of a well-designed room. To choose a color without considering the effects of texture would be to leave out a vital step in developing a room’s character.

Scale, like color and texture, breathes life into a room as much as the people who live there. How we live in a space and relate to our surroundings depends vary much on the scale of the furnishings and the relationship of one object to another. Massive furnishings that dwarf the inhabitants will also intimidate them. On the other hand, undersized furniture reduces the chances for comfort and diminishes a room’s “drama.”

Scale is the delicate balance of size and shape, high & low, formal and informal, with comfort and intimacy being the end result. How all of these essential elements come together in a room will determine the level of harmony. Balance & harmony.

Scale is to a room what shape is to a garden. Scale is essential in the development of balance. That is the balance between big & small, light & dark, pattern & texture. Achieving successful relationships between these elements is what both interior and exterior designers aim to do. Making the various elements appropriate to the size of a room is also essential to conveying a sense of harmony & balance.

The Italian architect Andrea Palladio put forth the principle:” Build in such a manner and with such proportions that all the parts together may convey a sweet harmony to the eyes of the beholder.” What was true hundreds of years ago is still true today.

A house should grow over a period of time – it should be a process. It should come together over a period of time and reflect the personalities, tastes, and lifestyles of the people who live there – not the designer or decorator who pulled everything together. A room or home that comes together and grows along with the people who live there achieves a timeless and “undecorated” quality – and a sense of harmony – a balance of
color, texture, and scale.

In closing, the combination of all of these elements work together to give a room or a home a rhythm or flow – where all the design elements work together – flow together seamlessly, and make the space feel warm, welcoming, and balanced and in harmony with the people who live there.

Copyright July, 2009 Ceil Petrucelli Ceil Petrucelli Interiors Bennington, VT 05201

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