GOOD LOOKING JUST ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH
Good space planning and well-considered functionality are the key differences between a house that just looks great, and one that is also immensely enjoyable.
Storage, light, and spatial flow: get these right at the beginning and you have a plan that translates to a great space.
You need a clear idea of your requirements—whether for just one sofa or a complex renovation. These will guide you and keep you focused when faced with limitless options and decisions.
All projects, big or small, should start with a brief if you don’t want a room that looks like an explosion at the Crayola factory or like someone spent under twenty-seven minutes in IKEA furnishing it.
Understanding space is the first step to transforming it.
So many problem rooms are often just badly placed furniture. Move furniture around and try something different before spending money on new things or throwing out what you already own.
The three rules of design are edit, edit and edit.
A good way to begin is to empty out the room. Put back the biggest piece of furniture first, and then work your way down in size.
This may seem quite obvious, but some of us jump right over the obvious.
The first item on the docket is discard before you place things back. You must discard first. Don’t put anything away until everything you are going to discard is removed. I’m sure I just said that.
And be ruthless. Just because your second cousin’s great-aunt Marta on your father’s side gave it to you, doesn’t mean you have to keep it. And just like Marta, who is often described as “poetical in her appearance”, which for those unversed in Victorian euphemism translates to mean, “depressed-looking and extremely badly dressed”, so should you err on the side of supreme caution when settling items back in.
addding subtrcting multimultiplying div id ingIf not, your demons may have finally made it out your front door, but they still might be doing push-ups on your parking pad. Just sayin'.
…flooring is the most significant finish in an interior.
Literally the foundation, it should be decided before most anything else. It is also best not to change floor finishes unless there is a closed door to another room or a change of level that creates a logical transition point.
These somewhat arbitrary and abrupt changes continue to be the bane of my existence and have my flooring contractors getting extra holidays to the Bahamas with their profits.
Like Goethe, whose last words were -“More light.”, multiple sources of light create the best atmosphere and are practical, too.
A sole overhead light in a room is as sharp as a spoon and half as useful.
Light bounced off the ceiling with sconces, lamps, and directional downlights will balance out the hot spots created by these fixed down lights or pendents.
Most rooms benefit from at least three sources of light, hopefully evenly distributed.
The first question is – what do you want to do in the room or area? Then light it accordingly.
I think a lot of rooms simply aren’t used because one can’t see anything properly. Take reading, for example. Not only do you want a comfortable place to curl up in, a place to set down your libations and bowl of cheezies, but you also need a light shining directly on your thriller novel.
There is no recipe on how to combine things, except you must be sincere, and somehow, strangely, it will succeed.
Unless you’re designing a historic movie set, décor from a single era can feel stifling. Let your room tell a story. Not a Tuesday afternoon soap opera, but a New Yorks Times page-turner.
It may be better to be absolutely ridiculous than to be absolutely boring. Or as the French say, it is better to have bad taste than no taste at all. I’ll have to think about that.
Juxtapositions don’t have to be hard; it might simply be modern chairs at a well-loved wooden dining table, an antique steamer truck with a sleek sectional, or original 50’s pendants hanging serenely over a granite countertop.
Textural layering is important. The trick is to never let one value outweigh another.
To something dark, add a flash of light:to something massive, bring in something sculptural: to the serious, add something humorous: to something hard, put in something soft.
You can’t get anywhere if you observe all the rules. Even Picasso and the Dalai Lama say that it’s best to know the rules well, so you can break them effectively. I’m paraphrasing here.
Use a colour because it works, not just because it’s fashionable. Colour is not just paint. Opening up a cupboard in a classic white-and-timber kitchen to find stacks of dinnerware against an interior painted turquoise can be a daily delight.
Books, throws, pillows, ottomans, and artworks are fine opportunities to introduce color. That said, over-matching colors is a crime in my book and can suck the life out of a space. It’s a dated and tired look that lacks expression and interest.
An elegant simplicity. A carefully retained palette. The joy of a treasured object.
The mix has never been so beautiful.
Accessories are a great way to bring your interests and personality to a space. Buying armloads of useless, meaningless, or fashionable objects is no match for things collected over time.
A home should feel collected, not decorated.
A beautiful Murano glass vase you saw in a shop window, a rug from the time you got lost in the maize of narrow streets in Morocco, a carved wooden bowl filled with apples you’ll actually eat, a collection of sentimental objects…these are the simple things that make a home welcoming and individual.
Comfort, practicality, authenticity, and scale are all essential considerations when considering furniture.
Buying copies can cheat you of the lasting pleasures that pieces made with care and quality can bring. So if your budget doesn’t allow for a designer armchair, buy a designer lamp instead and a well-made local chair. Buying this way also reduces landfill.
I have a leather sofa that is accumulating more birthday candles than I can count. Its classic lines and quality have endured. In fact, high quality leather, as in a good wool rug, develops a patina and looks better as it ages. Thus we both continue to look forward to many more hours of viewing pleasure.
At the end of it all, what each of us needs and longs for is a beautiful and sacred place where we can feel wholly at home. This is our canyon-strewn desert.
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