Have you ever sat in a room in your home and felt not quite right, that there’s something a little off about how it’s arranged and decorated? It happens a lot more often than you might think and there are usually good reasons for it. Sometimes rooms end up being ‘designed’ by happenstance, whereby the furniture gets put where it seems to fit without a lot of thought into how it effects the flow and efficiency of a room.
These three questions below are designed to help you clear your mind and see the answers when contemplating how to improve your property’s lay-out. So take a wander through your home and ask yourself these three questions as you go.
Are Your Rooms Visually Pleasing?
There’s a bit more to this question than initially meets the eye, as it’s not just about having nice colours or attractive furniture. One of the biggest mistakes we often make with certain rooms, particularly the lounge or living room, is to make them bottom-heavy. This means that most of the furniture and features are of a similar height and mostly low down, which gives the impression of a squashed or depressed room. The way to fix this is to incorporate a few design tricks which can help heighten the room and elongate the impression it gives someone as they enter or relax in there.
Adding visual height to the room’s features is the main trick to employ, and there are a few ways you can do this. You can utilise feature curtains on the windows, or include a tall lamp or plant that stretches the view upwards. Also look to utilise other design features such as wall art, and don’t be afraid to place it higher on the wall then you might usually be inclined to.
Is Your Furniture Placement Efficient?
When asking yourself this question, it helps to divide it into two mini-questions. Firstly, what do you want the focal point of the room to be? Often the answer is a television, but it may also be a fireplace or a particular table. Whatever it is, you need to ensure the rest of the furniture is helping that item be the focal point you want it to be. Secondly, how do you actually use the space in the room? Does the focal point you have chosen make navigating through the room more complicated than it should be? When we move into a new home, the furniture usually gets placed quickly and without too much thought, and it often ends up staying there. So answering these two mini-questions and building your plan for the room around them is the key to efficient furniture placement.
Does Your Home Have Enough Natural Light?
Natural light is very important to the process of making a room feel better when you are in it. Obviously though, options are usually limited when it comes to installing the likes of windows, but there are plenty of things you can do to increase the natural light in a room.
Mirrors and reflective surfaces that catch the light of a window help permeate the light throughout the room, multiplying it so it’s almost as if there are more windows than there are. Another trick is to paint the ceilings a slightly lighter shade than the walls, though this is only possible if you have wall colours darker than flat white. Also make sure your windows are as clean as possible and any net curtains are of a light-material so that as much natural light as possible can get in.
