Shania Shegedyn
You don’t need to be a design enthusiast to appreciate a beautiful home. While the well-dressed and styled properties that grace our tv screens and magazine pages may look unattainable, there’s a few basic design rules nearly every stylist and designer lives by. Use these rules when decorating your own home to get that luxury style on a budget.
Rule #1 Odd numbers
Styling up your coffee table, night stand or a shelf with items grouped in odd numbers creates visual harmony and interest. It helps if the grouping of items includes trinkets of different heights, shapes and textures. At the same time, there should also be something similar about them, be it a colour or theme.
Rule #2 10-30-60 rule
Once you know what your desired colour palette is, you need to know what role they will play in your overall scheme. This rule means you choose a dominant colour, a secondary colour and an accent colour. The dominant colour should cover 60 per cent of the room and be reasonably neutral. The secondary colour is usually bolder and can be used for furniture pieces and cover 30 per cent of the room, while the accent colour is in your cushions, rugs, throws and accessories to make up the remaining 10 per cent.
Rule #3 Find your focal point
A rooms focal point is its most emphasised and eye-catching feature. That might be a dramatic work of art hung over a fire place, or a statement piece of furniture, perhaps it’s even an architectural feature you want to play up. Whatever it is, the focal point should draw your eye the moment you walk into the room. Arrange the rest of the room around the focal point, ensuring it compliments that point, rather than competes with it.
Rule #4 Respect negative space
Negative space is the area that’s not taken up by any subject. Usually, this is the white area on your walls and the space between furniture. While you may be tempted to fill empty spaces, leave parts of your walls bare and breathing space between furniture and decorative items for a room that feels edited and curated.
Rule #5 Know common measurements
To get the balance in your home right you need to know basic measurement rules for key pieces. Leave about a 40cm space between sofas and coffee tables. When hanging art on the wall, the centre of it should be at eye level, usually around 140-150cm from the floor. Mount curtains up to 10cm above your window frame and let them fall to the floor for a ;lengthening and dramatic effect. When it come to measuring the distance between your tv and the seating, the general rule of thumb is the diagonal measurement of the tv screen, doubled, and that’s how many inches you should sit from it. When it comes to rugs, bigger is better.
This article originally appeared on Better Homes and Gardens.
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