EDesigns Custom Interiors

Designed for gracious living today and tomorrow.

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EDesigns Custom Interiors
                                                                       Designing with Space

The most common issue on the topic of space is too little. Even people with large homes often feel they have small rooms or maybe the space is just awkward or the windows or doors are in the wrong place.

As you view your room, don’t limit your space to where the walls start or stop. Look around with new eyes to see that everything visible in your room contributes to its space. This includes the outside views, the rooms seen through open doors, the scale of your patterns and the arrangement of your accessories. Integrate those visual dimensions into your room. One way to do this is to make sure you can easily walk up to your window and look out on the view. This opens the room by allowing you to feel the space outside as a part of the room. Window treatments provide a transition between the room and the outdoors. Your window treatments should bring the view in not hide it or compete with it.  Also bring some of the colors you see outside into the room when possible. Potted plants are a good way to incorporate the outside view into your room. Keep in mind a larger plant will have more impact than many small plants scattered about the room. Notice the colors outside during the time you most use your room and pull some of the exterior colors into your room. Time of day will make a difference in what you see.  If you use your room most often at night notice the lighting of your view.  You may be able to enhance the lighting of your room to create a feeling of oneness with the outside view.

Create a long sight line. Arrange your furniture to allow an unbroken sight line from the room entrance to the farthest point in the room. This creates a feeling of space. Make sure your furniture arrangements allow for easy movement and normal conversation levels. It is also important to have enough space in the room entryway to invite people into the room.  Crowding the entryway creates a barrier that can make the room entry feel uninviting and small.

    
Many homes today have a cathedral or lofted ceiling with large entry ways that extend into the house. The space often feels overwhelming to the homeowner as it is not in proportion to human scale.  This large space often creates a feeling of need to fill the walls.  In doing this the largeness of the space seems to dwarf the effort.  It is not necessary to fill every space; that big wall is actually negative space and can lift your spirit and let you breathe. What is going on below the 8-foot “waterline” is important. This is the part of the room where your eye focuses and this brings the room to human scale.

 
 
On the opposite side of the large space is the smaller space that every home has.  The smaller rooms in your home can feel spacious if designed with purpose and size in mind. Perhaps you might use a smaller room for reading or coffee with a friend.  By defining a function for your room, you can create a wonderful intimate space. With comfortable seating and great colors, that room could be the most inviting room in your home.


 


 
Elizabeth Dinges