Balancing Act

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Photo Credit : Century Furniture

Sometimes it is the less than obvious that takes a good room to the next level. Just as we need to work at keeping our own lives in balance, we often forget to keep a room's decor in balance.

How do you know when a room is "out of whack?" Sometimes it is just simply a nagging feeling when you are in the space that something is not quite right, or that the space leaves you feeling unsettled. Perhaps it is an awkward corner of a room or a piece of furniture that you are constantly trying to "make work." You may not be able to put your finger on the root of the problem, but you know that something isn't right with the space.

To be comfortable, a room - just like the people that spend time in the space - needs to be perfectly balanced. A room may, for seemingly unknown or unidentifiable reasons cause us to be "jumpy" or leave us with a unsettled feeling.

For example, when we hang a framed piece of art - regardless of how aesthetically pleasing the piece - the artwork will leave the viewer with a sense of unease if it is proportionately too large for the sofa that it hangs above. There's a subconscious feeling that a heavy weight is looming overhead.

Another example of a common off-balance situation is a room with a very large armoire placed on the wall opposite the bed. If the bed is not equally weighted - if the headboard isn't up to visually balancing the armoire - the room will feel heavy on the armoire side of the room and light on the bed wall. The bed wall is, in fact, the most important wall of the room, and must be at least equally weighted to all other walls in the room. 


Are your rooms balanced? If I have just describe one of your rooms, you need to spend some time identifying areas and items that are off-kilter, or out of balance with the space and everything within it.

Start with the architectural features in the room. If the room is home to a fireplace we will need to place an item of similar visual weight on the opposite wall.

How do you measure visual weight? A glass coffee table has far less visual weight than a solid wood table. A fully upholstered sofa is heavier than a settee with a carved wooden frame.

Next, consider the backdrop elements of the space. Does the wall colour support the sofa fabric? Supporting details must be in balance with the major elements. Choose a colour palette in which all the hues are of similar value.

Ask yourself if the drapes are too loud or frilly for the upholstered furniture. Check to ensure that there are not too many knickknacks scattered on the end tables. More stuff on one table and not an equal amount of knickknacks on its partner at the opposite end of a sofa will leave the tables out of balance. These are just a few of the questions we need to pose about our rooms to ensure a balanced space.

Decorating a room so that it comes out perfectly balanced is difficult even for many trained designers and decorators. So how can you achieve balance in your rooms?

Pros use tips such as taking a picture of a room. Take a snapshot from every angle and analyze the photo checking for balance. Look for pictures and artwork hung too high; heavy objects that are not balanced by an equally heavy object on the opposite wall; a colour that is overpowering all other hues in the room; a print that is too bold. Anything that looks "out of sorts" should be addressed.

During the analysis process, remove all personal emotion and imagine that you are analyzing a room in a magazine or for a decorating class assignment. Bring a fresh and objective eye to the table - do not take personal feelings about certain objects into the analysis. Simply and objectively analyze for balance only.

In addition to looking at photos of your room, arrange a small piece of every element that is being considered or is currently in play in your decor: fabric swatches, sofa cushions, paint chips, wood samples, carpet samples, wallpaper cuttings, etc. Now stand back about 10 feet and take a good, overall look at all the room's elements as they are placed side by side on a smaller scale. Ask yourself, "does any one item jump out at me?" Does everything blend, work harmoniously and flow together? If something doesn't feel right, take a closer look. Don't ignore it or assume that, once you get all the items placed throughout the room, you won't notice the one single item that is less than perfect. I guarantee that you will and, in fact, it will be magnified on a larger scale, thus causing your room to feel off balance.

Our rooms are too important and our homes are too personal to leave anything to chance. Decorating is a balancing act, so don't look down - just think balance when placing furniture, selecting pattern and colour, and arranging accessories.