Dancing with the details
I love watching Dancing with the Stars! That should not be a surprise. Dancing is alot like Design. Rhythm, balance, harmony all play a critical role in both arts. Except dancers call harmony between partners chemistry, a subtlety that we shall explore later.
Anyway, let's look at rhythm and balance. If you have great rhythm but not balance, you will surely trip over your feet or those of your partner. On the other hand, solid balance leaves you with your feet firmly planted to the floor the result is in a wooden presentation. Somehow these two principles must find it in the music to enhance one another, bringing out the best of each adding richness and luster to the dance.
Balance is the easiest of the design principles to work with and the easiest to abuse. Being either symmetrical (a mirror image of one side to the other) or asymmetrical (where the two sides are not a mirror image of one another but are equal in visual weight) most often, the abuse results from stopping too soon. One sofa, two matching tables, one on each side, matching lamps atop them. (yawn) But add three pillows to the sofa, one brighter and a bit larger on the right facing and two smaller, less intensely colored pillows on the left and the vision is starting to hum. Hang a striking painting centered over the sofa (one day soon I will explain how you decide where to hang it) and you can hear the chorus warming up. A perfect choice in art would be a picture with an image that has items asymmetrically placed within the frame with just a splash of the color of the brighter pillow ( the one on the right side) on the left side of the image. Now you have balance that is tipping one way, then another! Perfectly "un-balanced". Bright colors and you have a rumba, soft romantic colors and you have a waltz. One voice with a chorus of voices blending in the background.
Rhythm is the visual "sound" your design elements make. Imagine the spindles of the stair railing making the sounds of a stringed instrument. If they are slender and gently curved, they might make the sound of a harp or a violin. If they are thick and sturdy they might make the sound of a cello or a guitar. Rhythm can also be the tempo of the movement in the space. Your eye can find great joy in skipping from item to item like the quick steps of a polka. You might find a quiet joy in small, carefully placed steps like those of a two step. If your room is playful, choose playful rhythms. If is it to be somber and insightful, choose rhythms that are steady and comforting.
Your most important design tool is your intuition. Listen to yourself. Listen to your room. They will tell you when you have found just the right things and put them in just the right places. Listen to the music of your home and let your soul dance!
Anyway, let's look at rhythm and balance. If you have great rhythm but not balance, you will surely trip over your feet or those of your partner. On the other hand, solid balance leaves you with your feet firmly planted to the floor the result is in a wooden presentation. Somehow these two principles must find it in the music to enhance one another, bringing out the best of each adding richness and luster to the dance.
Balance is the easiest of the design principles to work with and the easiest to abuse. Being either symmetrical (a mirror image of one side to the other) or asymmetrical (where the two sides are not a mirror image of one another but are equal in visual weight) most often, the abuse results from stopping too soon. One sofa, two matching tables, one on each side, matching lamps atop them. (yawn) But add three pillows to the sofa, one brighter and a bit larger on the right facing and two smaller, less intensely colored pillows on the left and the vision is starting to hum. Hang a striking painting centered over the sofa (one day soon I will explain how you decide where to hang it) and you can hear the chorus warming up. A perfect choice in art would be a picture with an image that has items asymmetrically placed within the frame with just a splash of the color of the brighter pillow ( the one on the right side) on the left side of the image. Now you have balance that is tipping one way, then another! Perfectly "un-balanced". Bright colors and you have a rumba, soft romantic colors and you have a waltz. One voice with a chorus of voices blending in the background.
Rhythm is the visual "sound" your design elements make. Imagine the spindles of the stair railing making the sounds of a stringed instrument. If they are slender and gently curved, they might make the sound of a harp or a violin. If they are thick and sturdy they might make the sound of a cello or a guitar. Rhythm can also be the tempo of the movement in the space. Your eye can find great joy in skipping from item to item like the quick steps of a polka. You might find a quiet joy in small, carefully placed steps like those of a two step. If your room is playful, choose playful rhythms. If is it to be somber and insightful, choose rhythms that are steady and comforting.
Your most important design tool is your intuition. Listen to yourself. Listen to your room. They will tell you when you have found just the right things and put them in just the right places. Listen to the music of your home and let your soul dance!
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