The Starting Point of Design

One of the questions I know every designer gets asked is,“where do I start when designing a room?”  Put five designers in a room and you’ll probably get five different answers to that question.  Some would say wall color, others would say artwork, and yet someone else might say the rug.  While there may not be a right or wrong answer to this question,  there are some pros and cons to the most common answers that you might hear.

 

ART, WALL DECOR & WALLPAPER

Encompassing the largest visual area within a room, the walls definitely influence the overall look and feel of a space.  If the artwork you’re placing in a room is oversized or unique, you can use this as the starting point of your design plan.  As a general rule of thumb, I like to interpret the lightest colors within the art onto the main pieces of furniture, and keep the bolder tones for the accent pieces and accessories.   

In the photo above, the exact colors from the artwork were used for the pillows and in the side chair fabric. A tone of the lightest color within the art was used for the sofa fabric.  The bright yellow garden seat provides a vibrant punch and the white rug and tabletop accessories serve as a visual contrast to the overall color palette.  All of the colors (or tones and shades of) are in the artwork so the story of the room is tied together.

Again, the boldest color within the artwork is pulled down into the room and used for accent pillows.  A shade of the darkest color forms the pattern within the chair fabric.  The white matte surrounding the artwork shows up in the chair fabric, coffee table top, mantle and accessories.  The gold framed floor mirror is just another tone of the yellow gold found in the art and rug. 

This oversized and very intricate piece of wall art is composed of  just two colors. By using white as the key color in the room, the dark background of the art helps to ground the room and give it depth.  A few darker pops are incorporated with the accent pillow, rug and throw to balance the visual impact.

Wallpaper with a defined pattern and theme can definitely serve as the jumping off point for your room design.  The accessories are a direct interpretation of the wallpaper and the white table, lamp and garden seat connect the wall paper to the decor.  Whenever I add an accent color into a space, I always try to use it, or a version of it in three places within the room.  This way the color addition looks intentional.  Can you spy the three “red” accents?   (mirror, apple arrangement, terracotta pot)

If your wallpaper showcases a specific theme, let that be the foundation for the decor.

 

THE RUG

As with wall decor, bold patterned rugs can and are often the starting point for a rooms design. Pull key colors from the rug pattern and use that as the foundation for your furnishings and accessories.

The dark teal wall color is found in the rug pattern and allows the more vibrant colors used within the room to pop.  The berry tones are scattered around the room via the accessories, and the white within the room helps to soften the overall look.

The blue and white striped rug not only defines the color palette of this room, but the vertical stripes visually enlarge the space and create movement for the eye.  The deepest shade of blue from the rug is the color used throughout the room, creating a very seamless and cohesive design statement.  White keeps the space light, airy and modern.

 

YOUR FURNITURE STYLE

Is your furniture retro, contemporary, antique, cottage or maybe some other distinct style?  If so, you furniture will definitely define how your room is decorated.  You want the space to feel unified so everything you place in that space will connect back to your furniture style and communicate a clear message.

A retro styled sofa and coffee table call for vintage modern wall decor and sleek flooring.  The room has a focused point of view and design style.

Shabby, worn and rustic furnishings in white call for walls and floors in white.  Bolder colors mixed with the white furniture would look harsh and forced.  Using subtle, washed out tones keep the space soothing and calm.

 

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES

Today, many people are building distinct architectural elements into the design of their rooms.  Arches, beams and millwork give the space character and define the rooms style.

The shape of this hanging pendant light plays off the shape of the overhead arch.  A longer, slender light fixture would have diminished the arch detail and made the entire space less appealing.

This india inspired arch was clearly the starting point for the design of this space.  The fabrics, furniture and colors all play off the shape of the door opening.

 

COLOR

For many people, a key color is what they base their design plan on.  If you are using a strong, bold color, don’t be shy.  Make a statement with it and make it intentional.

Using subtle variations of a strong color will add visual interest while keeping the design theme in tack.  White or off-white is best as an accent color so the bold color does not overpower.

Hot pink on the walls shows up again in the window treatments, throw and within the art and accessories.  Again, white is used to keep the space from being too jarring.

A bold color plays off  black really well, but creates a more dramatic statement overall.  Repeat the touch of black in multiple places within the room to tie it all together.

 

FABRIC

If I’m designing a room from scratch, fabrics typically serve as my starting point.  The sofa fabric dictates the fabrics for the window treatments, accent chairs, rugs, pillows, accessories, and paint color. 

Once I pick my fabrics, I then select the wall color and go from there.

The light turquoise in the chair fabric is pulled in via the ceiling paint and the neutral sofa color shows up again in the rug, wall color and other accessories.  This space connects the dots beautifully.

In this space, the window treatment fabric provides the dominate visual statement.  The terra-cotta color defines the color statement for the room, with darker, richer shades within the same color family found on the sofa, table cubes, pillows and lighting. 

 

The bottom line on finding the starting point for a room design is to pick the most dominant visual statement,  use that as your launching pad and tie your colors, accessories, furnishings and wall decor back to that dominate element.  This approach will ensure a cohesive & beautifully decorated space.

I’m off to meet with a client this morning to begin work on a design plan for her basement.  I wonder what the starting point of this plan will be?

Have a great day!

all images via pinterest