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Posts Tagged ‘determining the focal point’

Eenie Meenie Miny Mo: Which Focal Point to Use?

Friday, December 28th, 2018

Make the fireplace even more interesting and worthy to be called a focal point with this Uttermost Living Room Gold Branches Decorative Fireplace Screen 18796.

Imagine walking into a room and your eyes can’t seem to rest on something substantial. Or picture the opposite where your eyes go from one point to the next because every little thing in the room seems to be crying for attention. This is that situation when the room has no definite focal point.

 

But what is a focal point and why is it so important in every room in your home? Any room will become much more inviting if you tastefully arrange furnishings and accessories around one focal point.

 

Most of the time, a focal point is a piece of furniture. At times, it can be a lovely architectural feature. It can also be a work of art or even a special framed family photo.

 

Determine the Focal Point

 

To define which is the focal point in a room, you have to go around and look for the biggest feature. As mentioned, it can be an architectural part of the room such as a fireplace or it can be a furniture piece such as a bookcase. These huge pieces are often the default focal points in a room.

 

If you do not see a distinctive architectural feature, the next step is to look for the biggest furniture pieces in that room. Any one of these can be the focal point. So, if you do not have a fireplace in the middle of the living room, the next logical choice for the focal point is that comfy sectional or chaise.

 

In choosing a focal point, it is important that it’s an interesting piece. This is so everyone will be enticed to look at it. It can either be colorful or has a texture that’s difficult to ignore. It can also be visually unique.

 

You can also easily create a focal point in any room by zeroing in on your artwork, the paint color on a wall, floral arrangements or the shelves that contain your book collection.

 

Here’s another tip – the focal point is that first thing that you will immediately notice the moment you get inside a room. if possible, try to build your furniture pieces all around the focal point that you chose (e.g. the sofa set, coffee table, and side tables should be arranged around the fireplace).

 

If you chose an outdoor view as the focal point, be sure also to orient all the furniture pieces inside to take advantage of the window zones. Imagine looking outdoors to a garden or a landscape. It’s a mesmerizing view that will surely be remembered.

 

One wall painted with a darker or brighter hue of the same color palette that you used is a great way to create a focal wall. This focal wall can also be neutral-colored but adorned with beautiful wall arrangements of artwork, framed photos or display shelves.

 

Lighting can also be used to enhance any focal point. There are many picture lights on the Internet as there are wall washer fixtures for painting or any wall display. If you made a shelf or a mantel as the focal point, then be sure to use correct accessories on them such as potted plants; flowers in beautiful, ornate vases; and other such accessories.

 

Always make sure that you use contrasting colors for the focal point and other design elements in the room. If the focal point is a flaming red, don’t turn the rest of your furnishings in the same flaming red shade. Instead, find tints of the same hue to accessorize.

 

Remember to decorate and frame the focal points with other design elements such as curtains, art or plants.

Hooker Furniture Home Office Auberose Bunching Bookcase: Where do you eyes rest the moment you see this photo? That’s the focal point.

 

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Posted in Architectural Elements, Interior Design 101 | Comments Off on Eenie Meenie Miny Mo: Which Focal Point to Use?

Building the Complaint-Free Home

Monday, November 14th, 2016

This lovely wooden piece comes from FFDM's Highlands Collection.

This lovely wooden piece comes from FFDM’s Highlands Collection.’Talk of focal points!

Here’s a great reason to begin decorating for your home now – the end result of your project will enhance the mood in your home. With the right decisions come better sleep inside the bedroom, less stress in the living room and much joy in the kitchen and dining room.

Here are some ways to turn your home into a haven –

Establish an Effective Focal Point

One of the first things that you would notice when you enter anyone’s home is a furniture or architectural part of the home anchoring the rest of the design elements. This is the focal point.

It is your duty to create a focal point for your home. This should be something that is noticeable once you enter your home. It could be a large porcelain vase, an abstract painting, or a memorable souvenir from your travels.

Say No to Debris

What are you still doing staring at that pile of old newspapers on the floor? Pick ‘em up.

Piles of stuff on the hallway or the entryway must go. They all spell chaos and mess inside your home and that’s bad for productivity.

Have a place that is designated for every item. Place the most chic containers right by the door then find bins for incoming and outgoing stuff.

Create Ample Room

Anxiety builds where there’s too much stress or chaos. Reduce the clutter in your home by making space. Cut on all the non-essentials. Let go of unnecessary furnishings, magazines, files, picture frames, etc.

A magical way to create space is to paint one of your chairs or tables and let it blend or disappear into the wall. Painting the walls with a light color will also make the room look a lot more spacious.

Highlight, Don’t Flood with Light

It would be difficult for you and your family to relax during the night if there is a bright overhead lamp right in your living room. This is much like attending a concert wherein you are amped all the time. If you don’t want to be revved up all the time, then use spot lighting just for the areas that need brightness. For all the others, install dimmers that you can activate according to your mood.

Find and install full-spectrum bulbs for a more soothing and natural ambience.

Simplify the Color Scheme

Practice restraint when using colors and patterns. Mixing patterns means you must know how to keep the color schemes within bounds. If you are the type that likes a lot of colors, then be sure to keep patterns to a bare minimum or you’d risk making your home look like the venue for the next Iron Man triathlon.

A relaxing room should be one that’s devoid of too many patterns and colors. Find the most soothing hues then put in just the right amount of furnishings and accessories so that your place becomes more meaningful.

Love Mother Nature

In fact, you should love her so much that you are willing to bring her into your own home. Bringing the outdoors in means having pots of houseplants, some mirrors to reflect the natural light, and the biggest windows to accommodate the beautiful rays of the sun; the view should also include an interesting landscape and awesome trees right outside your home.

The Hooker Furniture Bedroom Vintage West California King Wood Panel Bed is the perfect focal point to your bedroom.

The Hooker Furniture Bedroom Vintage West California King Wood Panel Bed is the perfect focal point to your bedroom.

Turn Off Your Electronics

Put the TV set and the computers in areas where you are not supposed to relax. These are your home office and the entertainment area. Do not let these electronic appliances interfere with a good night’s sleep by putting them inside the bedroom or the living room. In their place, use throw pillows, lamp shades and the most calming colors that you could find.

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4 Red Hot Interior Design Tips

Monday, March 28th, 2016

FFDM's Camden Grove Collection depicts here the perfect harmony of textures, patterns, and colors.

FFDM’s Camden Grove Collection depicts here the perfect harmony of textures, patterns, and colors.

If you’re thinking that interior designers follow a set of rules or that they own a secret book, then you’re in tough luck. There is no one rule that governs all that they do, after all, they are the creative people so they use their imagination, follow their intuition and they even go as far as dreaming and exploring. One could say, perhaps, that they have some rough principles that direct them to the right result. Here are some of the top interior design tips that you can work on –

Pick the Right Paint Color

Some designers say that it is ideal to pick the color of paint last. You may find the logic in this, you may not. What matters at the end of the day is that you pick the right kind of color for your chosen theme, one that is in rhythm with the architectural beauty of your home, and one that functions the way you perceived it to.

Let’s accept this – there are literally thousands of paint colors in different shades, tones and tints. Every single one can look different from one home to the next because there are factors to consider such as the lighting, the overall theme, even the size of the home.

You would want a paint color that complements the artwork, upholstery, lighting fixtures, carpeting, and the furniture sets.

Home Office Uttermost Annileise Bookshelf 24326 is a unique and tasteful way of displaying your books and other collections.

Home Office Uttermost Annileise Bookshelf 24326 is a unique and tasteful way of displaying your books and other collections.

Overcrowd Not

While you may have ample budget to buy every piece of furniture that you want, resist the urge to overcrowd all of your chosen pieces inside one room. Gracious living is tantamount to having enough

You must also know how to arrange furniture on a rug. Here are two techniques –breathing space. Focus on the quality and not the quantity of the furniture. Find the ones that will stand out without being stuffy.

  • If the rug is huge enough, then have all the furniture pieces – even the ones with the curvy legs – placed on top of it. This should give the room a more luxurious feel. Make sure to leave 12-18 inches of floor surface on all of the four sides of the rug, though.
  • In homes with smaller rooms, it is best to keep some of the legs off of the rug. It should be enough for the rug to touch the front legs of every chair. This is especially suited if you are layering a pattern on a bigger textured or solid rug.

You must also resist the urge to display all of your collectibles. If you really love each piece from your travels, then assign a season for each batch.

Hang Artwork Correctly

You can learn a lot from the museums and galleries that professionally hang artwork. The midline or center of the artwork should be 57” to 60” from the floor. The logic behind this is that the human eye level is often at 57 inches.

In a room where the ceilings are as high as the sky (of course this is an exaggeration), you must hang the artworks at a greater height. Though this is the case, you still need to remind yourself about human scale and not the structural scale.

If you are uncertain about where to hang artworks, then it is best to take a picture first. The photo should be able to reveal what level you can hang the artwork. Photographs often will give you an idea whether it is better to use a smaller or bigger piece of art; or if the spot is just right for a potted tall plant.

Always Have a Focal Point

Just as musicales or any stage production, there are protagonists and antagonists. This concept is also true when it comes to interior design. Choose the best pieces that you would want to highlight or make the star of the show then the rest of the items would just play a secondary role.

In the kitchen, the focal point can be that grand oven you just bought, in the living room it could be an art piece, and in the bedroom it can be the fireplace.

The focal point can also be a single wall. This is also called a statement wall.

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