5 surprising ways to master balance, proportion, and harmony from West London interior designer

Applying the rules of balance, proportion, and harmony may not be as simple as one-two-three, but with the right knowledge, tools and practice you will get there.

Aesthetics are built around the principles of design, and among those fundamentals, are balance, proportion, and harmony that can be most challenging to achieve.

If you love everything about décor and interior design but are quite hard-up on achieving these design principles, it is great to know a few tricks that can help you master the trade.

1. Understand Your Theme

You may be familiar with symmetry and asymmetry, but your choice of style is tied to which of the two you use. Symmetry works well with the classics: French country, Mediterranean, Victorian and Colonial are traditional themes that want it. Asymmetry suits the more modern and eclectic schemes, such as bohemian chic, industrial, minimalist and Scandinavian.

For the transitional styles, which is a combination of contemporary and traditional styles, it uses both symmetry and asymmetry.

2. Start with a Drawing

Whether you are a professional interior designer or a homeowner who wants to home stage a property, you’ll need to start with a drawing. Putting your ideas in pen to paper helps you to articulate ideas and visualise the elements better.

After getting all the measurements of your room and furniture, you can now draw these elements on a gridded paper. Typically, you’ll need to scale down your measurements to fit a quarter-inch scale, which means a quarter inch on paper is equivalent to one foot in real life. You may either use a graphing paper or download premade graphs. This will serve as a guide when doing your drawings.

3. Use Nature’s Scale and Proportion

The surest way to get scale and proportion right is to take the measurements from nature. Use the rule of thirds, which is a simplified version of the golden ratio.

It can help you place elements on your visual perspective where you can highlight and emphasise certain elements of your design.

Create a grid to be overlayed on your interior perspective, whether you have a one, two, or three-point perspective. Divide your image both horizontally and vertically, the interior perspective then is placed at the intersection of those dividing lines, or along with one of the lines itself. This gives your interior an orderly and well-distributed space.

4. Don’t Forget about Built-in Focal Points

We often hear artists talk about the importance of having a focal point in any visual art, and that’s no different when it comes to interior design. More often than not though, we chase a focal point through décor alone and walk straight past the architectural one already in the room.

Fireplaces, built-in bookcases, French doors, bay windows, angled walls, arched ceilings, winding staircases, and exposed bricks or beams are only a few examples of these built-in focal points.

During the planning stage, it is important to consider architectural focal points as they are permanent elements that can be utilised in your design.

5. Utilise Simple Objects to Connect Elements

If major renovation is not an option, you can use simple elements such as throw rugs, curtains, or a picture frame to create balance and unity.

For a large living room, for example, placing an area rug under sofas and seats can help pull together the elements. Continuity and cohesiveness are important if you want to achieve a well-balanced interior. Avoid furniture pieces, chairs, or plants floating out on their own.

Takeaway:

A well composed room is worth the work it takes to compose it. There is no such thing as a faultless design, so use the guidelines as guidelines and judge the result with your own eyes.

If you want to talk an interior through, tell us about the room, or call the studio on 020 7731 6841. Our own designers work on London homes, and our furniture and joinery are made by Cochrane Bespoke, our joinery partner.

This is just an overview of the different ways a designer can shape a composition to have the greatest impact on viewers. As always, remember that rules are meant to be broken. But once you understand these rules and can use them, your designs get stronger.