Have you ever invested in a piece of furniture that you regretted buying once living with it for a bit? The side chair that you fell in love with and brought home only to find that it looked like a dinghy pulled up next to the Titanic that is your sofa? Or the entertainment center that looked great in the showroom but showed no signs of the way it would eat your living room alive with its sheer size and power? Or the kitchen table that can only seat 4 of your 6 family members comfortably unless you use saucers as plates? You're not alone. One of the things people tend to find most intimidating when decorating their homes is choosing the right size/scale furniture. We know what we like visually-deciding whether or not it's pretty is the easy part. But having all of the individually gorgeous pieces live in harmony is the tough part.
BIG SPACES
Let's start with big spaces. We tend to see larger, 'great rooms' in newer construction, which take up more real estate in a home's overall square footage. Cathedral ceilings, vast seas of one color of flooring, walls that stretch from one room to the next so that 40' becomes an actual size that needs to be addressed-these are some of the enormous challenges with larger rooms. And while we all love extra space, we also want our rooms to feel inviting and warm. So here are some sure fire ways to cozy up a big ol' room...
When working with cathedral or high ceilings, you have to up the ante all across the board. Because tall spaces can feel looming, placing items that are proportioned vertically can help take the space back to a human scale. Four-post beds and armoires are a great way to take up some visual space and keep the eye moving upward-but don't stop there! The upper half of the room needs to be 'dressed' as well. A large scale chandelier-or a pair in long rooms-can help anchor top half to bottom, and tall art or mirrors can drive the effect home. What you want to avoid is a room that looks bottom heavy. Also, avoid the temptation to hang lots of small items in an attempt to fill a big space. Each piece will wind up looking lost, and the effect will be chaotic and cluttered. Hold out for substantial pieces that can carry some weight.
There's nothing worse than what I like to call the 'spin art effect.' That's when all of the furniture in a room is shoved against the walls, and there's a dance floor sized space left in the middle. The solution is to float your furniture. This opens up all kinds of new options for your space plan. You can use a large sofa as a sort of room divider in a den/dining room situation and place a sideboard along the back with a pair of lamps. Or a console with a pair of ottomans tucked underneath that can be pulled out on a whim when extra seating is needed. Another great setup is to pop a writing desk behind the sofa.
Break up all of that flooring! Whether you're floating the furniture or utilizing a wall in your arrangement, placing an area rug defines a space within a space. An effort, again to make a large space feel a little more consolidated and intimate. It can also provide the accent color your neutrals need, or be the unifying element for all colors spread throughout the space.
Even an 8'-long sofa, while large, doesn't hold its weight in a large space if it has an airy bottom with slim feet and a refined arm. Look for hefty details like chunky feet and heavy, rolled or thick, square arms, large loose back cushions and substantial accent pillows. The lower a piece sits to the ground (and this includes skirted pieces) the heavier it will feel. In a dining space, opt for solid back chairs and tables with heavy, turned legs. A pedestal or trestle base can also really anchor the space. And remember, large rooms should be filled with a few large-scale items rather than lots and lots of small-scaled items to avoid a cluttered look.
Never allow a chair grouping to overpower a sofa. Just like the bed takes center stage in a bedroom, the sofa should reign over the living room or den. When a pair of chairs takes up a larger footprint than the sofa, they just look kind of wimpy. And a TV should never, under any circumstances, be wider than the piece that it rests upon or hangs above.
You don't have to buy the matching nightstands , ya know! If the pieces that go with your bed don't quite fill out the space, consider other bedroom pieces. In my own bedroom, I used a 5'-long dresser as my nightstand and a 5' writing desk with an ottoman slid underneath as Scott's. This completely affected the overall scale of the room-making the whole thing cozier, and we have the added advantage of extra storage! This idea goes for the living room as well. There's no reason that a chest of drawers can't serve as an end table, so long as the height jives with the arm of your sofa or chair. Shop Big Spaces
SMALL SPACES
And now for you city dwellers. I know, the idea of having too much space to decorate is sort of up there with big foot. You just don't believe it. There are a million ways that you can conserve space-and even create it-by way of an efficient space plan. You can also completely open up a space just by choosing the right furniture. Here are some things to keep in mind...
In choosing a sofa, opt for clean lines and leggy, open bottoms. A tight upholstered back keeps everything looking streamlined and tidy. Also, stick to solid fabrics, which will feel more restful on the eye. Whether you go dark and cozy or light and fresh, keeping things simple will assure that guests take in your whole space rather than being drawn to a particular item.
'No touching rule.' Furniture should always have a minimum of 1-2" of air space surrounding it. If you have an 8'-wide wall, technically, two 36"-wide chairs and one 24" table fits between them. But the result will look crammed and uncomfortable. Same as clothes. Just 'cause you can zip it, doesn't mean you should wear it!
To maximize an eating area, opt for a bench in place of chairs on one side of the table. This way, you eliminate chair back-up space and can scoot the whole shebang against the wall. Be sure to choose a table with a pedestal base so that you can slide right in! Any corner of your home will do for this set up.
Going armless on as many of your seating pieces as possible will help open up a ton of visual space, but if napping and horizontal TV watching are musts for you, then a low arm can do the trick.
Keeping things open and airy also directly affects your sense of space, so opt for leggy metal and glass tables, metal and glass tables and open or glass-fronted bookcases.
To get the biggest bang for your buck out of a smaller hang out area, go for the longer sofa that will provide more seating, and lose an end table. You can still get the impact of a symmetrical look by tucking a thin floor lamp in its place, and using a table version of that same lamp on the one table. Shop Small Spaces
AND FINALLY, HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES WHERE NUMBERS MATTER…
Your coffee table height should fall within 1" of your sofa seat height. For example, if your sofa sits at 18"h, the table height should fall between 17 and 19" high. It sounds like a small detail, but a 19"h table in front of a 16" seat height feels like you're sitting in a diner booth. And a table that's a few inches too low can make you feel like you've parked your car in front of doll furniture!
You should allow a minimum of 12" of clear space between your sofa and coffee table. 15" is about perfect-it's close enough to encourage using it, like setting your drink down, or putting your feet up and there's still enough room to get to the sofa! Anything more than 18" away may as well be in another room. This is a sign that you need a larger coffee table.
There should be a minimum of 30-36" of clear space for aisles and walkways around furniture. (You can get away with 24" within the furniture grouping or in spaces where you just encounter a corner of furniture, but 24" is the bare minimum.)
Furniture back heights should fall within 6" of each other to maintain an uninterrupted horizon line. However, if you've fallen in love with high-backed chairs and a low profile sofa, try flanking the sofa with large-scale floor lamps that match the height of the chairs to create balance across the room. It's all about keeping the eyes moving at the same height.
Happy Shopping!
