Guest Blogger, Lisa Jolan’s tips for creating a great room.
Hi all, I am Lisa Jolan and a big thanks to Kristie for having me guest on her blog. Today I am going to discuss some interesting points to consider when you are arranging a room.
Lets start with Lighting
It’s a home, not an operating theatre!
Many people make the mistake of having just one, very bright overhead light which casts a very harsh circle of light below it. No matter the elegance of the furniture or subtle warmth of the artwork on your walls, a harsh pool of light will drain all the colours and can throw down shadows. To help your decor put in a softer wattage light bulb or add two or three other points of light. A tall standing lamp in a corner, a delicate lamp on a coffee table, and maybe even a up lighter or two on the mantelpiece. Spreading the light sources around the room softens the impact while still providing a good strong light to see and work by.
Use the full height of a room:
Another commonly seen mistake involves only decorating half way up the walls. While this is completely understandable for items that are going to be taken down regularly, it is a complete waste of further available space, as well as minimizing the impact that the room makes. Tall bookcases, sideboards or shelving units (such as those found in shop4furniture.net’s wonderful range) could almost touch the ceiling, making maximum use of all that free space. Delicate ornaments can be placed up high to keep them safe from small inquisitive hands. Large pictures and paintings can have more impact when placed higher on a wall – placed lower down and some artwork can interfere with furniture lines and look bulky.
Keep essential items on lower shelves for easy access, but consider being lavish with using the full height of the room.
Comfortable furniture arrangement that looks inviting and welcoming:
The placement of furniture is one that a lot of people find difficult. This can happen because people have too much furniture for the size of the room, making it overcrowded. Often their solution is to push all the furniture hard up against the walls, creating a clinical ‘waiting-room’ look that is not flattering to either the room proportions or the furniture! If possible choose smaller pieces of furniture if your room is more compact than most.
Pay close attention to the space taken up by the chunky arms on chairs and sofas, and even curved feet on sideboards that can stick out just a little too far.
Another error approaches from the extreme opposite – having too little furniture in the available space, leaving the room looking empty and threadbare. This is easily remedied by arranging the furniture you do have in comfortable clusters, and making a feature of a large empty expanse. Judicious use of lighting will help you here too, casting a welcoming brightness over seating areas.
Framing the room right:
Other easily amended errors include having curtains that are too long, and puddle on the floor. While this looks gorgeous in very big rooms it can make a smaller room look overdressed; almost like a little girl wearing mum’s evening dress and high heels! For a more polished look have the curtains end mere millimeters above the floor, and move the pelmet up away from the top of the window, to allow for long, elegant curtains. Small or ill-fitting curtains detract from a room’s good looks too. Curtains should be neat, just the right length and a generous enough width to cover the entire window, plus a little extra on the sides, with the fitting cord pulled.
All of these changes I have mentioned above do need to be seen in situ before you know for sure that they will work. Generally you can tell by instinct if you are unhappy with how your room feels and looks, and you are bound to pinpoint the feature or area that it causing your discontent. Once that is fixed, you will know that you are now looking at the room of your dreams!
Interesting tips to arrange the bedroom in comfortable way. i will must consider these important point before going towards my home renovation process.