Designobsessed2's Blog

I talked the other day about the steps to take in tackling a room from scratch.   I mentioned the importance of doing the room “to scale” before you even begin to pick out paint colors or find a fabric you love.  This is the technical part – but the part that every good decorator does before starting a room.  It’s really important to measure every wall, window, fireplace and put it on graph paper to see what you have.  In many ways, doing this simple but important exercise on paper really makes you look at your room in a different way.    Once you have this drawn out (use regular graph paper from the office supply store), start asking yourself the following questions:

1)  How do we plan to use this room.  (Lounging, entertaining, sleeping, eating, as a game space, family get togethers etc.  Prioritize what you do most often or how you intend to use the room most often.

2)  How many people will typically be in this room -

3)  What kind of seating preferences do the people using this room have?  Some people will only sit on a sofa – some want a recliner.  Others like to lay on the floor.

These three questions determine the type of furniture and flooring you need which drives the furniture placement in the room.  If you don’t know what furniture you need and how it’s going to be placed, you can’t begin to figure out how you want the room to look and feel.  Your “to scale” drawing helps with this.  Once I draw out a room, I always make at least five copies of the empty space.  This gives me the opportunity to draw out at least five different seating arrangments.  Once you decide on one you like based on the furniture pieces you need, keep the four others on file in case you want to re-arrange your furniture in the future.  Doing this many room arrangements also helps you to get the most furniture bang for your buck. 

The graph paper is usually in 1/4″ squares and typical floor plans are drawn 1/4″ equals one foot.  So, go around your room and measure each wall and placing every door, window, built-in, fireplace etc.  Measure the openings in the room as well.  Then, use these common furniture sizes below and cut out little squares from your graph paper to represent furniture pieces.  You can color or outline them in black to show up on the graph paper.

Sofa – 84″ long x 38″ deep

Loveseat – 60″ long x 38″ deep

Chair – 36″ wide x 34″ deep (this can vary alot depending on how big the piece is)

Coffee tables – 42″ round, 48 x 32″, 42″ square

Rugs – 5 x 8, 6 x 9, 8 x 10, 9 x 12 (standard sizes)

End tables – these vary greatly in size and shape.

Tomorrow – more on doing a scale drawing.

If you’re thinking about redecorating a room in the next few months, the following “rules” are followed by every decorator as he/she starts and moves through the process:

1)  Decide which pieces, if any, from the existing room have to stay.  This may be for financial reasons, sentimental reasons or a piece the family loves and can’t give up (this should be a piece of artwork, sculpture, baby grand piano etc. – not a sofa because it’s comfortable.  If a piece is kept for financial reasons, have a plan in place to change out that item when it’s financially feasible.  That piece and it’s fabric should be incorporated into the new plan but held back until it makes economic sense.

2)  Take pictures of the room on your phone to have with you when you shop.  Take pictures of all walls, flooring and any interesting details on the ceiling.

3)  Decide on your inspiration piece.  This could be an existing piece you want to keep in the room.  This could be a painting you found.  If there’s nothing you have that’s existing, the three items most often used for inspiration are:  a new area rug (if there’s hardwood flooring), a piece of artwork you fall in love with or 3)  a piece of fabric.  I once did an entire condo off of one piece of fabric that set the tone for the entire space.

4)  If you have or want an area rug, let that be your starting point.  It is much easier to pick a paint color or find a few fabrics that go with an area rug than the other way around.  Don’t settle for a rug until you find something you truly love.  It can make or break the space.

5)  Develop a “to scale” floor plan so you know exactly where the furniture will go in the room and you know exactly  how many pieces you need to buy and the size they need to be.  * I’ll discuss “How to do a ‘to scale’ plan tomorrow.

Tomorrow:  A “to scale” floor plan and the next steps designers use in decorating a room.

I was suprised, recently, when I found a client who didn’t know about working with odd numbers in design.  And when I was working with two more clients in accessorizing and hanging art who didn’t know about this, I decided it was worth writing about.   

  When accessorizing, when hanging artwork, when placing candles on a table or a mantlepiece, always use them in odd numbers.  One’s, three’s, five’s seven’s – they always look better and somehow more pleasing to the eye in odd groupings.   I don’t know why but they do.  Try this when you’re decorating for the holidays or placing candles on the table at Thanksgiving.  Put an even number down and then remove  just one.  Whatever itis that you’re putting in a group  - it just looks better. 

Don’t forget about artwork.  Hang your art in odd numbered groupings unless it calls for a piece to go over each symmetrical nightstand or end table on each side of a sofa.    Happy accessorizing.