Principle Three

Have you ever walked into a room that just didn't feel right? One reason could be that the Harmony is off. A room NEEDS to have an underlying unity in variety.

Does that make sense?

If unity means there's a sameness to everything, and variety means there's differences, it may seem like an oxymoron.

However, remember that you can have unity and variety in a space if you always ask yourself "What song is this piece singing?"

Some pieces sing more than one type of song, which makes seemingly different pieces work - creating unity in variety.

BUT BE CAREFUL! It's easy to get too many pieces, with each piece trying to be the loudest singer. What you get is a room singing so loud you can't even hear yourself think!

For instance:

Songs being sung in this room:

Log walls: "Home on the range"

Wicker furniture: "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-ah"

Industrial coffee table: "New Years Day"

Maybe I'm wrong... What do you think? To me, this space just is too loud. It's got so many songs, stories, textures --- just TOO much going on.

OK. Now this one:

Wall and venting: "New Year's Day"

Painting and rug: "Walk On"

Sofa: "Stuck in a Moment"

This is how they made this room warm and comfortable (which is often hard to do in these industrial loft type spaces):

-Sofa hints to modern lines, but still has some puff and almost sits all the way on the floor--screaming casual contemporary.

-The glass table and lamp add some sparkle.

-The Barcelona chairs play off the sparkle but still speak to the contemporary-ness of the space itself.

-The geometric and funky prints merge the casual comfort with the modern stiffness.

The point is, too much of the same thing is not always a good thing, so be careful! Sometimes it's really easy to just go too far.