Interior Design Blog by Jil Sonia McDonald of Jil Sonia Interior Designs

What Inspires You?

1/16/2011

A few years ago I had a client, single male, who did not know what colour he wanted. Everything else in his house was white - other than the 50" flat screen TV. I asked him if I could look in his closet and... it was full of Canuck jerseys (at the time they were wearing dark red and steel blue).

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Well we decided to go with the dark red (Sundried Tomato) for his basement suite , with a steel blue bedroom (Black Pepper). It looked fantastic. He was only home during the nights, and loved watching movies, so for him, these dark rich colours worked beautifully. We used his closet to inspire us - imagine that.

When looking for a new colour scheme, take a look around your home, there is a lot to take inspiration from!

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The Rule of Thirds

1/11/2011

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Who has heard of the rule of thirds?

This important rule says that most designs can be made more interesting by visually dividing a wall or a photo into thirds vertically and/or horizontally; and placing our most important elements within those thirds.

If you have a fireplace on a 12' wide wall, and perhaps the fireplace is 4' wide, well, you'd place the fireplace in the centre, leaving a 4' patch of wall on each side. Thereby dividing that wall in thirds.

We want the visual tension and excitement that the rule of thirds gives.

Another important design concept is Visual Center and Balance.

Placing important elements or the focal point of the design within the visual center of a piece is another design trick. We all know the actual centre of a photo is right in the middle of the shot. But, did you know the visual center is slightly to the right of and above the actual center of the photo? This is the area that our eyes are drawn to immediately.

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This "rule" originally was developed by photographers to ensure every shot looks great. Don't we as designers, or homeowners want that as well? Basically when you are composing a photograph, or a wall, imagine two vertical lines and two horizontal lines dissecting your image into nine squares as shown below.

Placing your most important elements at one or more of the four intersections of those lines, helps create interesting photos or design.

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Most balanced designs (and even unbalanced ones) rely on a grid. This invisible structure helps ensure that all the elements are placed in the right location, thereby achieving balance as well as helping with continuity and consistency of design. These are design principles that help the professional designer achieve visual balance.

If you'd love to have a visually balanced room, one that is truly pleasing to the eye, please email me at info@jilsoniainteriors.com