But, I love that old wardrobe! It was my Grandmother’s! I want to use it for my office supplies! Okay. Here’s the problem. This room is twelve by fourteen, the wardrobe is seven feet high and six wide and we still have a desk, file cabinet, desk chair, client chair and your antique floor lamp to consider! Unfortunately there would be no space left for you or your client!
Sometimes, the things we have and treasure, as well as many unique elements we may have always wanted for our environments (home or business) may not be right or practical for the space we have available. When we are re-designing a space you already have, all the choices we make must conform to the advantages – and limitations – of that existing space.
Your interior design team will help you incorporate into your design vision any appropriate component you choose. However, not all pieces, colors, light fixtures or textures work out – in a universal sense. As in the example of the antique wardrobe mentioned above, size, configuration and proposed use of the available space all drive the reasonability of placement.
When designing for new, proposed Space it is really smart to bring the entire project team together at the very beginning. At that time, let your team know that you have highly prized components, or intend to acquire some very specialized items that you want incorporated into the plans. In that way, the balance of Shapes, sizes and Space available will be designed appropriately for your vision!
Other important partnerships come keenly into focus when Shapes and Space come under consideration. For instance, small, windowless interior rooms present several options. With good color choices, correct lighting, carefully selected textures and furniture (of the right size and scale), that room can become a just-right-cozy den. Or, with very different lighting, wall and flooring textures, furniture and color selections, that small Space may be transformed to seem larger, brighter and more open.
Very large Space presents different considerations, but similar in terms of what appropriately achieves the design goals. Very high ceilings or odd dimensional configurations both drive the disciplines necessary for the choices made for appointing such interiors. Large Space can feel cavernous, hollow and cold – despite the presence of wonderfully comfortable furniture! In the hands of a capable interior design team, using friendly and compatible colors, textures and lighting, very large Spaces can be tamed into amazingly warm and inviting environments.
The Shapes we place in a given Space can have either subtle or shocking affect! Spatial relationships for interior Space is like the unconscious sense we apply on the highway where distance, speed and common sense guide our placement in traffic. Perhaps you have entered places where you feel overpowered and crowded by the scope of the surroundings – or where it feels cold and uninviting.
The Shapes in Spaces, and the Spaces we choose for certain Shapes, can influence the entire message you send with your interior design vision!
Robert Boccabella, B.F.A. is principal and founder of Business Design Services and a certified interior designer in private practice for over 30 years. Boccabella provides Designing to Fit the Vision© in collaboration with writingservice@earthlink.net. To contact him call 707-263-7073; email him at rb@BusinessDesignServices.com or visit www.BusinessDesignServices.com or on Face Book at Business Design Services.
