Unity in Design

The room feels right, the colors work well together, the lighting is just so, there is a feeling about the room that everything belongs there, everything has a purpose and that purpose is to make you feel at home in the room. This room has unity.

Unity is achieved by having all the components in the room blend together through common denominators. It starts with the mood of the room; does the room feel warm and calming? There will be no elements in this room that do not fit this mood. Everything is placed with consideration to it’s surroundings and to the scale of the room. Items placed next to each other intensify each other. One small plant is lonely, three small plants make a group. The plants relate to the vine design in the carpet, the scroll work on the iron coffee table base reflects this theme. Repetition increases the feeling of unity.

The room is balanced, there are no crowded corners on one side of the room, empty corners on the other. The traffic moves through the room easily, never interfering with the function of the room.

The proportion of the furniture is in keeping with the size of the room and each piece of furniture is in balanced scale to the piece next to it.

The color of the room is in keeping with the style and the mood of the room and all elements in the room relate to the color scheme.

The room has an abundance of textures and natural, geometric, abstract and conventional patterns are found. ( Conventional patterns are ones that almost look like the real thing).

A line is a path of action of a design. Lines suggest the eye move or rest; each room should contain curved, horizontal, diagonal and vertical lines. The room will have rhythm and the eye will move easily around the space.

Sound like a lot of gobeltey-gook? Next time you look at a photo of a great room in a magazine see if you can spot the 4 line directions and the 4 pattern types. Then look for a common theme; look at how the color scheme is used. You may be surprised.