Decor Portfolio

We seldom give line and form much thought because they are so much a part of daily experience, but as design elements they can influence the way a room looks and feels almost as much as color.  Lines, whether straight or curved, can be assembled to represent a shape such as a rectangle or an oval. When given structure and substance, shapes becomes forms   a chair, lets say, or a chandelier.  Rooms are usually thought of in terms of shape, and the objects in them by their forms.  Lines can be highly expressive in the design of a room. Vertical lines and forms often associated with strength, support, energy and upward movement (walls, mountains, the standing or walking human figure). Horizontal lines and forms suggest less direct movement   sideways energy   and more relaxing images (the horizon, a person at rest with his or her feet popped up on the sofa). Interior spaces that emphasize the vertical with high ceilings, tall windows and doors, and upright furniture tend to feel somewhat formal and impersonal, sometimes lofty and dramatic. Those that underscore horizontal with low ceilings, broad window and door openings, and stretch out furnishings seem more intimate, warmer, less formal, occasionally claustrophobic.  Typically, people are most comfortable with ceiling that are neither too high nor too low, and when the horizontal and vertical lines are kept in balance and suit the human scale.

You can add an illusion of height and formality to a low-ceilinged room by playing up the vertical dimensions: striped wall coverings, window treatments that extend to the floor, tall bookshelves, indoors trees.  Likewise, a room that needs visual broadening can benefit from baseboards, moldings, and wallpaper borders that carry the eye around the room perimeter, and from plump seating, tables, and other flat surfaces that accentuate the horizontal.

Diagonal lines evoke curiosity and suggest activity.  They are most effective when they lead to a stopping point that doesn’t leave the eye stranded in space a sloping ceiling rising to a peak, for instance, or a collection of pictures stepped with the stairs to the second floor.  Curved lines and forms can soften a room that seems stiff or confining, though too many curves may make a person feel restless and confused.  Just the presence of an oval table, a gently countered sofa, or a round-backed chair can make an angular furniture grouping more inviting.  Many classic furnishings   those that fit and function beautifully in almost any style of a room   are curvilinear in form, blending the best of both curved and straight lines.