When designing a home, most people focus on how they can fill the space; a logical response, particularly when dealing with the empty carcass of a house you’ve just moved into or had refurbished. Once the furniture and carpentry are in, you start to focus on the gaping holes of blank space on your walls and ponder how you can fill them. However, filling every nook and cranny with a design element is one of the most common design mistakes. We often think we need a magnificent work of art or an oversized mirror to create impact, but blank space is just as -if not more- impactful.
Balance is the key to any successful composition, whether in art, photography, stage design, architecture, or - in our case - interior design. It’s about the dialogue between the positive space (that which is occupied by furniture and decor) and the negative space (the unoccupied walls and floors) that subtly dictate how we navigate and feel in a space. Too much of one or the other will overwhelm the eye or fail to stimulate it entirely.
