Design School Fridays!

I thought I would start teaching an element or principle of Interior design every Friday. I am hoping that someone might learn from it. These principles and elements are used by interior designer's everyday to achieve great design. Today were talking about Harmony, unity and variety.

Harmony is achieved in a room when all other design elements come together scale balance, and rhythm.  You want to unify the room with a common element, it could be color, texture, or a shape. You also want to add some variety to shake things up. That's where variety comes in, bring in a unique shape, color or texture so the room doesn't feel boring.

 Think of it like this, unity is considered the elephant in the room. It takes up the most space, you want your overall big heavy pieces to share the same common trait or characteristic.

Variety is  like the hummingbird in the room, its the small unique pieces that add interest. Bring it in small doses to avoid to much chaos going on in a room.

Source: thedecorologist.com

In this room the common thread is brought in with color. Overall the main colors are grey and white. The mirrors also provide unity.

What brings variety and emphasis to the room is the kelly green splashes throughout. The green in the sofa and rug give bring unity again.

Source: decorpad.com

In this room white unifies the room, while the pops of yellow and navy blue bring variety.

Source: lonnymag.com

The overall color scheme in this room is neutral, which brings unity. The zebra, gold and rug add variety.

Source: chinoiseriechic.blogspot.com
These chairs are all the same shape which unifies the space. The different colors adds variety.