B3

By Sarah Pacey
A line on design

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This is the third article in a five-part series about the principles of design.

1 of 2

PHOTOS SUBMITTED

These before and after photos portray how adding furniture with similar curves makes the room feel cohesive.

Rhythm is measured motion – whether in written or spoken language, music or decorating.

In music, it's achieved by regularly recurring groups of accented tones. In decorating, it's achieved by the regular recurrence of accent features or elements. Rhythm is vital to good design because it helps hold the varied elements of a composition together, whether that composition is a single object, such as a lamp, or the contents of a whole room.

Rhythm supplies the discipline that controls the eye as it moves around a room. It helps the eye to move easily from one object to another and creates a harmony that tells the eye everything in the room belongs to a unified whole. Rhythm is created through repetition of line, form, colour or texture.

For example, a particular curved line may be found on tables, chairs, sofas, fabric and art.

All of the objects with this feature are placed in strategic intervals throughout the room. The eye moves from one curve to the next giving the room a definite rhythm. Rhythm can also be created through progression. Progressive rhythm is a gradual increasing or decreasing in size, direction or colour.

When it's time to think about creating rhythm in your design plan, the easiest thing to do is repeat, repeat, repeat! Repeat a colour, line, design motif or an object more than once in a composition. And immediately, a sense of design or purpose begins to develop. When anything is repeated, the eye is carried along from one motif to the next and interest mounts. This is what is meant by defining rhythm as motion.

Just as a rhythm may be set up throughout a room, it can be established in a collection or a grouping. Rhythm in accessorizing is to consider repeating the same type of object – say a plate collection – in varying shapes and sizes.

By varying the size and shape of your plates, the repeated element becomes more interesting to the eye.

Several rhythms may be occurring in a room at the same time. Be aware of each, so you can control them and make them work for you to create a unified whole.

Sarah Pacey is the Award Winning Owner of your local Interiors by Decorating Den, which serves your commercial and residential interior decorating needs from Oromocto to Grand Falls. Contact her office today with questions or to book your consultation at 392-8882 or by e-mail at paceyteam@decoratingden.com.