Is there a room in your house that is so big it makes you feel like you're living in an empty warehouse? While it's hard to imagine that too much space could be a problem, the evolution of the great room, the growing popularity of finished basements and the trend toward more open floor plans in today's homes have left many people feeling lost in their own homes."Large spaces can be tricky," explains Margi Daniels, ASID, design consultant for La-Z-Boy Incorporated. "Areas such as great rooms and basements often can seem overwhelming in their proportions, not to mention cold and uninviting. The good news is that with some clever decorating tricks, you can warm up any large room."
According to Daniels, the key to creating comfort in a large room is to treat the space like many small spaces. That way, you instantly turn an overwhelming room into smaller, more manageable decorating projects.
First, identify the primary function of the room. If the main purpose of the room is to provide a place for family and friends to gather and watch TV, a modular grouping might offer the perfect solution. Generous in size and scale, these groupings are particularly appropriate for larger spaces.
Once you've established your primary center of activity, balance the room with a few secondary arrangements to break up the space and serve additional functions. Take advantage of a bay window by simply adding a chair, ottoman and side table with lamp to create a cozy reading nook. Or transform an unused corner into a conversation area by pairing a couple of comfortable chairs with a coffee table and a floor lamp. Or, put a desk in that corner to create the perfect place to do homework, pay bills and surf the Internet.
"In my family, there's rarely a time when we are all doing the same thing at the same time," notes Daniels. "By creating a room with multiple activity centers, we can each do our own thing and still spend time together."
Daniels also offers the following tips for decorating large spaces:
- Use dark, vivid colors such as blue, green and red on walls, windows and even the ceiling to diminish the feeling of spaciousness in a room.
- Select bold fabric patterns to make upholstered furniture appear larger than it really is.
- Choose medium- to large-scale furnishings. These work best merely because they look appropriate in large spaces. Small pieces can look lost and too many can create a cluttered look.
- "Float" furniture by moving it away from the walls to fill a large space and create open walkways throughout the room.
For more decorating ideas, visit La-Z-Boy's Internet Web site at www.lazboy.com. (NAPSI)
