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| Interior Design Guidelines - Room Color Mood Function and Harmony |
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At Sheffield we teach our
students a simple Three-Step Method for designing every room they create:
- A successful room is functional.
- A successful room expresses a mood.
- A successful room exhibits a sense of harmony.
This simple Three-Step Method is the secret of every Interior
ever designed. We teach our students to consider these three steps every
time they look at a room. You'll find the great home decorating ideas in
our Room of the Month series as well as in the other interior design tips
on this site helpful in creating outstanding room designs..
When
our students mail in their interior design project for analysis by their
instructor, the instructor starts by commenting on these three Guidelines.
Of course, the instructor analyzes other elements of the project too –
decor, layout, furniture, style etc. But the key to good home decor – and
the essential element of every great Interior design - is adherence to
these three Guidelines.
How do they work? How can you apply them?
It's beyond the scope of this Web site to teach you every nuance, but you
will get an inkling from the Room-of-the-Month Analysis that follows. |
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Room of the Month Interior Design
Guidelines:
Summertime Porch
 Ah, summer. In the Northeast, summer is the time for slowing
down and enjoying the cooling breezes that come through the leafy trees,
chatting with friends and family or settling into the good books you never
seem to find time for in the hectic fall, winter, and spring.
This
porch provides a respite from the heat of the day, being surrounded by
rhododendron bushes and shaded by towering maple trees.
Analyzing
this porch design with the Sheffield Guidelines to Interior Design — function, mood and harmony — is pure pleasure, because the room
is such a delightful place to visit.
Looking first at the mood of
this room, the decor of the porch is definitely summertime casual, with a
bit of a Victorian note to it. This is in keeping with the rest of the
house, which is a Victorian in the seaside town of
Newburyport.
The wicker furniture lets
the visitor know this is a place where relaxation dominates. The room is
lovely without being overly fussy, and it's elegant without being too
formal.
One way this decorator has kept the mood casual is by
using funky antiques. The stack of three ancient suitcases to serve as a
side table gives the room a whimsical look.
In terms of the
function of this room, the primary function of this porch design is to
provide a comfortable, cool spot for relaxing. The furniture is the kind
you just sink into and don't want to leave, and the double coffee tables
can also work as ottomans.
The loveseat and chairs are arranged in
a perfect semi-circle, conducive to conversation. The tables provide a
spot for setting the pitcher of lemonade and the plate of sugar cookies,
or could even serve as tables for a picnic on the porch.
| One clever design move here was to use two wicker tables
for the center of the room. This gives the room versatility, because
the tables can be separated and moved to best serve the needs of the
moment. |
Finally, the decor of this porch
doesn't just harmonize: it sings! The small-paned windows, the white
wicker, and the lattice-covered ceiling all play with the same patterns.
The floral cushions and floral details, such as the basket of flowers on
the wall, emphasize the feeling of being in the outdoors which in turn is
produced by the bushes surrounding the room.
The fresh plants with
blooming flowers really bring the outdoors in, literally.
 
This
outdoors/indoors motif is continued with the stone statue of a cat
curiously watching the activities of the room, and the woven decorative
branches on one wall. The antique weathervane sounds again the Victorian
note.
All in all, this porch is the sort of inviting room where a
visitor just wants to sit for awhile and listen to the summertime birds in
the garden.
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