Get smart: 6 rules for your home design

When you’re decorating your home, you might find it tricky to work everything out for yourself. What is the right size for a sofa? How do we create a proportionate and harmonious décor in our rooms? What are the criteria to choose a dining table? Here we collected a selection of rules – some are general, others more specific – to get you started. Let’s get to basics, and find out which are the fundamental rules nobody can forget, when it comes to interior design. Are you ready?

A lovely table lamp by Lucie Kaas

1. Give your sofas enough space

For a comfortable living room area, think about functionality, as well as aesthetics. As a general rule, make sure there are at least 45cm between the seating and a central coffee table – any less can feel like a squeeze, but too much more than that can prove uncomfortable when reaching for a drink or book. When you’re choosing the coffee table itself, make sure it doesn’t overpower the room. The ideal proportions are  when the table is about half to two-thirds of the length of the sofa. Have you written all this math down on your interior design notebook?

A fancy living room layout by Tosato

2. The right size for a carpet

Size matters, especially when it comes to rugs for your home. Too many beautiful rooms are ruined by carpets that aren’t the right size. Often, the largest size available is a standard 240cm x 170cm, which is fine in a mid-sized room, but will not work in a big room, getting lost in the large space. To make your rug look great in your room, make sure that at least the front two feet of your sofa and chairs rest on it. It’s not that difficult to find a rug in a big size, since there are many retailers who have a wide selection of customizable carpets. A bespoke piece will make a significant impact on your home décor, and you will be able to personalize it according to your wishes.

Ultra-colorful rugs by Toulemonde Bochart

3. Create layers, but careful not to over decorate

The definition of “over decorating” really depends on your own taste, of course, but it is always advisable to avoid the temptation to stuff up a room with many details you like, but with no coherence. An easy way to get around this inconvenient, is to see decorating as layering:  every element – color, texture, pattern, fabric, surface treatments, lighting, pictures, plants, books – is a layer of the whole room décor. If you think of one thing at a time, everything will come out easily. We don’t mean to say that you shouldn’t go for a rich home décor, full of detailed elements and luxurious furniture: just remember that everything needs to be harmoniously mixed together.

A gorgeous open plan kitchen by DIEMME Cucine

4. Dress up your windows

Here is another bullet point of our back to basics list: a curtain should never hang at half-mast. Your curtains should either ‘kiss’ the floor – such as the beautiful ones in this open-plan living space – or puddle softly, with a very elegant effect. The combined width of your curtain panels together should be one and a half to two times the width of the window itself. For extra-wide windows, such as the ones shown in the picture, it’s worth looking at double-width fabrics (generally up to 300cm) as there will be fewer fabric joins.

You can explore a whole range of curtains by DenStore

5. How high must wall art be hung?

One of the most important rules for hanging pictures and paintings is not to place them too high. That said, there is not an ideal standard for every home: it really depends of how tall you yourself are. Paintings should be hung in relation to the people in the room, not the room itself. The perfect height is at average eye level, which is approximately 145cm from the floor to the center of the picture, but it might be different for you. If you plan to choose a big painting, you can hang smaller frames or pictures around it, but make sure the bigger piece still has a key role in your room design.

We love the creativity of Danish Paradisco Productions

6. The right table

Pay attention to key measurements when you’re choosing your dining table and selecting the chairs to go around it. Each person, and therefore each chair, around a dining table should have about 60cm of space to themselves, if we want to avoid bumped elbows and knuckles. At the same time, 75cm is generally the minimum amount of space required between the edge of the table and either the wall or another piece of furniture, to allow people to push their chairs back when they get up. For most people, the seats of dining chairs will be most comfortable if they are about 30cm below the height of the table.

A lovely dining room and kitchen combo by Ciao Berto