True or false: “I have a small room, so I need small furniture.”
Reply: Fake.
I call this “dollhouse syndrome”. The truth is, while you want your furniture to be PROPORTIONAL, it doesn’t have to be small per se. You see, your brain plays interesting tricks on you when it comes to proportions. If you have a small room and you fill it with small pieces, your brain says, “Look at these small things… I must be in a very small space.” Conversely, when you put one or two larger pieces in a small room, your brain now says, “Well! Look at the big pieces we have here! I must be in a big space!”
Keep in mind that the bigger your pieces are, the less you will have. No matter what the ACTUAL size of the room is, you want to keep aisles clear and enough breathing space so your furniture isn’t on top of each other.
Living rooms are a great example of this principle. Most homes today have a “formal” living room in the front of the house and the family room in the back. (From time to time I see these two rooms joined together…an unfortunate architectural choice that I’ll never understand, but I’m getting sidetracked.) Most of the time, I see the poor, alienated living room filled with a tiny Chippendale couch and maybe a loveseat. , two tiny wing chairs, several undersized tables, miniature lamps, a small upright piano, and some very old-fashioned artwork, possibly chosen by someone’s elderly aunt. Yuck! And homeowners are frustrated that no one is using the space…go figure!
First, consider how many people you could realistically imagine sitting in this room at the same time. This is not the early 20th century, when many friends gathered for afternoon tea. If you have a room that’s maybe 12 x 15, you’re only putting 4-6 people in there before you feel like a sardine can… So what the hell do you need all those pieces for?
Find out what you want to DO in your small space below, and get only as many pieces as you absolutely need. Does she want to be able to curl up with a book while her husband watches the game or is he evicted from the living room by his teenage sons? Get a comfy couch that’s deep enough to curl up or stretch out in (maybe even take a nap!) and a big club chair with an ottoman. Secure them with a 6×9 or 8×10 area rug, get a coffee table that’s big enough that you don’t have to stretch too far for coffee, a good-sized side table or two and lamps, and voila! It’s over!
Surprisingly, whether it’s a living room or any other room in your home, when you buy pieces that are comfortable, instead of thinking “small, small, small, small,” there’s a good chance you’ll actually find yourself using the square footage you paid for. , and the room will look much more attractive and cozy.
Are there limits to what is acceptable? Of course. In our example living room, you probably don’t want to be faced with a sectional and wall-unit entertainment center. Use a bit of sound judgement, but don’t be afraid of pieces that are a certain size!
