Displaying Objects

You can have everything, in your home you ever dreamed of, but if you don't take the time to display the objects within it with care and consideration, it will never look right.

• Start by clearing every surface-mantel, walls and tablestops. Now start again and try to avoid repeating the same arrangements you had previously.
• Avoid too much symmetry. It is balance, you should be striving for when it comes to display. Think of the rooms as a canvas on which you are trying to create the perfect still life.
• Never fill shelves from side to side. Decide on your center of focus and then radiate out from this point. The idea is to have different heights, textures, colors and widths, but within them to have a recurring theme that subtly draws them all together.
• Overlap some of the objects, so that some are slightly hidden and others take prime positon. This technique of display gives a sense of mystery and depth to the finished composition.
• There is no point in having too many unique focal point- the eye will become confused and you will end up cluttering your home with too much stuff. The philosophy is to buy little and well.
• Display is a question of balance.
• Double-hung pictures of equal size also stress the vertical lines of the room, accentuating the idea of of a grid. Do not make the mistake of hanging pictures too high- it is good to look at when sitting as well as standing.
• Rather than allowing table surfaces to become covered in paraphernalia, use them to create an interesting still life. Trays can be placed to create a canvas on which a composition is then arranged, with pairs of objects to emphasize symmetry.
• Floating shelves are the perfect focal point for a complex arrangement of objects that includes glass, ceramics, books and paintings. The energy the objects generate when carefully balanced in terms of height, texture and color is visually very stimulating.