Banana Web

Furniture Tips

After the lighting planning, go for furniture set-up. Furniture should never be chosen in isolation from the surroundings it is going to occupy, and this is especially important where space is in limited supply. However accurately you think you can envisage what it will look like, dimensions are always deceptive.

Never go shopping for furniture without a full set of measurements recording the available space and a tape-measure to check the size of any piece you are planning to buy-not just so that you can be sure it will fit into the space, but also to check that it suits the proportions of the rooms. Small rooms need smaller-scale furniture to keep the whole effect balanced, so be particularly careful with large pieces like sofas and dining tables. Scaled-down furniture will make the room bigger.

Think about the shape too, and look for neat, compact designs such as square cut boxy shapes that follow the angles of the room. Streamlined curves also work well, as they take up less room than outward-splaying scroll arms or old-fashioned wing chairs. Tapering designs, such as upright chairs with back that narrows towards the top, will also create an illusion of more space.