Conversation About Negative Space

“What about negative space?”  my husband proclaims after reading my newsletter on the Elements of Design.  He and I have had multiple conversations on decorating our home and negative space always comes up in the conversation.  So he wonders why I didn’t write about it in the newsletter.   Truth be told, I think Negative Space and Proportion are probably the two most import elements of design.

What is negative space, you might ask as my husband did the first time that I mentioned it.  I must have drummed it into his head so many times that now when we discuss a home project guess what the first words that come out of his mouth “What about negative space?”

It is the space between, the space that allows your eye to flow around a room rather than jump from here to here to there, it allows your eye to rest.  Negative space provides the opportunity to focus on something rather than wandering.  It helps us to see things without distraction, to really see things.

How do you create Negative Space?  

“Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.”  

                                                                                             ~CHANEL~

Chanel knew what she was talking about for fashion…same for the home, negative space is the art of editing, sometimes mercilessly!  Rather than marching a collection in a line across a shelf combine them together and leave space between the collection and other objects on the shelf.  Unless you are hanging art “salon style”, select a significant piece and let the negative space around the piece draw you towards it.

It is not necessary to have great expanses of white walls and minimal decorative items to create negative space.  Maximalist design achieves it in spades through the use of proportion. Working with different sizes or combining dissimilar textures.

Sometimes I play a game when I am styling either my home or a client’s.  First I place the objects I think will work together, say on a bookshelf or a fireplace mantel.  I step back to take a long look at them, if my gut says something is off I change it up.  Could it be the proportion or the placement.  Sometimes one of the objects just has to go and be replaced by another.  This does take time and your fears have to put away of doing it wrong…remember you can always change it up later if you really don’t like the way it makes you feel.

During this time of emotional distress and lack of human connection we all have been relying on our homes to provide safety and comfort.  So it is important to take the time to make your home a place you want to be.