How To Find Beauty in Quarantine

What a week it's been. The world feels completely upside down. With schools, restaurants, and businesses closed across the country, it’s impossible to feel normal. Now, more than ever, having our homes be a space of beauty and comfort is of utmost importance and at Carriage House Studio, we are dedicated to making that happen.

Like many of you, we plan to spend the coming weeks largely at home, and that will mean ultimately looking at our homes with new eyes and a clear mind. By using some basic interior design principals laid out below, you might see your space through a new lens.

1. Balance

This is, by far, my #1 rule to live by in design. Although balance comes in many ways (symmetrical, asymmetrical, or radial), I find myself designing homes in an informal, asymmetrical way meaning that the room isn’t split into 2 with one side identical to the other. Rather, I use the visual weight for form, texture, and color to create a perfectly unexpected balance. For instance, a sofa will be balanced with 2 chairs facing it.

2. Rhythm

Creating patterns of repetition and contrast will ease your eye around the room. You can establish a rhythm by using a color in a pillow, again in a painting, and echoing it again in a rug.

3. Harmony

When all elements act together for a unified, cohesive space, harmony is created. If we think of rhythm as moving us from elements around the room, harmony creates a sense of restfulness. Using a palette of one color with variation in size, texture, and shape is a favorite design principal that many retailers use seasonally, also.

4. Emphasis

A room where everything receives equal importance is both scattered and boring. Choose a focal point or an anchor. If your room lacks a built-in focal point, such as a window or fireplace, you can create one with groupings of furniture or an unusual piece.

5. Proportion and scale

This principal is one of the most challenging for everyday purchasing of furnishings and décor. Proportion is the ratio between the size of one part to another, while scale is how the size of one part relates to another or the space in which it is placed. Some proportional relationships are more pleasing in design than others.

The Golden Ratio, a theory dating back to the ancient Greeks 2,300 years ago, sought to reduce all proportion to a single mathematical formula: the ratio of the smaller section to the larger section should be the same as that of the larger section to the whole. This formula has been used by artists and architects alike, has been found to occur time and time again in nature, and plays a pivotal role in interior design.

I hope this note finds you healthy at home with your loved ones. If you’re anything like me, you’re finding ways to find comfort in the whirlwind of events that are unfolding. I would love to hear from you all about any of your design dilemmas and help you find comfort in your homes in any way that I can. We can work together through E-design while you stay safe at home!

Warmly,