A Golden Guide to Interior Design (2024)

How the golden ratio can help create a designer space

Found throughout nature in the whorls of a pinecone, the petals of a flower, or swirls of a seashell, the golden ratio is a design principle routed in a mathematical sequence. This design principle has been employed for thousands of years. It can be found in famous artwork, such as Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the architecture of Notre Dame and Parthenon. For interior and aspiring designers alike, the golden ratio can be a reliable tool for achieving balance through color proportions, furniture placement, and complementary accent pieces. Symmetry or intentional asymmetry is vital in designing a room to attain cohesive functionality and visual appeal. Using the golden ratio allows the design to feel organic and pleasing to the eye.

For practical application, the ratio is simplified to 60:40 or, more commonly called, the 60/30/10 rule. Understanding and using the ratio as a guide for different aspects of interior design can help you create a perfectly curated, cohesive, and comfortable environment.

The golden ratio can be found throughout nature in the petals of flowers, whorls of a pinecone, or swirls of a seashell.

Creating a balanced Room Layout

The golden ratio helps achieve a balanced room layout by assessing the floor space covered by furniture. Striking the right balance means that nearly 60% of your room will have furniture on it, with 40% being clear. Contrary to the belief that geometric designs only involve sharp lines, circles, and arcs play a crucial role in adding intrigue to interior spaces. With their inherent sense of order and stability, squares can be represented through key furniture pieces like a dining table, bed, or sideboard.

Striking the right balance means that nearly 60% of your room will have furniture on it, with 40% being clear.

Circles, symbolizing unity and infinity, bring harmony to a room and can be mixed with bold geometric shapes for visual interest. For example, try curved dining chairs like our Auburn, Pasadena, or Aria to complement a table with hard angles like the Eastward, Edo, or Trestle table. On the other hand, more linear chairs like the Edo or Eastward bring structure to round tables like the Georgetown Pedestal Table, Round Ring, or Studio Table.

Choosing furniture

Besides proper measurements, the golden ratio can guide your furniture selection by providing a proportional framework that aligns with the principles of balance and visual harmony. It allows designers and homeowners to make informed choices about the size, placement, and coordination of furniture within a space.

A Golden Guide to Interior Design (4)A Golden Guide to Interior Design (5)

Using the golden ratio to align with the room’s architecture can help create a balanced and visually pleasing room composition.

When selecting furniture, it’s essential to consider the proportions of the entire room. The golden ratio of a room, which involves its height, width, and length, can influence furniture selection to achieve overall visual balance. Using the 60/40 rule, you can ensure the room is not overcrowded with furniture and attain a cohesive and dynamic design by combining various sizes of furniture, such as sofas, beds, side tables, and dressers.

The vertical Studio Dresser gives visual height and helps offset the bed, giving the room a balanced feeling.

art & accessories

Applying the golden ratio when accessorizing your home will help you create a clean and thoughtfully curated space that feels well-proportioned. When hanging artwork, consider the rule of thirds. Select pieces that are one or two-thirds the size of the wall to give visual balance. For gallery walls, select pieces that are proportionate to one another and leave 60% of the wall blank to provide it with a balanced feeling. Consider the overall surface area when accessorizing side tables, coffee tables, and sideboards—allocating a more significant percentage to things like trays, books, and lamps, with a smaller percentage saved for smaller decorative items to maintain a clean and balanced look.

Understanding the golden ratio allows for its effective incorporation into various interior design elements, resulting in well-balanced and visually appealing spaces. Whether considering color schemes, patterns, furniture layout, or art display, the golden ratio is a valuable tool for achieving harmony and proportionality in design.

Furniture that fits

Shopping for furniture has never been easier. Whether you prefer to shop online or in one of our showrooms, we want to make sure you select a piece of furniture that’s a perfect fit. To help, we’ve compiled a list of important considerations for choosing the right furniture for your space.

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Finding the Perfect Lounge Chair

A lounge chair is a coveted addition to any home; its allure extends beyond mere functionality; it’s irresistible promise of comfort, enticing you to relax, all while seamlessly blending into your home. Here are a few tips for finding your perfect lounge chair.

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A Golden Guide to Interior Design (2024)

FAQs

What are the golden guidelines for interior design? ›

Use the Golden Ratio to Balance the Room Lay-Out

Try sticking to roughly 60% of floor space being covered by furniture for an ideal setting. If it's much lower than 60%, it's likely to feel too minimal. In an ideal world, you aim for a layout that leaves 40% of floor space clear, or as 'negative space'.

What are the 7 rules of interior design? ›

There are seven main principles of interior design: balance, harmony, rhythm, proportion and scale, emphasis, contrast, and details.

How to use the golden ratio in interior design? ›

Use the golden ratio.

The ratio (which is roughly 60/40) is useful for interior designers seeking to achieve visual balance when furnishing a room. Filling 60 percent of your floor space with furniture and leaving 40 percent open makes a room feel complete without appearing overcrowded.

What is the golden point of interior design? ›

In interior design, the golden ratio is 1:1.618 – the most pleasing ratio for objects and their aesthetics. Designers apply this ratio when choosing the layout of a room.

What is golden rule of design? ›

Sustain the context of users' tasks (continuity) Maintain consistency within and across products (experience) Keep interaction results the same (expectations) Provide aesthetic appeal and integrity (attitude) Encourage exploration (predictable)

What are the golden guidelines? ›

The Golden Rule is the principle of treating others as one would want to be treated by them. It is sometimes called an ethics of reciprocity, meaning that you should reciprocate to others how you would like them to treat you (not necessarily how they actually treat you).

What is the 2 3 rule in interior design? ›

Follow the 2:3 Rule

“The 2:3 design rule suggests your sofa should be the equivalent of ⅔ the size of your room.” However, if your living room is also your dining room or home office, that may not be possible, explains the designer.

What is the first rule of interior design? ›

1. Know your space. Interior design is a broad church that covers everything from the intricacies of the color wheel to more practical tips around furnishing your home for functionality. Therefore, we always advise that you know your space well before you make any changes.

What is the 60 30 10 rule? ›

This decorating rule suggests that you should cover your room with 60% of a dominant color, 30% of a secondary color, and 10% of an accent shade. It is all about maintaining the perfect balance of tones. Pick colors that mingle well with each other to create a subtle combo.

What is the golden scale in interior design? ›

To be precise, the golden ratio is a mathematical sequence that is equal to 1:1.618. It's a formula that naturally occurs in our bodies, nature, and art. So it's naturally pleasing when used in interior spaces, especially when thinking about the scale and proportions of a room's layout.

What is the Golden Mean in design? ›

You can find the Golden Ratio when you divide a line into two parts and the longer part (a) divided by the smaller part (b) is equal to the sum of (a) + (b) divided by (a), which both equal 1.618. This formula can help you when creating shapes, logos, layouts, and more.

What is the 60 40 rule for furniture? ›

Creating a balanced Room Layout

The golden ratio helps achieve a balanced room layout by assessing the floor space covered by furniture. Striking the right balance means that nearly 60% of your room will have furniture on it, with 40% being clear.

What is one trait important for an interior designer to have? ›

Creativity. Interior designers need to be imaginative in selecting furnishings and fabrics and in creating functional spaces that serve the client's needs and fit the client's lifestyle.

What is the golden triangle in interior design? ›

The three main work areas - the sink, stove, and refrigerator - should all form a triangle to optimize your workflow. The main goal of the triangle is efficiency. It keeps all the major work stations near the cook without placing them so close that the kitchen becomes cramped.

What is the most important element of interior design? ›

The most important element of interior design would be a functional space. Functional space acts as the base of the entire interior design. Therefore, it is essential that the user and designer both are well aware of the space availability and purpose of each individual space.

What are golden 4 rules in design process? ›

The UI design principals are: Place users in control of the interface Make it comfortable to interact with a product Reduce cognitive load Make user interfaces consistent 1.

What is the golden principle of design? ›

The golden ratio is all about blank space and its relation to the 'pay attention' space,” says Berndt. “There's only so much that people can take visually. This is a guiding principle to help you understand the limits of human attention so you can create something that is aesthetically pleasing.”

What are the 5 elements of interior design? ›

The elements are your tools or raw materials, much like paints are the basics to a painter. The five elements of interior design include space, line, form, color, and texture. The principles of design relate to how you use these elements and are balance, emphasis, rhythm, proportion and scale, and harmony and unity.

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