Videos
Interior Design Tips: 10 Rules We Use on the Showroom Floor
Sep
·
Most of the interior design questions we get on the showroom floor are not about style. They are about proportion, light and where to put things. Here are the tips we give in person, in the order we usually give them.
1. Start with how the room is used, not how it looks
A living room that hosts eight people on weekends needs a different plan from one where two people read. Write down the three things the room has to do before you shop. Seating count, a surface within reach of every seat and a clear walkway are the non-negotiables; everything else is decoration.
2. Measure twice, including the route in
Measure the wall, the floor area and the ceiling height, then measure the doorway, the hallway and the elevator if you are in a condo. A sofa that fits the room but not the elevator is a delivery problem. Bring the numbers to the showroom and we will check them against the piece before you order.
3. Anchor the room with one large piece
Choose the biggest piece first: the sofa in a living room, the table in a dining room, the bed in a bedroom. Everything else is sized and placed relative to it. Buying small pieces first and hoping the big one fits later is how rooms end up crowded.
4. Leave breathing room
Modern interiors read as calm because there is space around the furniture. Keep a clear path through the room and let the main pieces sit slightly away from the walls. A coffee table that leaves a comfortable gap from the sofa is easier to live with than one pushed tight against it.
5. Layer the lighting
One ceiling fixture gives you a flat room. Add a floor lamp for reading, table lamps at seated height and a pendant or chandelier where you want a focal point. Warm bulbs in the lamps make wood and leather look the way they did in the showroom.
6. Warm up a modern bedroom
Clean-lined bedroom furniture can feel cold if it is left bare. Warm lamps on the nightstands, a textured throw over plain bedding and a bench at the foot of the bed turn a minimal room into a comfortable one without changing a single piece of furniture. The video below shows this kind of layering on one of our bedroom displays.
7. Mix materials, repeat colours
Wood, metal, glass, leather and fabric can all live in one room if the colour palette is tight. Pick two or three colours and repeat them across the pieces: the walnut of a dining table in a media unit, the black of a chair frame in a lamp base. Repetition is what makes a mixed room look intentional.
8. Give storage a face
A buffet, sideboard or display cabinet does two jobs: it hides what you do not want to see and it gives the room a piece worth looking at. The buffet in the video below is a good example, sculptural enough to hold a wall on its own and practical enough to swallow the dinner service.
9. Rugs define zones
In an open-plan condo, a rug under the seating group and a different one under the dining table tell the eye where each room starts and ends. Size the rug so the front legs of the sofa and chairs sit on it; a rug that floats in the middle of the seating makes the group look smaller.
10. Buy fewer, better pieces
A room with three well-made pieces and space around them looks more expensive than a room with ten average ones. Quality shows in the details you touch every day: the edge of a table, the stitching on a sofa, the slide of a drawer. If you want to know what to look for, read how to tell if modern furniture is high-end.
Three mistakes we see most often
Buying to the photo, not the room. A sofa that looks perfect in a 3,000 square foot showroom shot can swallow a condo living room. Check the overall width and depth against your measurements, not against the picture.
Pushing everything against the walls. It feels like it makes the room bigger. It does the opposite: the middle turns into a dead zone and the seating ends up too far apart to talk. Float the sofa a little and let the rug tie the group together.
Matching everything. A full matching set from one collection is safe in a bedroom, where the pieces sit apart, and dull in a living room, where they sit together. Keep the wood tone or the colour consistent and let the shapes vary.
A note on timing
In-stock pieces can be in your home quickly; special orders from Italian and North American makers take longer, and we confirm the timing on each piece before you order. If you are furnishing a whole room, start with the anchor piece and the pieces that take longest, and fill in the accents last. Our Shipping and Returns page has the details.
Bring the room to us
Our in-house designers work from your floor plan and photos, in person at the showroom or by virtual consultation. Browse living room, dining room and bedroom furniture online, or visit Modern Sense Furniture at 1875 Wilson Ave in North York and call us at (416) 746-9381.