Just the Right Size
By Robyn Smith
You made eye contact across the room and couldn’t bear to look away. As soon as you saw that beautiful 40-inch lamp, you were just dying to take it home. So naturally, you did, but once you tried to fit it in your living room, something was a little off. It was most likely that the height of the lamp was too tall or too short and looked out of place in your otherwise to-scale room. This can be prevented. We reached out to Ann O’Shields, owner of The Nest Egg, which sells home goods and provides interior design services; Andrea Houck, head of A. Houck Designs Inc.; and Andrea Olsen, head of FTC Interiors, to get insider tips on how to decorate your beautiful room to scale.
Dining Room Tables
Getting the right size table starts with knowing who’s going to sit there. “The main thing obviously is to look at your space and see what you’re working with, and to keep in mind how many people you’re going to want to seat there on a daily basis,” O’Shields says. If you love to throw a good dinner party, you also have to take that into account because ideally you want the maximum number of people you’d ever host to be able to sit there as well.
According to O’Shields, most furniture stores will give you a guideline for how many people can comfortably fit, but the general rule of thumb is 2 feet of sitting space per person. Another tip from O’Shields is to lay down a sheet in the dining room before you invest in a piece, rather than just measuring out the dimensions of the table with a tape measure, because it’s a lot easier to visualize what the room will look like. There should be between 42 and 48 inches between the table and the wall so that people have enough space to comfortably scoot out.
When it comes to making sure the dining room chairs fit under the table, you must measure so that the arms of the chairs can go under the apron of the table because more likely than not, “the chairs are different and unique from the table collection,” says Houck. Being able to tuck a chair in completely makes all the difference in the spacing and look of the room.
Height of Light Fixtures
When it comes to light fixtures, there are a few tips to keep in mind no matter what area of the home your light is in. First of all, the size of the fixture (for instance, a 60-inch chandelier versus a 12-inch sconce) should correlate with the overall size of the room. The typical ceiling height in a Northern Virginia home is 8 feet, so unless you have a grand, 13-foot vaulted ceiling somewhere in your home, you might want to skip out on any ballroom-worthy fixtures. O’Shields and Houck both insist that there are no strict rules when it comes to lighting because so much is relative to the rooms themselves. You generally have to trust your instincts on this one, but we still have some advice.
For kitchen islands, any lighting fixtures should be between 36 to 48 inches from the top of the counter to the bottom of the light, whether it’s a pendant or otherwise. They should also come in 12 to 15 inches from the outer edges of the counter and should be evenly spaced in between one another.
If you’re hanging a light above a table, make sure that everyone can still make eye contact with other people, not the pendant or chandelier you have hung above the table. According to Houck, the light should be about 30 to 40 inches above the surface of the table, but she acknowledges a modern trend of lower-hanging lights. According to O’Shields, the diameter of the light should be about half the width of your table. It’s best not to make any final decisions before you’ve actually hung the light.
Bathrooms usually have an overhead light to make sure that the space is adequately lit, but who doesn’t love mirror lighting or some stylish sconces to add flair to the space? Sconces, depending on their size, should be at least 8 to 10 inches away from whatever they’re framing, usually a mirror. Houck also points out that many times, for smaller bathrooms, a few large pieces that define the space work better than several small pieces that fill it.
For entryway lighting, both O’Shields and Houck agree that you just have to look at the space, keep in mind how tall your family is and make sure that everyone can easily walk under the light. How grand your light is directly depends on the ceiling height and overall scale of your entryway.
Paint Coverage Amounts
It’s always best to hire professional painters because they’re a lot less likely to make mistakes. If you’re doing all your own painting, though, any paint store will be able to tell you how much paint you’ll need based on the measurements of the room. O’Shields says that one gallon will cover about 400 square feet, and Houck says that a gallon will cover about 200 square feet.
They’re both right: It depends on what paint you buy and what you paint over. If you forget to use a primer, it’s going to take a couple of coats to get the exact color you want no matter the size of the room. The same thing goes with the price of the paint per gallon: The more expensive it is, the fewer coats you’ll need to get the exact color you want.
“It’s kind of like having a [cup of frozen yogurt] versus a Häagen-Dazs,” Olsen says. “You know Häagen-Dazs is going to be rich, thick and creamy, and you know the yogurt isn’t. In comparison for consistency, paints can be that way too. The brand of paint determines how many coats you need.”
Curtain Heights and Widths
Most people don’t get professional window treatments. This is understandable because those panels in the latest Pottery Barn catalogue are cute and so much easier to work with. The height of the panel, or long curtain you hang from a rod above a window, is less complicated than the width because you have very specific options. Usually, if you want to elongate the ceiling—a popular trend according to O’Shields—you can hang your panels a few inches, let’s say 5-7, above the top of the window and let them meet the floor. From there, people can decide to let the panels puddle on the floor, like a train on a wedding dress, or to let them touch the floor. Puddling is a very specific, very grand, very old-fashioned look, and it doesn’t usually belong in today’s homes. But style is subjective.
As for the width of the panels, according to O’Shields, if you want them to be functional and actually close over the window for privacy or shade, then the combined width of your panels should be two-and-a-half times the width of your window. Then they’ll hang nicely on either side, but they’ll still close as well.
However, many just want the panels to frame the window, which allows them to save money without sacrificing style. According to O’Shields, the general rule of thumb is for the panels be one-and-a-half times the width of the window. However, O’Shields warns to watch out for “spaghetti strands”—super thin pieces of fabric just hanging on the sides.
You also need to be aware of all the vents, radiators and outlets of the home—things you can’t cover up. Custom covers can be made for radiators in homes that have yet to be retrofitted, but any of the above objects can impede what you do with your window treatments.
Wall Art
Love is the biggest factor to consider for basic wall art dimensions. If your beloved family portrait or rare print is the focal point of the room, go big. Don’t swallow the room with it, but go big. Just make sure that the middle of the piece comes to eye level, which tends to be between 57-60 inches high.
“I would say in an average-sized family room, you probably don’t want more than four pieces of art,” O’Shields says. “Maybe one or two big pieces—something over the fireplace, something over the sofa—and then you can flank your entertainment area with it or you can stack your prints somewhere over an accent wall or something like that.”
Don’t just cover your walls with art, though. There’s no need to cover every inch of wall space, especially if you’re a) not a collector and b) have no personal attachment to what you’re putting on your walls.
A gallery wall, however, is a stylistic choice, and it’s on trend right now. If you’re going to hang 10 or so photographs on one wall, the frames don’t have to be the same size, but you do have to space them evenly apart. A 2-inch border of wall space is a good way to go, according to Olsen.
Coffee Table Space
Everyone needs a coffee table, even if it’s just used as a glorified foot rest. O’Shields works with coffee tables often. Between those and sofas, she sells a lot at her store, The Nest Egg, which she runs with her husband, Sean. According to O’Shields, the length of the table should be a little more than half the size of your sofa. But it’s not just length that matters here. It’s also width. If your sofa is more like a bench than a Barcalounger, you probably want to avoid getting a super large table. In this situation it’s best to put the room into scale and draw things out so you can see how all the furniture will look in proportion to one another.
As for how far away your table should be from the sofa, you have to find the perfect distance that allows for both propping up your feet and walking between the two pieces. According to Olsen, the minimum distance is 18 inches. The ideal is 24, but many homes don’t have the luxury of that much space.
According to O’Shields, you also have to consider the height of the table in proportion to the height of the seat of the couch. They should be within 4 inches of each other.
TV Size
Nowadays, TVs are a little bigger than they used to be. “You know how it is when you go to a movie theater and you sit in the front row?” Olsen says. “And the only way you can see the picture is when you’re looking all the way straight up? I know a lot of times clients will want the bigger, bigger, bigger TV, but the room just won’t work.”
According to both Olsen and O’Shields, it should be at eye level, unless you enjoy sitting in the front row at a movie theater and often sit there by choice. If you’re hanging your TV above the fireplace, it becomes a natural focal point of the room, but this isn’t always practical. According to O’Shields, the optimal height for the center of the screen is 30 inches above the lowest seat in the room. “Say your husband’s chair is this old leather recliner … that might be the starting point of where you measure,” O’Shields says. The screen size, whether it’s 50 inches or 70 inches, is the diagonal measurement of the screen, not the width.
It’s important to know the width of the screen if you’re looking into buying a media console or TV cabinet. Also, the distance from which you view your favorite shows is ideally one-and-a-half times the diagonal measurement of the screen.
(October 2015)