|
 One of the questions that I am often asked by my clients is why home stagers often arrange furniture on the diagonal. The answer is fairly simple, although not necessarily intuitive. When the furniture in a room is arranged on the diagonal, the room often appears larger.
When done properly, the arrangement of the furniture draws the eye to the focal point of the room, such as a bed, a fireplace or a large or unusual window. There are a few rules that need to be followed in order to successfully arrange furniture along these lines.
Rule number one: The room cannot be crowded
It is absolutely imperative that there be relatively few pieces of furniture in a room that is on the diagonal. Although one of the reasons to do this is to make a room appear larger, arranging a room on the bias actually creates a great deal of dead space, particularly the corners of the room. So if there are too many pieces in the room, it will actually make the room appear crowded and achieve the opposite effect. Some home stagers use plants in the dead corners, but inexpensive up-lights or halogen torch lamps provide a much better effect.
Rule number two: The room must be large enough
Furniture on the diagonal usually does not work in small rooms. Bedrooms that are less than 8 by 10 are seldom candidates for this treatment, unless the only piece of furniture in the room is a bed or a desk. Home stagers often use the trick of keeping the room arranged along conventional lines (with the furniture aligned along the walls of the room) but putting an area rug on the diagonal. This helps focus the room and draws the eye to the part of the room that is being featured. And it can make the room appear larger.
Rule number three: Only place the furniture on the diagonal if the room has a focal point
There is nothing worse than walking into a room and being confronted with a large piece of furniture. For instance, the side of a bed should never be the first view of a bedroom. So long as the windows will accommodate, the bed should be coming out of the corner of a bedroom opposite the door. This makes a sumptuously made bed the focal point of the bedroom.
Along the same line of reasoning, the side of a sofa should not be the first thing that one sees when entering a den or living room. If there is a fireplace or a picture window, placing a sofa and chair at a 45 degree angle draws the eye to the fireplace or the window which is the logical focal point of the room.
One of the goals of home staging is to make a house look as large as possible and to highlight the features of the home. Arranging furniture and rugs on the bias are a simple way of accomplishing this goal. But remember, in home staging, less is always more.
 Neil Bindelglass is a professional home stager in Saratoga Springs and owner of Let Me Organize You. He is an expert article contributer on the topics of Saratoga home staging and home organizing.
Discover More Saratoga Home Staging Tips From Neil Bindelglass
|
