In praise of circles

What is the most used shape in home decor? It's the rectangle of course!

Tables, sofas, beds, dressers, area rugs etc; even the shape of our rooms are rectangular. When you have that many similar shapes, it is important to bring in another shapes to create some variety in a space. Of course, the perfect pairing with all those rectangles is a circular shape .

Nothing pleases me more than circles and spheres. I use them liberally in both my art work and in home decor. I don't consider a space complete until I have several circular shapes in a room. I have a fondness for circular tables in particular. Then there are all those objects you can find that are circular: mirrors, globes, glass spheres, clocks, ... the list is endless and there are so many ways to weave them into a space. A poke around my Pinterest vignette board revealed lots of circular motifs.

I spy with my little eye lots of ...

circles and spheres

Moving your eye around a room by creating constants (shapes, textures, colours) is a well known design principle. Can you see how this homeowner created visual flow with circular shapes?

Love the freshness of this arrangement. There's nothing like the colours of nature to attract our senses. There are circles/spheres everywhere here.

This arrangement of two circles inside a square is simplicity at its best. Our eye is drawn to the juxtaposition in both shape and colour. Isn't it interesting how contrast continually draws us? You could not sit in this room and ignore this wall.

This high contrast room has a similar design aesthetic to the one above, but there is more variety in sizes.

In this room we are first drawn to colour and pattern and the coloured spheres in the lamp add to the overall effect. The lamp is stunning and not easily ignored . The second lamp looks almost insignificant and perhaps (in my mind) it needs to be a tad larger. Scale is so tricky! Purple and light wood- it doesn't get any better than this.

One of my favourite tricks is to overlap shapes when I pair objects. Love this simple mantle arrangement that sends your eyes round and round. Additional circular shapes are repeated with the table, vases and wheels on the coffee table.

Another circular shape overlapping a rectangle. Notice how the handles and the tufting creates visual flow? If I could wave a magic want, I would make the mirror just a tad larger.

When you pair something red, with print and add in a circular shape, you have the ultimate pairing if you want to create a focal point. The additional rounded shapes in the carved letters move our eyes throughout the vignette. This odd assortment of objects is very eye catching. I'd edit the hide rug because I would like to see the cabinet without visual competition.

A strong colour and variety in shapes create an eye catching arrangement. Imagine how boring this vignette would be if all the objects were rectangular!