People often view the idea of harmony in one's home as a series of samenesses—the same colors repeated throughout a home, the same style of furniture, the same floor treatment throughout. But harmony is not sameness. It's the merging of sameness and difference. It is the flow of textures, shapes, colors, and ideas that comes together to create a feeling of balance—a give and take, a rise and a fall.
You don't need to have a matching home to have harmony—what matters is the balance you can strike between light and dark, ebbs and flows, highs and lows, rough and smooth . . . you get the idea.
You could call this contrast.
But then you might start thinking the harmony in your home is about difference. That’s not it either. Harmony is not about things not matching everything else either.
This is where flow comes in.
When it comes to interiors, and life, we tend to want a rule of thumb. If your sofa is x inches long you want a coffee table that’s x inches long. I admit, those rules of thumb are helpful. In truth, there are a bunch. My favorite: allow 36” clearance in halls and passages.
But what I’m saying is that there are rules and there are no rules. This is not a confounding statement. This is a liberating statement, I promise. Here’s what I mean.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Refuge Design Workshop to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.