Key Takeaways
- Prior to incorporating statement furniture, give serious consideration to a room’s size and layout.
- Select pieces that reflect your personal style but work well with your existing décor.
- Create inviting yet up-to-date spaces by finding a balance between eye-catching styling and everyday practicality.
- Use material, texture and colour palettes to your advantage – consider these elements to give your space added depth.
- Test furniture in person whenever possible, and be sure to establish a budget before making a purchase.
Bringing in statement furniture to your home creates visual interest while adding practicality. Statement furniture adds visual interest and allows your space to reflect your design aesthetic. To achieve this, choose statement pieces with care to make sure they enhance your home while still working together with other elements in your design scheme. Shop furniture at Antique Farmhouse that fit a wide variety of design styles and aesthetics.
When selecting pieces for your home, a great place to start is to determine what is most important to you. Whether you want a bright yellow velvet couch or a beautiful hand-carved wood sideboard, it is essential to think about dimensions, functionality, and how the piece will fit in with your other decor. If you do not have a coordinated approach to purchasing bold pieces of furniture, they will likely end up being just visual distractions rather than focal points that support your overall home design. By establishing clear priorities and understanding your space, you will be able to make the best choices for your home.
Assess Your Space
Planning and measuring are at the heart of every good piece of furniture. Before deciding on an accent cabinet, oversized recliner, or a statement dining room table, consider how much space you have on the floor. Map out where the primary traffic routes are through the room, and ensure there is enough clearance between pieces to allow for ease of passage.
As well as measuring door openings and considering how pieces move through your space, ensuring they fit well in your room will save you the hassle of having to deal with the logistics of moving it into your home on delivery day.
Statement pieces are often the most eye-catching pieces in any room, so avoid crowded spaces and awkward angles. The best way to highlight a piece is to give it adequate amount of negative space around it, and include similar decorative elements that will help put it into a larger context, but do not overdo the number of additional pieces of furniture.
Define Your Style
The first step in making any furnishing selection is to choose your style of design. Which types or styles of design do you find most appealing to you? Is it clean lines of modernism, traditional vintage style, or a blend of these two? Regardless of preference, design statement items reflect the personality and tone of the space in which they live. For example, in a minimalist environment, a sculptured chair or table can be used as foundation pieces upon which something else would be placed. In a traditional-style home, ornate pieces such as chests and settees work well. For an eclectic and creative aesthetic, colour and forms are often unexpected. When purchasing furniture, you should take the time to look for design inspiration from magazines, on the Internet, and at furniture showrooms. After identifying several items that you are drawn to or that will work with your sense of design uniqueness, you should be conscious of the overall cohesiveness of the design rather than strict matching of the design’s colours or forms.
Prioritize Functionality
While statement pieces are guaranteed to stand out in any room, they also can often be used for many different things. One way to tell if a statement piece is usable or functional is to (1) Examine how many ‘things’ (i.e. storage) you can load onto it and (2) Look to see if the statement piece is also being used for some of your everyday activities (i.e. sitting or laying your stuff on it).
For example: A large sideboard with unique finishes would make a great canvas for other decor; however, the drawers in a sideboard should also be large enough to hold linens, napkins, etc., so that the functionality of the sideboard matches up with your day-to-day decor needs. Likewise, when it comes to statement chairs, while they may be aesthetically pleasing, they must also be comfortable enough to be utilized in everyday activities.
With an increasing emphasis on designing multifunctional furniture and small homes or spaces, it is more important than ever before that we think about how we want to use our furniture before we purchase it. A recently published article in Reuters highlights how furniture planning and combining usable finishes with aesthetics is likely going to continue to be a trend for maximizing the use of our smaller living areas or spaces in the future.
Another point to consider is to think about any future needs that you may have in regards to how you cook and entertain guests in your home, and thus determine if the furniture you are buying today fits into that plan in the future. Even the most beautiful and well-designed furniture can quickly become irrelevant if it does not fit into your lifestyle as it changes. Consequently, if you are decorating a space that will serve multiple purposes (e.g. formal dining space and entertaining space) it is very important that you select durable, multi-functional furniture so that it will withstand continuous use, while remaining stylish, and practical.
Consider Material and Texture
Designs that stand out usually contain a combination of different textures and materials that provide depth through contrast and interest through layering. The combination of soft surfaces, such as velvet, with shiny surfaces, such as glass, provides dimension to a design because of the way they reflect light and absorb colour. Soft spaces can be created by mixing and matching hard surfaces, such as metal, with natural materials, such as wood or stone, which results in a more balanced appearance.
To maintain a cohesive design theme, a limited colour palette is necessary for all design elements (including textiles, furniture and accessories) that will be included in a space. If multiple colours are used in large concentrations, it may make your design appear out of sync, or lack cohesion. Choose pieces that capture the essence of your space by mirroring colour shades used in your wall colours, floor finishes and accessory collections. Be sure to research how to properly blend different textures and tones in your design by browsing through interior design magazines for real-world exemplars and recommendations from experts.
Balance with Existing Decor
Statement pieces have an important place in your home and should be bold without feeling heavy or competing with other things within the space. The way to achieve this balance is by using a more subdued environment around the statement piece, or pairing a bold piece with additional items (an example would be a deep green couch set upon white walls – which could be complemented by metallics) or having a bold area rug beneath a basics dining set.
Find existing and current architectural elements and features within the home and utilize those elements (wall colors, flooring, etc.) to layer complementary items (i.e. lamps, pillows, art) with your statement piece to create a unified look in the space.
Budget Considerations
Furniture that makes an impact on your home has a higher price due to superior craftsmanship and materials. It is recommended to set a realistic budget initially, allowing for a determined priority of statement furniture before adding other types of furnishing. Awareness of what is attainable will ensure that you stay within budget and create opportunities for additional spending on less expensive upgrades (such as throw blankets, pillows, decorative light fixtures, etc.) that will add to your overall investment.
Many professionals advise that a significant portion of your budget should be allocated to the anchor pieces of your space: sofas in the living room, beds in your master bedroom, and/or a large and beautiful dining table. The main focal pieces will then dictate the style of your entire home.
Test Before You Buy
Most images available on the internet do not depict the complete image of comfort and quality; so, whenever possible visit a showroom to visually and physically assess how your dining chair will appear and feel; the construction quality of your sideboard; and the appearance and tactile aspect of your preferred fabric. Additionally, if a product has any adjustable features like removable cushions or soft-close drawers, those are indicators of good design quality and craftsmanship.
When you see and feel the actual product, you can be more confident that it will look and perform as you expect it to, even with everyday use over time. Look for warranties as well as return policies to ensure your peace of mind as much as possible.
Conclusion
Selecting the right statement furniture is an art and a science, involving both creative interpretation and strategic thinking. Once you know which statement pieces will best suit your space—and ultimately create a welcoming environment—you’ll be on your way to creating a truly personal home filled with things you’ll want to keep for many years.