Tips for Using Visual Weight To Balance a Room

Our eyes and brains are powerful. They send signals to each other, which is where we get sayings like, “You eat with your eyes.” One signal our eyes send to our brains is how a room feels based on how it looks. Our eyes quickly take in-room features like color, pattern, size, and the distance between room features to discern whether a room will feel comfortable to us or not. This is called the visual weight of a room.

If you want a space to feel comfortable, you must balance a room using visual weight as your guide. Follow some of the tips below to help you do that.

What Adds Visual Weight?

Before we can think about balancing the visual weight of a room, we have to know what adds and lightens that weight. The general rule of the visual weight is that features that require extra concentration and attention add visual weight, as they demand more from the eye and brain.

If that sounds too abstract, consider the following example. You walk into a dark living room you’re unfamiliar with. The lighting is low, and it takes you longer than normal to discern the shade of the blue walls, where the couch is, and the size of the coffee table.

The longer your eyes spend trying to figure out this necessary information to help you navigate the room, the more weight they take on and tell your brain about. This additional weight makes the room feel uncomfortable. You don’t want to stay in this room for long if you can help it. The low lighting, dark walls, big furniture, and unexpected furniture spacing are too heavy.

What Lightens Visual Weight?

In contrast to the example above, any features that your eyes can quickly and easily communicate to your brain lighten the visual weight of the room. Imagine walking into a well-lit guest bedroom. The walls have light-colored wallpaper, the bed is placed perfectly in the center of the room, and there’s a small wooden storage shelf by the door that matches the floor.

Your eyes quickly and easily take in this information, so the room feels easy to navigate. Nothing weighs your eyes down. The room has a light visual weight that doesn’t demand too much concentration or attention, so you feel that you can relax here.

What Balances Visual Weight?

With visual weight, too light is always better than too heavy. However, a room that’s too light can lack the depth that will make it interesting and appealing. Balance is key. To provide this balance, combine heavy and light features in your space.

For example, you can match wooden furniture to the flooring in your dining room so the eye doesn’t spend too long figuring out that furniture. To make sure the furniture and floor don’t completely blend together, you can add a rug or paint a wall in a contrasting color. Painting is one of the home improvement projects you can do on a small budget, and it’s a great way to adjust the visual weight of your home without breaking the bank.

Conclusion

These tips for using visual weight to balance a room explain what items add to alleviate weight in your space. Following these tips can help you balance your home so your household and guests can feel comfortable in every room.

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