Choosing a Focal Point For Your Room

You’ve probably heard of the focal point—that one thing that catches the eye and pulls your room décor together. It can be a fancy centerpiece, an ornate piece of décor, or basically anything of interest. The focal point is one of the first choices you have to make when designing a room. Without a good focal point, your room is just a mess of furniture and fabric, color and pattern, with no real sense of order.

So how do you choose a focal point for your room? Here’s a little trick: walk into your room and note the first thing you lay your eyes on. That’s usually your focal point. If you can’t settle on a single object, you probably don’t have one—and now’s the best time to create it. Here are some elements that can make good focal points.

Architectural details
Sometimes the focal point can be built into the room itself. An odd protrusion, nice cornicing, or an elevated area can be decorated to create a good focal point. Rounded corners can hold panoramic posters or murals, which can instantly set the mood of the room. If there’s a large window with a nice view, consider leaving it bare—the view itself can be the focal point. Emphasize the view with a subtle frame or side window treatments.

Room fabrics
If your room is a simple box, add interest yourself by choosing fancy room fabrics. Oriental area rugs make great centerpieces for large rooms, and braided area rugs add a splash of color to solid-colored floors. Don’t have enough floor space? Get smaller kids area rugs and use them as furniture pads. Match them with other fabrics for a unified look. Red rugs can set off curtains of the same color, while black area rugs can bring out bright colors such as pink, blue and yellow.

Furniture
Simply take the biggest piece of furniture in your room and place it in a prominent spot, such as an open corner. Draw attention to it with plush wool area rugs or an attractive slip cover. Once it’s all set, it’s just a matter of putting the rest of the furniture around it. Place them so that they lead the eye straight to the focal point. It helps if your furniture has a unique design, but if it doesn’t, just dress it up with a nice drape or colorful pillows.

Wall art
If you have a lot of wall space, why not take advantage of it? Put up a nice painting, tapestry, or an interesting wall fabric. Hang large pieces at the center of the wall to give it more emphasis. Alternatively, you can take several smaller (preferably related) pieces and arrange the frames on your wall. Use different frame sizes to add interest to the collection. Don’t have anything to display? Create a feature wall—a section of wall that’s different in color, texture, or pattern from the rest. It doesn’t even have to contain anything—as long as it’s different, it works as a focal point.