Jazz Up Your Decor With Dynamic Diagonals
See how a line with a different slant can put energy and interest into your decor
Janet Dunn
14 June 2016
Houzz Australia Contributor. Former NZ House&Garden writer and stylist, and avid interior design enthusiast. Ex-restaurateur and caterer, with a Professional Certificate in Gastronomy, University of Adelaide.
Houzz Australia Contributor. Former NZ House&Garden writer and stylist, and avid... More
“A line is a dot that went for a walk,” said Swiss-German artist Paul Klee. His witty Modernist paintings show brilliantly what an interesting stroll a dot can have in the hands of an original thinker. In photography, line guides the viewer’s eye, creating movement, mood and drama – Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson were masters at managing line. Whether on canvas, through a lens or in interiors, line communicates strongly. While vertical and horizontal lines say their piece, diagonals have a vigour that turns dull to dynamic, sober to playful and timid to adventurous. See how they energise these rooms, and take a tilt at harnessing this energy for your own home.
Be subtle
Diagonals are the loudest lines in terms of creating movement and mood, but can be introduced subtly to balance horizontals and verticals. Try a few low-key items, perhaps an angular feature chair, a table with tripod legs or just a small area of a diagonal pattern, like on a couple of cushions. There are lots of vertical lines in this cool Scandinavian room – the angles of the furniture counterbalance them with a quirky touch and draw the eye into the centre of the sociable space.
Diagonals are the loudest lines in terms of creating movement and mood, but can be introduced subtly to balance horizontals and verticals. Try a few low-key items, perhaps an angular feature chair, a table with tripod legs or just a small area of a diagonal pattern, like on a couple of cushions. There are lots of vertical lines in this cool Scandinavian room – the angles of the furniture counterbalance them with a quirky touch and draw the eye into the centre of the sociable space.
Be bold
On the other hand, if you want to shout about it, be audacious with a whole wall of leaning lines. To carry off this look bring some clashing colours into the picture, but keep the lines of the furnishings clean and contemporary – the diagonals and colours are doing the talking. These floor-to-ceiling lines heighten the room and inject an upbeat energy conducive to lively conversation.
On the other hand, if you want to shout about it, be audacious with a whole wall of leaning lines. To carry off this look bring some clashing colours into the picture, but keep the lines of the furnishings clean and contemporary – the diagonals and colours are doing the talking. These floor-to-ceiling lines heighten the room and inject an upbeat energy conducive to lively conversation.
Inject energy
Playrooms are a great place to exercise a little askew ambience. Kids love a world where things are a bit comical and offbeat, so fire their imagination and sense of play with lines that don’t behave quite as they should. This playroom leans strongly towards fun, with sloping shelves, tilted timber details, geometric door handles and a crazy-cool light.
TIP: Not every room suits the action-packed effect of diagonal lines. Limit the use of tilting planes in restful spaces, like bedrooms, where you practice yoga or meditation, or where you settle in to read.
Playrooms are a great place to exercise a little askew ambience. Kids love a world where things are a bit comical and offbeat, so fire their imagination and sense of play with lines that don’t behave quite as they should. This playroom leans strongly towards fun, with sloping shelves, tilted timber details, geometric door handles and a crazy-cool light.
TIP: Not every room suits the action-packed effect of diagonal lines. Limit the use of tilting planes in restful spaces, like bedrooms, where you practice yoga or meditation, or where you settle in to read.
If an office is where you do your most creative thinking, but it feels a little uninspiring, rev it up with some diagonals. Diagonals are restless – they convey tension and excitement, the cerebral bread-and-butter of innovative minds. There are plenty here, in the desk legs, the bookshelf, the lamp base, the tiles, and even the small sculpture.
TIP: Wake up your creative space with a simple trick – move the desk. Putting it diagonally across the room will refresh your perspective.
TIP: Wake up your creative space with a simple trick – move the desk. Putting it diagonally across the room will refresh your perspective.
The kitchen is the action centre of many homes, so what better place to put some dynamic diagonals? With the area grounded by lots of horizontal lines in the cabinetry, the unexpected colourful kaleidoscope on this kitchen wall puts an element of zest and vitality into an essentially functional workspace.
Get some shelf action
If your books march obediently along your shelves, colour-coded and upright, this cabinet may offend your sense of order. Step back and check out what’s happening here: seemingly random diagonal dividers interconnect with panels stepping diagonally around the shelves, all contained within a square frame. With the unmatched power of diagonals to direct eye movement, this cabinet forms a three-dimensional artwork and just begs to be filled with intriguing objects.
If your books march obediently along your shelves, colour-coded and upright, this cabinet may offend your sense of order. Step back and check out what’s happening here: seemingly random diagonal dividers interconnect with panels stepping diagonally around the shelves, all contained within a square frame. With the unmatched power of diagonals to direct eye movement, this cabinet forms a three-dimensional artwork and just begs to be filled with intriguing objects.
Draw a gentle line
Whereas steep, vertically aligned diagonals are action guys, a progression of slightly tilted lines can be surprisingly soothing. This backdrop in diagonal stripes just off the horizontal brings to mind a gently sloping landscape.
Whereas steep, vertically aligned diagonals are action guys, a progression of slightly tilted lines can be surprisingly soothing. This backdrop in diagonal stripes just off the horizontal brings to mind a gently sloping landscape.
Tilt tiles
Diagonals are disruptive – but it can be in a good way. Do something different and break out of the orderly grid of tile style for a bathroom that exudes energy. Large rectangular tiles in sunny yellow, laid diagonally, make an animated spot to have an invigorating wake-up splash.
TIP: Large areas of diagonals can be overwhelming in small spaces; this look suits a spacious bathroom better.
10 rules for laying bathroom tiles
Diagonals are disruptive – but it can be in a good way. Do something different and break out of the orderly grid of tile style for a bathroom that exudes energy. Large rectangular tiles in sunny yellow, laid diagonally, make an animated spot to have an invigorating wake-up splash.
TIP: Large areas of diagonals can be overwhelming in small spaces; this look suits a spacious bathroom better.
10 rules for laying bathroom tiles
Contrast strong architectural verticals and uncluttered horizontals with offset floor tiles.
TIP: An off-the-grid layout is a more expensive and time-consuming way to lay tiles, as it requires additional cutting and inevitably some wastage.
TIP: An off-the-grid layout is a more expensive and time-consuming way to lay tiles, as it requires additional cutting and inevitably some wastage.
Feel the rhythm
Rhythm is a key element in interior design and is found in the repetition of line. A zig-zag line is simply a diagonal that couldn’t make up its mind. Whatever diagonals do, zig-zag lines do better. They are high-energy optical movers and shakers, generating intense movement around a space.
As they change direction quickly, they can be a little nerve racking to be around, so be restrained about their use – unless you are a fan of the dizzyingly disorienting illusions of ’60s pop art patterns.
Rhythm is a key element in interior design and is found in the repetition of line. A zig-zag line is simply a diagonal that couldn’t make up its mind. Whatever diagonals do, zig-zag lines do better. They are high-energy optical movers and shakers, generating intense movement around a space.
As they change direction quickly, they can be a little nerve racking to be around, so be restrained about their use – unless you are a fan of the dizzyingly disorienting illusions of ’60s pop art patterns.
Staircases, by their very nature, encompass diagonals and zig-zags. Emphasised with clean timber lines, like this unfussy design, the rhythm of the pattern takes our eye up, up and away, giving a sensation of rising and high energy (or if you’re a poodle, down, down at the speed of light!).
Unbend a formal room
A balanced combination of verticals and horizontals suggests stability and safety and can look static. With the simple addition of a diagonal line with kinetic energy and apparent motion in an artwork – in this case a comical and gravity-defying back dive – the room changes gear from formal to relaxing.
A balanced combination of verticals and horizontals suggests stability and safety and can look static. With the simple addition of a diagonal line with kinetic energy and apparent motion in an artwork – in this case a comical and gravity-defying back dive – the room changes gear from formal to relaxing.
Turn the tables – and chairs
For all sorts of reasons, we instinctively align major furniture pieces with the walls. However, turning seating diagonally is not a style crime and may have benefits, such as creating a more welcoming ambience, opening up a view or a traffic path and reviving a conventionally laid-out room.
Move an underlying rug crossways too, and position chairs as in this picture, or leave the rug lined up with the walls and put chairs across the corners. Try this arrangement with dining settings for a fresh take.
8 living room layouts that work
For all sorts of reasons, we instinctively align major furniture pieces with the walls. However, turning seating diagonally is not a style crime and may have benefits, such as creating a more welcoming ambience, opening up a view or a traffic path and reviving a conventionally laid-out room.
Move an underlying rug crossways too, and position chairs as in this picture, or leave the rug lined up with the walls and put chairs across the corners. Try this arrangement with dining settings for a fresh take.
8 living room layouts that work
Cut corners
Instead of a flat gallery-style wall hung with flat artwork, requiring the browser to turn square on to the wall to view, diagonally oriented niches are a fantastic way to display and appreciate your favourite artworks. Although it requires more space, the advantages are a comfortable viewing angle, both coming and going, a sense of depth, twice the hanging area, and handy shelf surfaces for other decorative items.
Instead of a flat gallery-style wall hung with flat artwork, requiring the browser to turn square on to the wall to view, diagonally oriented niches are a fantastic way to display and appreciate your favourite artworks. Although it requires more space, the advantages are a comfortable viewing angle, both coming and going, a sense of depth, twice the hanging area, and handy shelf surfaces for other decorative items.
Point the way
For an illustration of the power of the diagonal to direct our attention, look no further than this lovely little corner. Where does your eye go when you see this image? I’m guessing it follows the angles of the lamp base to the leadlight window lattice and lands on the star attraction, the pretty sofa.
For an illustration of the power of the diagonal to direct our attention, look no further than this lovely little corner. Where does your eye go when you see this image? I’m guessing it follows the angles of the lamp base to the leadlight window lattice and lands on the star attraction, the pretty sofa.
Study famous diagonals
Many modernist furniture designers ignored gravity and found ways of using the slightly unsettling diagonal line. Dutch designer of the 1930s De Stijl movement, Gerrit Rietveld, explored abstract shapes and came up with what he called his ‘designer joke’: the Zig-Zag chair. While appearing unstable and fragile, it is solid and elegant and a wonderful example of the dynamism of diagonals.
Many modernist furniture designers ignored gravity and found ways of using the slightly unsettling diagonal line. Dutch designer of the 1930s De Stijl movement, Gerrit Rietveld, explored abstract shapes and came up with what he called his ‘designer joke’: the Zig-Zag chair. While appearing unstable and fragile, it is solid and elegant and a wonderful example of the dynamism of diagonals.
The longevity of the 1950s Eames Eiffel chair is testimony to its appealing design. An intricate wire (sometimes timber) base of crossing diagonals supports the curves of a moulded fibreglass shell (now often in plastic, timber or wire) which hugs the body contours. This pleasing contrast of flowing curves and sharp diagonals has made the Eiffel one of the most popular and versatile chairs of the century.
TELL US
Would you try any of these ideas to liven up a space in your home? Let us know in the Comments section.
MORE
Geometric Rugs Give Rooms an Edge
Fine Lines: 16 Clever Ways to Decorate With Stripes
Lift Walls and More With Dramatic Shapes and Standout Patterns
TELL US
Would you try any of these ideas to liven up a space in your home? Let us know in the Comments section.
MORE
Geometric Rugs Give Rooms an Edge
Fine Lines: 16 Clever Ways to Decorate With Stripes
Lift Walls and More With Dramatic Shapes and Standout Patterns
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Great story, Janet. A pleasure to read and very informative.
Thanks Joanna, it was a fun topic to write about.
Thanks for pointing out the impact(s) of diagonals.