Decorating
Why Three's a Charm in Your Decorating Scheme
A simple design strategy based on a magic number may pave the way to a more stylish home
Three bears, three Stooges, three wise men – we give three cheers, three strikes and we’re out and some folks do enjoy a ménage à trois. Three has always been a significant number, in religion, folklore, art, architecture, literature and music. In Latin, ‘omne trium perfectum’ translates as ‘everything that comes in threes is perfect’ and is close to our English saying ‘good things come in threes’.
So, how can we harness the power of three as a design tool? Sometimes our decorating efforts fall short of our aims, and it’s hard to explain exactly why. See the areas of your home where a simple counting exercise may solve your design quandaries. The answer may be as easy as one, two, three.
So, how can we harness the power of three as a design tool? Sometimes our decorating efforts fall short of our aims, and it’s hard to explain exactly why. See the areas of your home where a simple counting exercise may solve your design quandaries. The answer may be as easy as one, two, three.
Triple treat artwork
How we hang art, like art itself, is a personal choice, and a special piece may be best left to enjoy its space alone. But we are increasingly turning to affordable art and getting creative with framed prints to enliven our walls. These pieces often come in sets of three linked by subject, colour and frames. Three striking black-and-white botanical prints create balance in this boudoir, placed above a trio of cushions.
How we hang art, like art itself, is a personal choice, and a special piece may be best left to enjoy its space alone. But we are increasingly turning to affordable art and getting creative with framed prints to enliven our walls. These pieces often come in sets of three linked by subject, colour and frames. Three striking black-and-white botanical prints create balance in this boudoir, placed above a trio of cushions.
Architectural drawings of stately ancient buildings are popular as travel mementos and artworks. Similarly framed and hung in threes, they form an enjoyable focal point in this composition. Arranging them in a three-by-three grouping like this creates visual mass, and a measured formality that suits the subject matter well. Seven glass vessels in three different heights complete an arrangement set within a roughly triangular frame.
The asymmetry of five framed photographs here gives balance and proportion to an otherwise formal display, moving the eye around this elegant scene. Three glass items sit on a gold-detailed tray between the lamps that form a frame for the arrangement.
10 artful gallery ideas
10 artful gallery ideas
Collected cushion combos
Sofa cushions are a great way to enliven decor and make a big difference to a room, coordinating colours and adding texture and comfort. With so many gorgeous cushions around, it’s tempting to pile them on until they threaten to bury the sitter under a cushion avalanche. If your sofa is starting to resemble a cushion showroom, restrict the number of different ones to three, keeping to a trio of colours that pick up colours in the room and the sofa.
How to style a colourful couch
Sofa cushions are a great way to enliven decor and make a big difference to a room, coordinating colours and adding texture and comfort. With so many gorgeous cushions around, it’s tempting to pile them on until they threaten to bury the sitter under a cushion avalanche. If your sofa is starting to resemble a cushion showroom, restrict the number of different ones to three, keeping to a trio of colours that pick up colours in the room and the sofa.
How to style a colourful couch
Placing bed cushions just so can be a maddening way to waste time. One on each side is very orderly, but two behind and one in front breaks up a super-neat look and is a little more interesting visually. And see how all these elements fall into a lovely balanced triangular frame.
On a wide bed, three layers in a three/two/one formation add visual bulk and allow you to introduce a third pattern, shade or texture. Keep the cushions within the top third of the bed to avoid overwhelming it.
An interior designer’s guide to arranging cushions
An interior designer’s guide to arranging cushions
Triple light lineup
Expansive multi-tasking islands are popping up all over in our kitchens. In an open plan, with the kitchen becoming part of the living area, an island ‘zones’ the large space, sectioning off each function. Its high visibility means lighting must be more than just practical.
A common practice is to hang feature pendants over the island. As islands are often wide and long, three evenly spaced pendants with overlapping light fields provide effective illumination and aesthetic balance, rather than one in the centre or one at each end.
Expansive multi-tasking islands are popping up all over in our kitchens. In an open plan, with the kitchen becoming part of the living area, an island ‘zones’ the large space, sectioning off each function. Its high visibility means lighting must be more than just practical.
A common practice is to hang feature pendants over the island. As islands are often wide and long, three evenly spaced pendants with overlapping light fields provide effective illumination and aesthetic balance, rather than one in the centre or one at each end.
If you prefer a less linear look, consider a bevy of smaller lights in a more random configuration. It’s difficult to achieve randomness with even numbers, so go odd. Try five – or even seven – similar pendants in different sizes and set at varying heights, hung precisely to illuminate the whole surface. As it’s now quite smart to loop long cords over ceiling hooks, the bonus is height adjustability.
One beautiful Moroccan-style light would enhance any room, but a trio, clustered at three heights, triples the impact and is a better scale for a larger room. You could also have fun with three different vintage lights in a friendly cluster, with a common element like colour, material or shape to link them. Two or four would look uneasy – three or five, perfect.
Seating for balance and comfort
How furniture is positioned in a living area is largely dependent on the shape and size of the room. I read somewhere that two face-to-face sofas separated by a coffee table is perfect for extroverts, but a three-sided arrangement of two sofas and a third seat, be it lounge chair or third smaller sofa, gives introverts the chance to choose to be peripheral to the conversation. Who knows if that’s true? But a three-sided seating arrangement always feels cosy without being enclosed.
8 living room layout options
How furniture is positioned in a living area is largely dependent on the shape and size of the room. I read somewhere that two face-to-face sofas separated by a coffee table is perfect for extroverts, but a three-sided arrangement of two sofas and a third seat, be it lounge chair or third smaller sofa, gives introverts the chance to choose to be peripheral to the conversation. Who knows if that’s true? But a three-sided seating arrangement always feels cosy without being enclosed.
8 living room layout options
Flowers by numbers
Three is a significant number in the Japanese art of ikebana. Placing each item in the display is a contemplative and conscious act. Although there are several schools of ikebana, the three elements of heaven, earth and humanity appear in all of them. This trio is represented by flowers, foliage and earthy material like twigs, moss or stones. Mass, colour and line are respected and the form is roughly triangular.
Three is a significant number in the Japanese art of ikebana. Placing each item in the display is a contemplative and conscious act. Although there are several schools of ikebana, the three elements of heaven, earth and humanity appear in all of them. This trio is represented by flowers, foliage and earthy material like twigs, moss or stones. Mass, colour and line are respected and the form is roughly triangular.
If you don’t have a natural florist’s touch with arrangements, try reducing the forms and colours of the components to three and leaving space within them. This way each element can flaunt its beauty separately too.
EXTRA: In feng shui, odd numbers have yang energy, which gives expansion and movement. Even numbers generate yin energy, which is more passive, compressed and inward-flowing.
EXTRA: In feng shui, odd numbers have yang energy, which gives expansion and movement. Even numbers generate yin energy, which is more passive, compressed and inward-flowing.
Vibrant vignettes
The three – or five or seven – principle can guide you to create simple, pleasing vignettes. If you struggle to get objects on a table, cabinet or mantlepiece to behave, step back and count to three, five or seven. Try using three heights, three textures and three colours, superimpose an approximate triangle over the formation, then look again.
The three – or five or seven – principle can guide you to create simple, pleasing vignettes. If you struggle to get objects on a table, cabinet or mantlepiece to behave, step back and count to three, five or seven. Try using three heights, three textures and three colours, superimpose an approximate triangle over the formation, then look again.
The best vignettes don’t look too calculated. A natural organic arrangement that looks as if it just landed on a table or cabinet is more easily achieved with an odd number configuration.
An guide to arranging vignettes
An guide to arranging vignettes
Colour conundrum
In spaces that appear effortlessly harmonious and balanced, deliberate calculations are often discreetly at work. An area where numbers can be applied is in colour palettes. Yes, it’s that old three again: three basic colours in proportions of 60:30:10 of primary, secondary and accent colours.
Resist rushing off with a measuring tape, but if you have a room where the colours don’t seem to gel, weigh up the number and relative proportions of each colour used. Reducing an accent colour and increasing the primary colour may increase the room’s balance. Play around with movable items like throws, cushions, bed linen, rugs, lamps and artwork until you get the desired effect.
In spaces that appear effortlessly harmonious and balanced, deliberate calculations are often discreetly at work. An area where numbers can be applied is in colour palettes. Yes, it’s that old three again: three basic colours in proportions of 60:30:10 of primary, secondary and accent colours.
Resist rushing off with a measuring tape, but if you have a room where the colours don’t seem to gel, weigh up the number and relative proportions of each colour used. Reducing an accent colour and increasing the primary colour may increase the room’s balance. Play around with movable items like throws, cushions, bed linen, rugs, lamps and artwork until you get the desired effect.
Although there is symmetry in this room from a pair of paintings, look closely at how the primary, secondary and accent colours have been introduced.
5 steps to a spot-on colour scheme
5 steps to a spot-on colour scheme
Tables for three
Apply this general guideline to anywhere that you want to create an impact with well-balanced colour, like a special occasion table setting.
This Japanese-themed table – based on a basic neutral shade, highlighted with red and accented with a little ping of blue – illustrates how the colour ratio works.
Apply this general guideline to anywhere that you want to create an impact with well-balanced colour, like a special occasion table setting.
This Japanese-themed table – based on a basic neutral shade, highlighted with red and accented with a little ping of blue – illustrates how the colour ratio works.
Patterns with panache
When it comes to prints, restricting assertive patterns in a room to three prevents too much visual distraction and confusion. Relate them to each other in some way, through colour, theme, shape or motif, and try to group the patterns close to each other rather than dotting them around the room.
See the principle of three at work in this bedroom, in the three-panelled bedhead, the three subtle colours and textures and the triple row of cushions.
When it comes to prints, restricting assertive patterns in a room to three prevents too much visual distraction and confusion. Relate them to each other in some way, through colour, theme, shape or motif, and try to group the patterns close to each other rather than dotting them around the room.
See the principle of three at work in this bedroom, in the three-panelled bedhead, the three subtle colours and textures and the triple row of cushions.
When two out of three ain’t bad
When it comes to our homes, there are no rules, and that applies to the so-called Rule of Three. What matters is that surrounding ourselves with the things we love makes us feel good. Want to put two cushions on the bed or two pictures on the wall? Go for it!
But in those places where something feels uncomfortable, incomplete, too rigid or just plain dull, and you can’t quite figure out why, it may be time to start counting.
TELL US
Do you have decorating trick that works for you? Share it in the Comments section
MORE
Feel-Good Home: 10 Steps to a Feng Shui Bedroom
Design Lessons My Mother Taught Me
6 Tactics to Help You Discover Your Personal Decorating Style
When it comes to our homes, there are no rules, and that applies to the so-called Rule of Three. What matters is that surrounding ourselves with the things we love makes us feel good. Want to put two cushions on the bed or two pictures on the wall? Go for it!
But in those places where something feels uncomfortable, incomplete, too rigid or just plain dull, and you can’t quite figure out why, it may be time to start counting.
TELL US
Do you have decorating trick that works for you? Share it in the Comments section
MORE
Feel-Good Home: 10 Steps to a Feng Shui Bedroom
Design Lessons My Mother Taught Me
6 Tactics to Help You Discover Your Personal Decorating Style
Beautiful interiors don’t just happen. Between our vision and its fulfilment, a conscious eye for space and colour turns our homes into places we love to be in. Professional designers and decorators have it. Home decorating enthusiasts? Maybe not always. But a considered approach to decorating can help even the un-gifted eye create balanced rooms that satisfy our sense of harmony.
Numbers are part of the design equation. Three is the smallest number of elements our eyes perceive as a pattern or collection. Where one is the loneliest number and a pair may appear stiff or even jarring, groups of three – and following odd numbers – register in our brains as a more natural, dynamic and organic sequence. Check out these rooms and see if you agree.