HOW TO MEASURE YOUR SPACE FOR THE RIGHT FURNITURE | How to Create Your Dream Space Series | EP 4

hello everyone welcome back to my channel i'm julie and if you're just joining us we are currently in week four of the how to create your dream space series just a quick recap week one was all about determining the function of your space week two was all about finding your style week 3 we talked about color palettes today is all about measuring space and learning how to scale furniture so it fits perfectly within the confines of your room if you're looking around your room right now and you're wondering why it might be feeling cramped or there might be too much space or if you could simply make better use of space this video is for you before we get started please take a moment to like this video if you've been enjoying the content so far comment below and let me know if there's any design dilemmas i could help you with and of course please subscribe to my channel if you haven't already the most common mistake i see made in interiors time and time and again always has to do with scale in residential design a scale has to do with the size of an object in relation to the space that it occupies while proportion is all about the relationship of elements to one another and to the whole interior designers always factor in scale and proportion as the driving principles of interior design to make a room feel completely balanced by the time you're done with this video you'll be able to tell me exactly what is wrong with your space when it comes to scale and proportion let's bust out those tape measures and jump right in we'll be diving through a couple of examples to show you how to measure your room and how to lay out the furniture proportionally to fit the space let's start with a typical bedroom we'll be using the same formula from room to room first we need to measure the space you want to measure the room length times width times height consider all the factors that have to do with the interior design of the space the door openings the window openings any architectural detailing like built-ins bookcases or recessed niches now it's time to prioritize the focal wall in a bedroom it's pretty simple the focal wall would be your bed you want to start by inserting your bed size i typically like to start with the largest bit that you can fit in the space once you center that bed on the focal wall measure the space that you have left over on both sides of the bed so you can figure out the size of the nightstands the goal is to maximize that entire width of wall as much as possible if you have three feet left over on both sides of the bed you want to look for a nightstand a dresser or even a cabinet with doors that maximizes the leftover space you have on both sides if you have a larger focal wall and more space in your bedroom you could designate zones one for sleeping one for lounging in this case you can figure out the size of your nightstands plop that in on one side of the bed place the bed right next to it and mirror that look with symmetrical nightstands on the other side what you have left over will be the space that is designated for your alternate zone [Music] here's a before image of my bedroom when i purchase this home you can see that the previous owners had two small nightstands they offset the bed so the bed wasn't in the middle as you can see the reason they placed it this way was because they were trying to fit in a large dresser on the side as well i think my current bedroom makes better use of space not only was i able to place a larger bed within the space i also flanked it with symmetrical nightstands so the room feels elegant and balanced the dresser then served as double duty not only is it a space for extra storage but it also became my tv console as well [Music] once you plop in the bed the two nightstands then you can figure out the size of the area rug and end of bed bench if you can fit it and any other special allowances you need for furniture in your bedroom [Music] moving on to a dining room we'll be using the same formula you'll measure the length and the width and the height of your dining space if the dining space only has two walls and it's open to other adjacent areas you'll want to measure the general layout of where your dining table should go once you measure the length and width of the room you'll want to subtract at least 3 feet or 42 inches away from the walls this will be the maximum size of a dining table that you can fit within the space why do you need this extra space 36 to 42 inches is the space you need to comfortably scoot chairs in and out from underneath the dining table once you figure out the maximum size of your dining table you'll be able to figure out the maximum number of chairs that you can get around the table you typically want 12 to 18 inches away from the next seat this will allow everyone seated to have ample wiggle room now that you have your dining table mapped out the dining chair is in place it's time to figure out the size of the area rug if you remember from my ultimate area roads video you want to specify the largest area rug you can fit within the space this means when the dining chairs are pushed out you're still seated on top of the area rug if you're not then the area rug is too small if you have ample space left over in this dining room you might want to create a new focal wall you can do this by anchoring a buffet a credenza or a console place a mirror or artwork above it and nice decor that suits your style and aesthetic so we'll be going through a couple of living room examples because i know not everyone's living room is the same let's start with the basics measure the length the width and the height of the room of course consider all those allowances like door openings windows built-ins molding anything that's going to spatially affect the interior design of the space in order to determine the spatial layout of your furniture you want to first figure out the focal point in the room if your living room has a fireplace the fireplace is almost always the focal point if the living room doesn't have a fireplace the gorgeous view will be your focal point if the room lacks a fireplace windows with a gorgeous view then typically the longest wall in that room will become your focal point that longest wall might support a tv or bookshelf or whatever the function of the room permits once you determine the focal point of the room you'll place the largest sofa facing that focal point you'll then place your secondary seating at a right angle either to the left or the right of that largest sofa sometimes you anchor this against the wall sometimes you float it in space depending on how much space you have once you have your sofa in place and your secondary seating in place you'll want to measure about 12 to 18 inches away from the edge of the seat to determine the largest coffee table that you can fit into the space why do you need those 12 to 18 inches well you need somewhere to put your legs you need somewhere to walk around the table if you impede on these 12 to 18 inches the coffee table is too large if you go any smaller than those 12 to 18 inches the coffee table is too small that is what scale and proportion means you want all of the objects in the room to be scaled proportionately to the size of the room and its relationship to each other now that the main furniture pieces are in place you can map out the largest area rug you can get in the room with all of the furniture sitting neatly above it then finally you can layer all those fun accent pieces like end tables side tables sofa tables plants a floor lamp pretty much anything else you need to complete the space [Music] uh now here's a question i get asked all the time how do you design furniture in an open concept living room if you've been following along the series you'll know that the first step is always to determine the function if you know how you'd like to use the space you can then specify furniture pieces to help you support the function of your day-to-day lifestyle let's take for example an l-shaped open concept space this l-shaped open concept is very much like myspace you walk into the home and you're met with this l-shaped open space that opens right up into the kitchen i have a designated dining space on the other side of my home so the challenge was to figure out what am i supposed to do with this open concept space once you have your plan laid out you'll see that you can designate two separate zones with these rectangles i decided that the first zone that you walk right into from my entry would be the living room and this secondary zone would become a casual dining nook i also use it as another spot to play games read my magazines and watch tv consider how you live and allow the furniture placement to work in your favor using the same formula and steps as above you want to consider the focal point in the room and place your largest sofa facing that focal point even though i have a fireplace that's off to the side in this open concept plan i don't consider that the focal point in this space the focal point in this room became this long elevation this elevation includes my television my tv consoles and matching bookshelves that visually merges both the casual dining nook and the living room all in one space if you apply this formula to every room in your home considering the focal wall first then laying out the largest piece of furniture the rest should come really easy a lot of interior design principles take into consideration human factors factors such as the aisle or the walkway that's created around furniture so you can walk around it this also includes their chairs at the dining table the space you need apart from each other and how to easily get in and out of bed the more you design and the more experience you get the more these principles would naturally become just common sense [Music] hmm if you're following along this formula and it still doesn't work tell me why not have you deduced that your sofa is too large for your living room your dining room is too cramped because there's one chair too many your bedroom feels off because your nightstands are too small and there's too much wall space left over comment below and let me know the one area that you can apply these tips to achieve better scale and balance scale and proportion is without a doubt the two most important elements to achieve great design one that i see people struggling with the most when it comes to interior design in their space when you consider the size and the scale of the furniture in relation to the space you will maximize every square inch of space and make better use of the room as a whole that's it for today we are halfway through this series already next week is what most of you might find the most fun part of interior design the shopping tune in to get my best tips for sourcing furniture and accessories how to filter and find everything you need online plus how to find the best deals that you don't need a designer discount to get if you've been enjoying this series please like and give this video a thumbs up remember to comment below and let me know the one area that you can apply today's tips share this series with all your friends and family that need interior design help and of course subscribe to my channel if you haven't already remember to hit that little notification bell of new videos that we drop every tuesday thank you so much for watching i'll see in the next one

Channel: Julie Khuu

Views: 153,780

Rating: 4.9754686 out of 5

Keywords: Interior design, decorating, home decor, how to's, diy, tutorials, find your style, finding your style, design style, decorating style, create dream space, design scale, how to meassure room, how to measure space, interior design scale, how to scale furniture, how to measure furniture

Id: MZLjtL8FWOY

Length: 13min 31sec (811 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 18 2020