Interiors Inspired by Music

With the BBC Proms about to start, we’ve been reading through the programme and event description of “The Sound of an Orchestra” which covers Leonard Bernstein’s amazing music.This prompted thought surrounding the similarities between music and interior design and how often  our interiors are inspired by music. Here is what we’ve discovered.

Beat

One of the bedrocks of music is a rhythm to give substance to the melody.  The same principle applies to interior design. In interior design, we use colour, line and pattern and consider whether we have a symmetry that is on or off beat. The below pictures describe very successfully how we use these principles in different styles.

Balance

Another key foundation of music is the balance between instruments and singers to ensure the final piece evokes the emotion the composer intended. When you’re thinking about interior layout ensure that your room is visually weighted, both in the size of the items but also the colour. This picture shows how an open room transition has been visually balanced.

Echoing

This really is about patterns and repetition. We all know about this in music, chords or lyrics repeated that are catchy, so the song is memorable. Using patterns in conjunction with balance throughout your interior will ensure its visually interesting throughout. Here this is done very obviously, but the real art is to make it unnoticeable.

Tone

If an instrument is out of tune, we all notice it even if we don’t consider ourselves musical. It sticks out like a sore thumb and again interiors are no different. This is about the feel of the space, a unifying feel in colour, texture, pattern and line but this certainly doesn’t mean everything has to match! An orchestra needs a variety of instruments and your home can only benefit from an assortment of colour, design choices and items.

What’s next?

We provide Interior services throughout London, Surrey, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and the Cotswolds.  Find out more about how we work or get in touch for an initial meeting with our Interiors Team.