Sight Lines: A View On Beauty - River Studio Design

This is the sight line from our living room back to the front door. This graphic art work is a nice place for the eye to rest.

Today on the blog, I am talking about sight lines. What are sight lines in a home you ask?

Well sight lines are the views that you have from one room to another. It’s the view upon first entering the front door of your home, the one that beckons you and your guests in further. It’s the view that you have down a long hall way or from one room to another, that makes you want to proceed further. My friend Kimberly @lemonleafhomeinteriors has some incredible sight lines in her home that you should check out.

Why are sight lines important?

They are most important for the intuitive feel that you want your home to have. In order to have a harmonious feel in your home, you want one room to flow to the next. It should be those entrances and hallways the call you and welcome you to the next part of your home. They give a sense of flow to the house.

How do you achieve beautiful sight lines?

Do some research in your home. Go to your front door, and to the entrances to various your home and study what you see.

The river calls you in when you enter the front door of our home. But there is Lola stopping the eye in the shot. If you were actually entering my home she would be giving you a thorough greeting.

In each space determine what pleases the eye and what interupts it. Is there something blocking the view such as clutter, that is preventing the eye from moving over the area with pleasure. Perhaps colours, styles or textures interrupting the flow of the eye?

What can you do to help improve the sight lines in your house?

Palette

Ensure your colour palette flows from one room to the next. This doesn’t mean that your whole house has to be one colour. It means that the colour in one room should relate to the colour in the next by perhaps being tones of the same shade or completely different colours that are the same depth. For example, you wouldn’t want to have a deep red in one room with a pale peach room next to it. The difference in the depth of the colours would be jarring to the eye. You could instead, have an orange that is the same depth and tone as the red, then those two colours would be more harmonious and pleasing to the eye beside each other.

I personally only like strong colours in small doses, so my house is painted in various whites and greys that lead seamlessly together. For the most part, I prefer to introduce colour in other ways.

The soft whites and greys on the walls blend seamlessly in this view from our kitchen to our living room but the gallery wall with colour and pattern draws your eye in.

When I am talking about palette, I am not just talking about wall colour. I am talking about furnishings, wood tones and accessories. You don’t want things to be the same, but there should be some sort of commonality among the rooms. Give yourself a few main colours for the whole house and use them in a large or small dose in each room to help link the rooms together.

Style

The same is true with style. You don’t want one room to be traditional, then the next modern and then the next country. That is not to say that you can’t have a mix of styles, but the mix should be more subtle. A modern room with a traditional armoire can look stunning and the same is true for a modern table in a traditional setting. But keep in mind that your goal is to have the entire house feeling seamless, so be intentional about mixing styles.

Our kitchen island is more modern than the rest of the house so the difference draws your eye in. Lola is an example of something blocking your eye, but she is a pretty cute block, wouldn't you say? — Our kitchen island is more modern than the rest of the house so the difference draws your eye in. Lola is an example of something blocking your eye, but she is a pretty cute block, wouldn’t you say?

Flooring

Another way to improve sight lines is through common flooring. This doesn’t mean that you have to have the same flooring in every room, but having a common flooring many improves the flow. For example, you wouldn’t want to have two types or colours of hardwood floor or carpet butting up against each other. But, hardwood flooring could lead seamlessly into a carpet or tile that blends nicely.

This is the only tile we have on our first floor to help with flow. This blue door at the end of the long hallway to Lola's is a nice surprise for the eye. — This is the only tile we have on our first floor to help with flow. This blue door at the end of the long hallway to Lola’s is a nice surprise for the eye.

Sight Lines In Your Home

The last thing that is important in sight lines is features. If you look from one room to the next and see a blank wall, you would not be inspired to enter that room. A unique piece of art or a beautiful fabric may be just the thing to draw you into the next room. The same is true with a stunning vista out a window, a feature, if you are lucky enough to have it.

The take away from this is to look at your house with a critical eye. Go to the entrances of your various rooms and ask yourself what you see. Look from various angles with a fresh eye. If it is not pleasing, consider some the tips above to help improve the sight lines in your house.

Always

Leslie