Did you wonder in high school when anyone ever uses geometry in real life? Few people calculate the mathematics of their furniture arrangements, but geometry is actually what makes the difference between an attractive arrangement that makes sense to the eye and one that doesn’t.

Furniture arrangement often mimics shapes and patterns seen in nature. Symmetry looks balanced to the human eye. For example, the arrangement of petals around the center of a daisy is symmetrical. We also tend to prefer faces that have evenly spaced features.

Interior designers use these same principles when arranging a room.

Symmetry/Asymmetry: Symmetry is an exact correspondence of things on either side of a focal point and asymmetry takes one or more of those objects out of the balance. This adds interest to a room.

Geometric shapes: We use the arrangement of shapes to add to the symmetry or asymmetry of the arrangement. Shapes are particularly important in odd shaped rooms.

Our designer, Theresa, did a consultation in a dome shaped house with curved walls once. Curved walls have less wall space than straight walls and the furniture doesn’t line up squarely. Theresa’s familiarity with the use of geometry in design helped her see where the furniture would look best.

Rule of Thirds: Have you heard of the rule of thirds? It’s often used in photography. A frame is divided into nine equal parts and items of interest are placed on the lines and points of intersection. Of course you don’t see the lines in the finished picture or in a well-arranged room, but since the eye naturally goes to these points, the room looks balanced.

This is not to say that interior designers don’t break and bend the rules when arranging a room. They may use a combination of symmetry, asymmetry and shapes, but the mathematics of the arrangement work together.

Aren’t you impressed? Your interior designer is a kind of mathematician. Geometry and other types of mathematics make things pretty, even if we didn’t pay attention in school.

It’s simple enough to get custom drapes for an ordinary-sized window, but what if you need drapes as big as a stage?

Most homes don’t need drapes quite that big, however many homes do have large floor-to-ceiling windows that homeowners may wish to cover at night or during the heat of the day. Sometimes a commercial building will need draperies to cover windows, absorb noise or actually cover a stage.

One of our clients fell into this category. A wedding venue needed a large set of elegant draperies to cover or uncover a wall. We were asked to design and order 36 foot draperies, the largest we’ve ever designed.

We created a design the client liked, but it’s important to remember that drapery workrooms, the shops where custom drapes are made by hand, don’t always have enough room to handle so much fabric. They must lay out the fabric as part of the manufacturing process and, in this case, we would need a workroom that had more than 36 feet of continuous table space.

Could we do it? Could we find a quality workroom that could make drapes this big?

As a matter of fact, we could! We have a contract with a Colorado drapery workroom that makes stage draperies and was easily able to handle this order. Because of this relationship, our designer, Theresa Guthals, was the only designer the venue could find who could solve this problem.

Theresa’s network of relationships solved other problems as well. The room had an odd shape and it wasn’t clear how we could set up a pulley system to open and close the drapes. Theresa and installer who is a long-time associate solved the problem together.

You may not need drapes as big as a stage, but contact us if you’d like beautiful window coverings that you’ll be proud to show the world.

Did you know we have robots in the interior design world?

Motorized drapery rods that robotically open and close drapes are one of those modern miracles that make aging easier. They work with any drapes, custom or off-the-shelf, and they manage your privacy and the light in your home with as little input from you as you like.

You’ve seen this in action with other robots. The dishwasher relieves the necessity of standing at the sink. The bread machine does the hard work of kneading for you and the blessed washing machine saves us days of bending and scrubbing clothes.

All of these household robots have made it possible for us to live in our own homes in later stages of life, even with an injury or illness. Before robotics, these tasks overwhelmed people with physical challenges.

Today, we see the same trend in interior design with motorized drapery rods, motorized shades and other window treatments controlled by computers.

The helpfulness of motorization was pointed out to us by a client couple of ours who were moving into a local community for people age 55 and over, Mackenzie Place. A member of the couple had an illness that was expected to result in the need for a wheelchair within a few years.

It’s difficult to open a window covering while in a wheelchair. What if the wheelchair can’t get close enough? What if the window is a bit higher than normal?

We solved the problem with motorized drapery rods. The rods can be programmed to open and close on a schedule or opened with a remote control, just like other kinds of motorized window treatments .

This same solution works for very large windows that no ordinary human can reach. Another client of ours wanted 28 foot sheer draperies for a huge window facing Cheyenne Mountain. Not only were we able to get these made for her despite the fact that few workrooms have the capacity to make 28 foot drapes, but we were able to make them open and close with a motorized drapery rod.

Can robots make your home more accommodating? Call us at 719-238-6044 and we’ll design the perfect window treatments for you!