Creating the Perfect Focal Point
Developing a focal point in any room in your home is vital to creating a cohesive design and to really express who you are as an individual through visuals. More than needing a focal point to really ground your room as a space in your home, you can shift and change the focal point of your room depending on what you’d like to draw attention to. Different rooms are utilized in different ways: there’s no way that having the same type of focal point will work in all the rooms of your house and, really, we wouldn’t want them to be the same anyway. Adding visual interest to your home with different focal points will allow for a united design without becoming boring or stale.
Windows, fireplaces, and other architectural features are the most obvious choices for focal points: they are innately strong visual stimuli that pull your eye. When you’ve got features like this, it’s best to run with it. Further play up these focal points by adding colour, texture, and details that will reinforce your eye being drawn to and focussing on these beautiful features.
How To Create a Focal Point
Once you’ve decided where in your room you’d like the focal point to be, it’s time to really accentuate your space. Taking cues from traditional creative arts, these five ways of creating a focal point can be adapted into home design and decoration.
1. Contrast
Using a colour that is on the opposite side of the colour wheel on single, specific area will immediately draw the eye to that space and make it the focal point. This is especially common for creating focal walls: reds, bright blues, and dark colours are the usual suspects when it comes to painting a focal point. Tried and tested, you can’t go wrong with any using any of these colours.
Painting or wallpapering a single wall is ideal for small spaces. It adds visual interest and is ideal creating the illusion of depth. Just remember: because they’re so bold, you may want to be cautious when bringing in you accents and avoid overwhelming your eyes. Letting one aspect of your room really shine is more successful for creating a holistic design than trying to ram too many pieces of focus.
Why not try painting your ceiling a contrasting colour to really exaggerate your high ceilings? Paint is the simplest and least expensive change you can make to your home that will have a dramatic transformation. This on-point style trend isn’t for the faint of heart, but can have the biggest impact on the feel of your room changing. If you’re feeling really bold, by not try a high-gloss paint?
2. Isolation
The most obvious way to draw attention to a single item that you’d like to turn into a focal point is to have it set as a standalone piece in the space. Placing a single item in an area that is devoid of other items will instantly ensure that it is the only thing your eye will be drawn to. When using this technique to create a focal point, we like to utilize a distinct and intricate pieces: think a mirror or painting, alone on a wall, or an instrument, like a piano, taking center stage in a lounge space.
If you really want to reinforce a single item as your focal point consider using directed lighting that will shine specifically onto your piece. Both overhead and uplighting offer this opportunity and can be utilized to create a soft nudge to your eyes to look at a focal piece.
3. Convergence
Just like artists and painters have done in their work for centuries, we can create subtle cues that will help us to discretely draw the eye to our focal point without using a single bold piece to draw the eye.
Creating a space that is symmetrical and radiates away from your focal point will draw the eye forward and towards the single piece you would like to enhance. Our earlier example of a fireplace works perfectly here: if you’d like to have a fireplace as your focal point try arranging your furniture on either side of it without impeding the sight line to the mantel and hearth. This will cause the eye to dance through the space and fall between your furniture and on your intended target.
More subtle options are available to create a converging of the eye on a specific point. When arranging framed pictures on surfaces or magazines on tables, slight shifts in the direction they are facing will help to direct your eye towards your focal point.
4. The Unique
This is where we really get to show off our personality in our design choices. 2016 Design Trends 
have taught us that this year is all about texture. Any unique texture choice can bring life to your room and will draw your eye, specifically because of the shock-factor that comes when you bring a new and atypical piece to life.
When it comes to creating a focal point this way, it’s all about the unexpected and the one-of-kind. Interesting pieces with innovative design qualities are the perfect option for pulling your sightline to a set place.
You’ve got a piece that you love that is a little unusual? Bring it out and don’t hide it. You will find, when you don’t try to downplay the oddities and quirky nature of piece you love, that others will appreciate them because of their distinct styles. When used correctly, there is no end to the possibilities for any of your unique pieces working in a cohesive design role.
Creating the room of your dreams doesn’t have to be difficult and, once you have an idea of the things you’d like to see happen in your space, you’ll be able to use any focal point creation technique you choose. It’s time to turn your house into a true reflection of who you are and really bring every room of your home to life.
