In order for a composition to be harmonious and pleasing to the eye and mind, the first thing required of it is that it is restful. This can only be the case if the composition is a balanced one. This balance must exist, not only with regard to the form of its units, but to their color and tone, as will be later explained.



The simplest form of balance is show in a display in which every feature on one side of the axis is repeated on the other side at the same distance from the center. One side is essentially a mirror image of its counterpart. This is the form known as bilateral symmetry. Symmetry may exist with relation to a single axis or to two or more. In general, however, compositions are symmetrical with respect to one axis only.

Symmetry is not only the simplest type of balance, but it is also the most common and the safest. As long as we have a symmetrical arrangement, a certain degree of balance has been attained despite whatever faults we commit. But in many cases symmetry is not possible, and another form of balance becomes necessary.

This is sometimes known as optical balance or balance of interest since its nature is less obvious than that already mentioned. We have this condition in architecture and decoration to meet where the fixed features of a room such as doors or windows may not be symmetrically arranged. Under these conditions, objects to balance the door toppers (http://www.ferche.com) or window toppers must be placed on the other side of the axis in approximately the same form.

According to this approach, a door near the corner of the room should be balanced by placing a table with a picture over it or a highboy of approximately the same mass or height as the door at the same wall, near the other corner. This arrangement would hold true whether the main axis or climax of the composition is actual or imaginary.

An actual climax, or focal point of the arrangement, would perhaps be a mantel in the center of the room. This piece would allow for an easy application of bilateral symmetry because the mantel provides an axis. In an imaginary axis, nothing would be placed in the center of the room and the composition would be built up on either side of the center.

Balance of interest may also be included in this heading. If there is only one object of great interest on one side of an axis, it would balance several objects that were less interesting on the other side. With the arrangement of such objects in ordinary decoration, such as custom picture frames (http://www.ferche.com), the problems are far more complex.

We have to deal not only with size and value, but with color, form, style, character, etc. Therefore, there is no mathematical rule that can be formulated for placing or selecting these objects. We must depend on taste and feeling, aided by all the knowledge of these qualities that we can obtain - it will never be too great.

As with most art, balance in color and tone value is also an important element in decoration. Rooms should be dressed either in dark tones or in light tones, and everything in them should tend toward the same tonal value.

Dark walls as a rule call for dark furniture, while walls in pastel shades call for furniture in lighter tone. Balance in color and tone can be achieved by keeping these suggestions in mind, setting the mood of a room through not only the arrangement of the objects in it but through the color temperature.