All seems right when a room is ordered with a little symmetry. It's sometimes suprisingly difficult to accomplish, but the result, we think, is generally calming and pleasing...
We even think employing symmetry can help make a small space seem bigger: symmetry creates a focus that can lead views through a space. It's also a design tool touched on in architect Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language. We try to create symmetry where we can in our home. But in an old building that's been worked and reworked countless times over the years, it can be tough. What about you, can you spot any symmetry in your home?
Veronica & Keith's Handmade Chic 
Before & After: A Bathroom Goes From Pinky Peach to Sleek and Chic
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Hunslet Dinner Plate
A Beginner's Guide to Superb Stir-Fry: Quick, Healthy Meals from a Wok
Easy Pitcher Cocktail Recipe: Strawberry Basil Margaritas
Comments (5)
Funny how AT seems to read my mind sometimes... I am struggling with symmetry right now. I have a black Parsons desk and I just bought a black-brown Alve drawer unit from Ikea. It's very handy to store stuff, and I put my printer on top. However, when I placed the Alve next to the desk, it looked off-balance. The desk is 30" high by 47" wide, and the Alve is about 47" tall and 16" wide. My living room flows into my kitchen, but the living room is carpeted and the kitchen has linoleum. The desk is in the living room because I like it on the carpet, but I have to put the Alve in the kitchen next to it (and it's more stable on the linoleum). Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to balance it out better. Thank you.
Too much symmetry is boring, stagnant and predictable.
My apartment is a railroad in a very old building. a couple of the rooms have peculiar shapes, plus one wall actually has an inconvenient curve in it. i realized long ago that symmetry is impossible and learned to like the place's weirdness. sometimes calmness comes from just accepting things the way they are.
It's funny, but I always like things to be a little off kilter... the only symmetry in my house right now is the four red placemats in a nice square on my dining room table. The table is also lined up with the buffet, but the kitchen island is offset from the whole arrangement which makes it bearable :-).
I looked at that first photo and thought symmetric and not at the same time. Take a closer look at that kitchen.