A datum is a consistent line carried through the field of vision. In the design of a home, it might be window sills aligned throughout a room, or a picture rail that runs around the upper walls of an apartment. Check out these examples, both contemporary and traditional.
A datum can create order, continuity, and cohesiveness, all of which can be helpful characteristics in any space, but particularly effective in small spaces.
Are there any clear datum lines in your home? What are they? Was a datum already established when you moved in or is it something you created yourself?
(Images: Bear Hill Interiors, Rambling Renovators, Chenchow Little, TreHus, Christopher Polly Architect)
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Posts and beams.
I've never heard of that definition for Datum.
Isn't a datum a line or point where measurements are taken from? Or is that just for engineering?
I can't stand houses or rooms that do not have those datum lines (although I didn't know this name). Especially windows just scattered over the walls are driving me nuts. I need those clear simple lines, horizontally and vertically.
The windows and doors in this house have all been lined properly which was a good start. I used these as guides for dado rails and picture frames.
A datum is a line where measurements are taken from - but that is esentially the same as the datums described above. It is an infinite line used in construction, so it is always a continuous line at a certain height/location
Cool, you learn something new everyday. I personally like seeing rooms broken up. It gives it some sort of character. The first room is gorgeous. I keep waiting to get tired of white but I'm doubting now that will ever happen.
"A datum is a consistent line carried through the field of vision" . . . no it isn't. Get a dictionary AT. This is almost as annoying as using the word "curated" to describe displayed objects in a home.
Definitions aside, the bench in that first photo has animal legs and I want it.
Here's a very good explanation of how "datum" is used in architectural design:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090217152949AAkS8oG
I wish AT had expanded on this post. Like drawing on top of the photo the "datum". It's easy to see in the wainscoting, but not so clear in some of your other photos. You might also have had an interior designer weigh in on what datum does. How does it serve a room to have the datum run all around a room horizontally? How do furniture lines serve the datum? Is it wise to have furniture the same height, as say the bed headboard? Does that create a datum where one doesn't exist architecturally?
I live in a 1910 craftsman and it is a datum-lovers dream (or whatever term best describes an ultra-consistent line)!
At my office I've heard people use datum in the way it's described here. Or maybe they say "like a datum" to describe a horizontal element that becomes a driving feature of a space.