apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Perfection!

Just a bit too much, I think

This view is a bit bland IMO, but I don't think it's because of the symmetry.

"Struck" is right, like a baseball bat to the head. It feels kind of like half a room and like the Mad Hatter should be waiting for you in the other half. Way too much symmetry.

Zzzzzz...right down to the matching stuff on the consoles. Agree with amed studio, blandness not entirely due to the symmetry.

Boring!

looks like a store display, not a place anyone (at least with any character/personality) would live in...

if I'm not mistaken, that photo was part of an editorial in Vogue this month. The pieces of the house have a lot of history. its definitely a neutral palate, but once you know the backstory, the look makes a little more sense.

It's upsetting to me that this room is nearly perfectly symmetrical. I can't explain why it bothers me so much, but it does.

I think what's disturbing about this is the lack of something to *look at* over the fireplace. You expect something centered to catch your eye, to give the symmetry something to expand around.... and there's nothing there. It's just a blankish expanse, so your eye instead gets pulled both left and right (farther than is comfortable) by the dark mirror frames and console tables. It's like some optical illusion eye exercise, where you're supposed to look cross-eyes for a minute and then suddenly shoot your eyeballs leftward and rightward as hard as you can, from

( *) (* )

to

(* ) ( *)

Bill Blass's house had the most gorgeous use of symmetry I've ever seen. It was symmetrical, but with one-of-a-kind objects of the same height or visual wight, not with matched pairs everywhere.

The room itself is really boring and so is the symmetry. But I prefer more personal touches and putting things I love throughout my room. This is apparently just a showpiece. Blah.

Too much -- looks like a model instead of a home.

I don't think I'd hang anything over the fireplace but I do think there's nowhere for the eye to land because of all the symmetry. And even with all the subtle texture, it doesn't look warm at all. You'd walk in and go, "let's see, which uncomfortable, isolated chair should I choose to sit on? Will anyone notice me? And where will I not keep seeing my gloomy reflection in a mirror?"

It's too bad--the space is beautiful and I love the stone fireplace.

too much, have symmetry in the large piece but not in every single element in a room. then it looks formal and uninviting.

too much for me, too ... i cannot see why one would want a room to be symmetrical, it is so lifeless.

When I first saw it, I thought it was pretty. But after studying it for a moment, I think it's a bit off. I would keep the basic design, but have a couple of bold elements that break the rigid symmetry.

The problem isn't the symmetry per se, it's the matching pairs. If you had symmetrical but DIFFERENT tables, and DIFFERENT mirrors/pictures, and DIFFERENT chairs, the same floorplan might work fine.

i really like it - although it does not have a warm feeling, it is very soothing somehow.........

tooooooo much.
*yawn*

I keep thinking of the Marx Brothers shtick done by Harpo and Lucy.

do spooky evil twins live here??

After looking at the slide show in this article, the room makes more sense. The whole house is done in this bare style, kind of rustic. The chairs you can't really see in the picture above look uncomfortable, but it's not strictly symmetrical, so I wouldn't have really given it that much thought. It does have a look like perfect symmetry overall with the little things moved around and adjusted to be "just so" a little off center, a small perfected chaos to lighten things up that slightly. Also, I'm going to take this picture of Alexandra Misczynski to see what my hairstylist can do. Just like the rest of the house is so simple it's hard, it will probably be more complicated to get my hair to look like that every day than it looks.

I like it, but I personally find myself craving visual order at the moment. I have reached my hodge podge, mismatched chairs and frames, bric a brac, knick knack threshold.

I love symmetry but this feels stiff. I completely agree with Lisa Hunter, balance is welcome but a mirror image? Not so much.

I would rather go with visual weight than symmetry - like if there is a loveseat or couch on one side of the room, at least match it with a pair of chairs to the same scale on the other side.

If you cover half the picture with your hand, the room is suddenly much more interesting!

If it were a little less symmetrical and matchy, I'd say I love it!

Symmetry is for people who aren't creative. It's much more challenging to make an asymmetrical composition work - especially in a living space.

nazrd - agreed

modfan - that's quite a generalization.........i disagree

Well symmetry is easy, icedesign. Symmetry to a certain extent is fine - but take the room above, I'd never sit in it become it doesn't feel welcoming at all. It looks like a doctor's office or something.

"symmetry is for people who aren't creative" - no...........

I do have to agree with several of the commenters... there is a major problem here, and it ain't the symmetry.

It's the total absence of personality.

Not as much sterile as studied. The camera angle definitely kills what little charm it has.