Horizontal lines and shapes arouse a sense of calmness and repose; vertical lines and shapes, of activity and life; diagonal lines and shapes, of movement. Long straight lines create an effect of dignity. When two colors are used together a line is created and these lines have a distinct effect upon the room in which they are used.
PROPORTION
Proportion, which is simply the relation of one dimension to another, applies throughout the house to walls, floors, ceilings, doors, windows, chairs, bookcases, tables, and other furnishings. Good proportions are never top-heavy, squatty, or uninteresting. Large size and thick proportions suggest strength, weight, permanence, and dignity; small size and slender proportions arouse the idea of delicacy, lightness, and grace.
It is well for the furniture salesman to understand a few simple facts which every good interior decorator knows.
Walls and floors, plus ceilings, determine the proportions of a room as a whole. Suppose a badly proportioned room is too narrow for its length and height—something common, for instance, to halls and dining rooms.
The apparent width of this too narrow room may be increased by—
1. Hanging a mirror, or using a picture in which the perspective is such that the eye follows a stream or broad expanse into the distance.
2. Using scenery wallpapers.
In well-proportioned rooms the wall decorations are lighter than the floor and the ceiling decorations are lighter than those of the walls.