Focal Points And X-Spots
In my last blog posting,(you might want to read that one before you read this one), I was telling you about how that many folks fail to achieve a home plan that excites them, even AFTER all of the items they want are designed into their home plan. I talked about the value of placing yourself near the entry-way of each room (I called this the X-Spot) and create something that you see from that X-spot that would attract you to enter the room. We will call that a focal point.
The placement of architectural items is likely more important than the item itself. This is something amny folks fail to grasp. As an example, I may create a dramatic decorator shelf near the foyer, but the idea is that it had better be placed in a way that I would see it clearly when someone would enter the foyer. If someone would have to enter the foyer , and then turn sideways before they would see this decorator shelf, we have lost most of the point of having the shelf to begin with. When I enter a bedroom, I should have one main thing or a small interesting group of things that work together to focus my attention on. Moreover, this focal point should attract someone into the room to invite them move toward that item of interest.
I have not always realized this powerful device as fully as I do today. Just like anything else, it takes a period of trials and errors, of really “seeing” what works and what you thought would work but does not. Take for example, my Round Bay ranch design. I designed this home about 14 years ago. I built a peaked archway (some call this a portico) in the midst of the great room. My thought was that it would be a centerpiece to the room and a visual separation in an otherwise, wide- open floor plan. I had desinged a decorator shelf over the entry foyer. It seemed, on paper , to work except, in reality, you never really saw the decorator shelf until you were going out of the foyer.
A few years later, I built this same model again (well, not exactly the same. Every time I build a model, I try to improve and update the plan’s weakest points as well as refresh the decor ideas) a couple of years later. I tried to make the foyer a foot longer since I realized thatfo simply having the archway focal point placed somewhere in front of the X-spot was not enough. The distance that the X-spot is to the focal point is critical, even if only by a mere few feet. The arch was embraced by visitors to a higher degree on the second design , even though I had only added about a foot and a half to the foyer depth. This version of the Round Bay ranch still had the issue of the decorator shelf being a pretty cool potential focal point , but it again was lost as it was behind the initial entry view.
A couple of years later , in Muskego, I again had the opportunity to update and re-build this ranch. Now I opened up the foyer to a mini-vault so the decorator shelf was open on both the front (facing foyer) and the rear (facing great room). In effect, you walked under a “bridging” decorator shelf. This improved the effect of this shelf but it still was not noticed by most visitors until much after their entry. The fact was, unless I was going to add about 5 feet to the depth of the foyer, this upper shelf was just too close to the X-spot to ever be noticed. If you take the time to look at our home page’s photo gallery of our 2009 Parade ranch the “Little-Big House”, and see the great room’s rear wall, you will see what that Round Bay’s curved plant shelf eventually became. I used this idea and transferred it to another home entirely. I always loved this long ,curving (it was originally angled but later became curved in the updated Round Bay ) decorator shelf , and it just took a few years before I could fit this into the proper spot in the proper home design. you will seeIf you visit the R1700 we have just completed for a client in Jackson, you will see this long curved plant shelf is the star focal point of this room.
By the way, I DO hope you can find time to see this lovely customized ranch this weekend in Jackson since this is the last weekend this home will be open before the owner takes occupancy. This is also the first home that we were able to convince the laminate wood floor installers to try a new curved design. At first they said it could not be done, but a little persistence paid off handsomely,…BUT I DIGRESS.
Back on point, focal point that is, most designers and home shoppers instinctively make the great room’s fireplace their focal point. That is fine. I do it all the time for clients. I have been bored to tears with this device for a very long time, but I am designing for other’s desires, not always my own. In an open concept great room, I try to have my fireplaces come to the view of the foyer X-spot first, BEFORE the big(and bigger) screen flat panel television screen. For those who want to put the television over the fireplace(I have beeen doing that for nearly two decades), That can be tricky, inasmuch as the focal point may be now seen as your television. I rarely meet even the most ardent fan of the tube who wants to shout to the World how seemingly important that screen is to their lifestyle. Putting the television on the side of the great room so your first view of the room is sideways to the television works best in most cases. The T.V. feels less important this way.
If you read an earlier blog I wrote about an idea which “started in the Mall”, I have found another way to create a great room focal point in what might otherwisese be a common room. Other simpler ways to create a focal point would be to use color and light. When I used to design trade show booths, I found that folks are instinctively drawn-into bright lights. It is sort of like a bug to a light bulb. If you put a lot of windows on the wall which is in view of the X-spot, you get a focal point impact. I was designing a custom home for a cleint and this client wanted me to shift the windows in certain rooms. They were looking at this plan , as most folks do, from the 2D perspective. Always try to approach plans from the X-spot, 3D perspective. I had a window directly centered on the bedroom entry door X-spot. They asked for it to be centered on another big wall in the bedroom. I know from a strictly appeal of decor design, the window worked best in the original position but most folks who would not be using the X-spot technique, would naturally agree with these home shoppers. By the way, the home shopper always gets their way. I only suggest, they get to decide.
One thing you can do to create an inexpensive focal point is to “wash” the major focal point wall in electric lighting. Many times, I will paint only this one wall with a differing color from the other walls in the room. Remember, this wall is the one that is directly in front view of the X-spot when entering the room. This one wall being colored slightly (or boldly if you prefer) different from the other walls will instinctively draw you into the room. When decorating, be careful to remember which wall is the important focal wall and not create too many other distractions on other walls. You can decorate ALL the walls if you wish, for example, with framed art. Just make sure the biggest, most significant art piece is on your focal wall. The other walls should simply compliment that focal wall’s art.
When I am creating one of our heavily themed bedrooms, I try to still make my focal wall have something significant on that wall. I did a Disney themed bedroom where everything, everywhere was Disney displays. My focal point became the Mickey Mouse headboard shaped bed. (See my Grand Bay photos). A piece of furniture can be your focal point, but then make sure the room’s windows and walls will allow that focal furnishing to be showcased from the natural view from the X-spot. I cry a little inside when I see a great, expensive piece of furnishing forced to fit into a room where it can not be the focal point. Just a little forethought would make all the difference.
Let’s take one home area as an overall example. In a finished basement, what is your focal point? I like to approach it in phases. From my first x-spot at the top of the stairs, what makes me want to come down those stairs? Perhaps a wall hanging with a light on it would attract me to want to come down the stairs. If you check our photo gallery again for our 2009 Parade home, you will see I designed an interior wall made of rustic stone and an eyeball light at the stair landing in the basement. The light played shadows on this stone wall and really was a strong focal point.
When you get to the basement stair bottom landing, you are now at your next X-spot. What wall do you see next and what will you do to continue to attract the eye for that position? In this 2009 Parade basement, I then had the carpet seamed to curve a color , toward the right , which mentally gave direction to where I wanted the next focal wall to be. In this direction, I placed a Baby- Grand piano on a round, raised platform with suitable wall art and a crystal chandelier in a dome over the piano. This whole thing worked in a compact area and became a second focal point to see. After you came into that area, I saw another X-spot as you would come around a corner, so another focal point is needed to continue the effect of always surprising, delighting, and drawing you to come into the home further. The cumulative effect of doing this multiple focal point method creates a powerful impact that is most difficult to duplicate, unless you first approach the design with this methodology from the start.
This same logic which I give for the basement would come into play in every room, as you travel thorugh the entire home. In the Master bedroom, you have muliple X-spots when you enter a master closet, and master bathroom, perhaps even when you enter the private toilet area. Sound difficult? Sound daunting? Like anything, it becomes second nature after you work with this a while. In my experience, this type of detail in home design is what separates the men form the boys. Frank Lloyd Wright realized this and that is why you feel transported to a different World, when you enter a Wright design. This is why you feel one way when you enter one builder’s home and another way when you enter a similar quality home design from another builder.
This should give you a start on some basic understanding of focal points and X-spots. I gaurantee, there are a lot(if not most) home designers out there today who have never even thought of these elements as part of their job(if they have heard of them at all). In future blogs, I may revisit the subject in even more detail, since there are so many creative ways to bring excitment into a home with water, fire, cielings, wall texture, glass and more. In my way of thinking , I want every home to have enough pizazz in the diesign where folks say , “This is wonderful, I have never seen anything like this before”. That goes for ALL home big and large, price is never an excuse for a lack of excellent design
One last note. I will again be at our Milwaukee Dream series home near 91st and Good Hope road this weekend from 1 to 4(Oak Hill Subdivision). This home just got the counter tops installed and was carpeted yesterday. It is almost done. My Sons even brought- in a couch and love seat from our warehouse, just to give you a sense of room size. This home has a finished basement and has an extraordinary amount of detail for a smaller home. (check out the plaster-like crown mouldings, and inset wall panels in the dining room). If you happen to have a custom plan, bring it along. I lovelooking at plans. I guarantee, you will walk out of this home with at least a few new ideas.
Thanks for blogging with me. Until next time…
Blessings,
Tom Hignite
