Lerwick Nickel bed from The Original Bedstead Company.

Whatever the architectural or decorative style, it’s a well known fact within design circles, that a room will become a more comfortable space to spend time, if we choose a focal point or feature and arrange our furniture and accessories around this point to create a feeling of balance and harmony.

Sometimes a focal point will be an architectural feature such as a large fireplace. At other times it might be a captivating picture, dramatic mirror or an inspired piece of furniture.

Whatever the situation, the focal point is easy to create or identify to exploit the full potential of any room setting. A good start point is to look around the room to determine the dominant feature, which in turn is likely to become your focal point.

In an older traditional setting this is likely to be a fireplace, a picture window, or a built in bookcase whilst in more contemporary rooms it might be a large ornament or modern abstract painting.

A focal point should always be something with interesting visual appeal or colourful or textural interest, otherwise it will not fill the brief as a “focal point”. It should be the first thing that you see when entering a room and it’s possible to create a focal point by concentrating on artwork, paint colour accents or large floral arrangements.

If the room has no distinguishing architectural features, another assured way to create focus is by using feature pieces of furniture.

In the bedroom, the bed is very often the focal point in terms of purpose and positioning, dictating the character of the room and influencing the decorative and accessory theme.

Traditional iron beds and contemporary iron beds styles are particularly appealing in this regard, as are French or English influenced wooden bedstead designs.

In traditionally themed bedroom settings a romantic brass bedstead might just fit the bill, whilst for more ascetic modern rooms a nickel or chrome bedstead is a compelling focal point choice.

Should an outdoor view be the focal point, it’s worth experimenting with the furniture positioning to take advantage of the window areas, and likewise a wall can be painted a different colour than the others and accessorised with wall ornamentation, artwork or display shelves. Lighting to accentuate and bring out the full character of your chosen point is a great idea and if you’ve identified a mantle as the focal point, consider using specimen plants and accessories to add interest.

In all instances it’s particularly effective when contrasting colours are used to allow the focal point to stand out.

Choosing the focal point that gives us visual pleasure is always a recipe for success and by making that “point” the first thing that strikes us it will ensure that others enjoy the same experience.