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AUSTRALIAN HOUSE & GARDEN / 177Photograph by James Knowler/bauersyndication.com.au.
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com.au.Interiors expert Rose-Marie Hillier
shares the secrets of furniture
selection for larger homes and
reveals her top five favourite
bedside tables.
Q We recently moved into a new
four-bedroom home with large
living areas. We’re decorating
from scratch and want to get it
right, but I don’t like the idea of
buying furniture simply to fill
up the space. How do I begin?
Alex McKendry, via email
A The aim is to create a home where
you feel truly comfortable. To achieve
this, you’ll need to pay attention to
proportion. This means considering the
size and scale of not only the furniture,
but of the designs of wallpaper and
fabrics. In a large home, you will need
bigger pieces and more of them. It may
mean choosing a four-seater sofa instead
of a three-seater, and designating two
conversation groupings in your living
space, which may require the use of
several easy chairs as well. Streamlined
built-ins tend to make a room appear
more expansive; in your case, try
shelving to minimise the impact of a
long wall. Displaying artwork at random
will draw attention to vacant spaces, so
go for larger canvases to fill walls with
bold colour and pattern, or cluster
artworks in different sizes in groups
around the room. This is an opportunity
to have a big, beautiful ‘look at me’ rug;
importantly, its intention should be to
anchor the furniture. Interior designer
Greg Natale gives great advice about
this in his book The Tailored Interior
($69.95, Hardie Grant). >