Every now and then go away,
have a little relaxation,
for when you come back
to your work your judgement will be surer;
since to remain constantly at work
will cause you to lose power of
judgement…Go some distance away
because the work appears smaller
and more of it can be taken in at a glance,
and a lack of harmony
or proportion
is more readily seen.Leonardo Da Vinci
(1452-1519)
Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the greatest minds in history, left a prodigious legacy in science, architecture, sculpture, painting, engineering, music, and mathematics. In order to live such a productive life, you would think that Da Vinci worked all the time, but his advice suggests something quite the opposite. To be really creative, he advocates taking relaxing breaks from work to gain perspective on endeavors. According to Da Vinci, you can see when an aspect of work is out of proportion or lacking harmony by seeing it from afar.
Beautiful interiors work on the same principle. Because we live with our rooms everyday, we lose perspective. We don’t see when things are out of balance. Try to step back and evaluate your rooms with fresh eyes. Practice scanning your rooms to judge if the visual weight of objects and color is evenly distributed. Do your rooms seem empty in some places? Does one side of a room seem heavier than the other? Is your accent color for a room used only in one place? By gaining perspective, we can create and maintain balance to live more beautifully.
