Forget about filling every nook and cranny for a second. Think about what happens next. Because once that person walks into the room, traffic patterns take center stage. The chair by the window could fit perfectly in that empty spot; the console table could be a functional solution to the blank wall; that wicker basket could do great service in the corner. But all of these elements impact traffic flow, that essential, often overlooked aspect of interior design that determines whether a room functions effortlessly or causes a few extra headaches and irritations each time you enter it.
What is meant, essentially, by traffic flow is that it’s the pathway that someone walks through the space. It is how a person moves from the entryway to the seating area, how one walks around the table to get to the sofa, how a person gets in and out from storage, pulls out the drawers, opens the closet, or walks from the bedroom to the living room. There is no need for an exaggerated, corridor-sized pathway, but it must exist. If this is ignored when you are setting up your room layout, while it may look good from the perspective of a photograph, it won’t function in everyday use.
It’s often a common first-timer mistake to want to fill each and every empty space. Empty space feels very bare, very unfinished, even more so if you are perusing your favorite Pinterest and magazine images of layered bookshelves, styled side tables with an endless number of potted plants, a stack of coffee table books, and lots of decorative accents. In reality, empty space is often playing a very important part in that room and its circulation; it could be providing enough room for a door to open, making it so much easier to access the seating, and/or providing an amount of breathing room for the eyes to rest in between pieces of furniture. Not all negative space is bad; negative space that is necessary to movement can often be the perfect balance, so that’s never a waste.
You should check the circulation by mapping out your room by drawing a quick plan and tracing with your finger the routes. Walk from the door entry to the main seating area, then to a side table, then to the storage, to and from the other room. The moment you need to go around an obstructive piece of furniture, bend and twist yourself to get around a sharp corner, or even squeeze through the middle of a seating cluster, you’ll know for sure that in a physical room, you will probably have to do the same. You can check all this out before you even lift a finger or a piece of furniture.
Not only does a furniture placement influence the circulation, but a piece’s scale does, too. A sofa that is just a little too deep might cut into the path. A coffee table that is too wide might create an awkward and inaccessible seating area. A storage piece that is positioned directly in front of a door might be convenient until the moment you open it and the door/drawer/ cabinet hits the pathway or blocks traffic. Make certain that you are considering the scale of the furniture while allowing for use of that furniture piece, chair, for example, is used when a person pulls it out, drawers are pulled out, doors open, people turn their body when they pass through the room, etc.
The same is true for the lighting and height of tabletops. If a floor lamp is placed in the wrong spot, it could result in someone having to walk around it daily. A low table that is placed in front of seating could result in someone’s knees bumping the edge. If placed along a pathway, even an arrangement of decor (baskets on the ground, plant stands or other plant pieces, or small side tables or stools) could impact circulation. It is best to always be asking if something is supporting the flow of how the room is used before thinking, “This would look good.”
Instead of bringing in another decorative accent that may or may not end up looking good, sometimes a room will work much better once you take one of the unnecessary obstacles away. Identify the route that you are traveling, then keep it open. Once you know you can move easily from one part of a room to another, you will have the perfect amount of calm before introducing the color, textures, and final accents.