What is the most important part of your space?

What elements draw attention over and above others? It is in fact true that because of the way the eyes function, one cannot focus on just one thing at a time. Instead, everything comes together to form one picture, one image, which ultimately defines our perception of the space we are in.

This notwithstanding, the Chronos Team conducted an opinion poll which involved getting responses from different age groups within and outside Nigeria.

We asked “What do you notice first when you walk into a room?

Take a minute, think about it.

A lot of people found it hard to decide at first. Others said they noticed the people in the space, not the space itself! For example, Miss Susan Dolan, an employee at Google UK wrote us on Twitter saying, “None of the above. I normally notice or feel the atmosphere/ vibe xx”. Which means that every part of an interior is equally important, as they collectively produce a feel or in Miss Dolan’s words, an “atmosphere”.

However, the big question right now is ‘What was the purpose of this survey in the first place, and what did it aim to achieve?’

If every part of a space is important, why still ask people to vote?

Picture this…

Your living room is in dire need of a ‘facelift’ and you’re all pumped up about all these brilliant ideas you found on the internet, but there’s a problem. You’re working with a tight budget. Where would you channel most of your limited resources? Where would it make the most difference? The walls, floor, ceiling, appliances or furniture?

We wanted to know what the unifying factor(s) in our spaces are. Which should come first on our scale of preference? There certainly will exist a lot of complex theories from a psychological standpoint, but we wanted our findings to be based on ‘real people’ and what matters to them. Let’s take a look at the results…

Turns out most people tend to look at the walls in a room first. My guess is the curtains, paintings, framed photos, clocks etc. tend to “draw the eye”. The next few posts will be on how you can leverage on walls as the focal point in different rooms. Feel free to share any suggestions you might have.

Finally, here are some quotes from two recent University graduates:

“A (Walls). That’s where artworks are hung”
– Christian Okwananke

“I love open spaces. This is why I think furniture is the most important in interior design. It’s the furniture that actually defines the space”
– Michael Ajibowu

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Leave us a comment below…

Credits

Tosin Olufon, Chichi Okoh, Deborah Adefolalu