Have you ever walked into a room that seemed to tilt to one side even though the floor was perfectly level? Having had the opportunity to work with many, many clients through the years, I’ve seen this situation often.

The problem is simply one of visual weight. Did you know that your eyes assign greater weight to objects that are large and have a high degree of tone or color contrast? And conversely, our eyes seem to give small objects or objects with little tone contrast less weight or impact.

And have you ever noticed that some parts of an empty room appear heavier than others because of the architectural features in those parts of the room?

For example, a fireplace, doorway, window, built-in bookshelf or a dark-paneled wall will look heavier than an unbroken expanse of wall in a pale color. And in the same way, a dramatic window treatment will look heavier than a softly subdued window treatment.

When planning the placement of furniture in your rooms, keep in mind the visual weight of the pieces you own.

Groups with larger pieces and individual large pieces should be placed first. Smaller furniture pieces can then be easily used to fill in the room, each one selected and placed to create visual balance with all others.

And as you begin arranging your furniture pieces, you will also need to be looking for a place to establish a focal point or center of interest.

A focal point could be a structural element such as a fireplace — a tall piece of furniture or even a window treatment. Once you decide on your focal point, try your best to call attention to it as your place your furniture.

Above all, it’s important to arrange your furnishings in such a way that you achieve visual balance in each room.

Of course, being a professional decorator, I have been trained in how to help my clients achieve attractive visual balance in each room in their home. So why not think about doing it right the first time by calling in a professional?

Kristen Fencl is an award winning professional interior decorator and owner of the Decorating Den Interiors located in Incline Village. Visit http://www.decdens.com/kristenf or call her at 775-250-1426.