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Artistic Decor Rule of Proportions: 2/3 for a balanced room

Updated: Mar 20, 2022

Don’t panic, you don’t need tools. There's no tape measure or a calculator. required.


This is a simple concept to quickly assess your home and decorating, or even your photography and art. It is a simple rule of proportion, merely let your eye divide one-third, two thirds to keep things a bit more interesting.  


The rule works for home decor, color and composition balance.


Take your living room; the furniture should take up two thirds of the area, leaving enough floor space for easy traffic flow like in the photo below.



The painting you hang behind the couch, table or above the fireplace should be approximately two-thirds the width. 



Your coffee table should be two-thirds the width of your couch.


The accessory on the coffee table – the flower arrangement – should be two-thirds the height of the vase.



Color, too.

The Rule of 2/3 proportion works in color and composition

Color divides perfectly. In the Kate's painting below, one-third blue sky, two-thirds orange background adds the right amount of interest and balance to the art.

One Simple Artistic Rule of 2/3 Proportions in art and photographs

If you’re shooting snapshots or designing artwork, two-thirds will have more appeal.


When symmetry becomes the focal point, the balance becomes mundane and will bore you. For example, the first painting of my watercolor sailboats has an uneven amount of birch trees on each side. This creates greater intrigue than the painting below which has equal amounts of trees between the boats.


Original watercolor by www. Kate Moynihan Artist .com

Cropped, Original watercolor by www. Kate Moynihan Artist. com

Look around your home and your art, then simple let your eye divide into thirds.

2/3 is the proportion to keep your decor and paintings interesting!

Enjoy the ease, all without a tape measure

For more non-measuring tips, click this link: 6 Tips to Artistic Book Shelves

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