Using Oversized Decor in Your Space

Light the way by beginning with your room’s lofty heights.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that large chandeliers need to be used singularly. Gather several of the same style at different heights in the centre of a room to create a statement cluster of cascading light.

For a more classic look, opt for large pendant light over a sizeable centrepiece, such as a grand dining table or kitchen island. Hang two large chandeliers at either end with the aim being for them to cover approximately a third of the surface each, with a central section in the middle kept free.

Should you decide to try the gathered chandelier effect, consider changing the size of each pendant to ensure there’s balance, as demonstrated in the Shalini Misra dining room, above. And if you are somebody who prefers things in threes, the double pendant centrepiece would work just as well with three shades suspended at the same height.

Oversized lighting has a place in every part of the home, though bathrooms are perhaps the most challenging. Look through your spaces to seek out areas with particularly high ceilings where a grandiose chandelier can transform a void into an illuminated spectacle.

A picture says a thousand words, whereas a supersized painting says many a word more.

Oversized art, be it large canvas prints or framed scenes, is a fantastic way to celebrate colour and create movement. It can unite the tones used in a room to establish a firm palette or it can behave as a complete contradiction.

Not only that, art serves to proclaim a lot about your personality, and this is only dramatised further in correlation with the scale of the piece. So use it to say loudly and proudly which artistic movement motivates you, whether that reinforces your reigning interior design style or brings in a new, intriguing dimension.

Large framed wall art is where you can cause a stir with both the frame itself and the art within it, so be mindful of the effect your frame choice will have on your room’s character.

With framed pieces, look to pick up on other finishes in the room for style continuity. For example, if there is a walnut coffee table, a comparable dark-toned wooden frame on at least one piece of art will be complementary. Be careful to not have total repetition in your frame choices however; variation is the key to richer, multi-layered schemes.

To quieten its presence, positioning art behind a console table with lamps or a vase in front is a helpful tactic. Or to do the exact reverse, strip back the furniture and where possible, choose a low-lying bench or footstool to stand in front of it as you might expect in a gallery. This becomes an open invitation to admire your oversized selection in all its glory.

Wall-dominating mirrors warrant the status of artwork in their own right.

Creators of light and enlargers of space, oversized mirrors promise to up the ante on what more modest mirrors already offer in abundance.

A round mirror lends openness, a long mirror naturally elongates or gives the guise of a wider room depending on how it is hung, and a large square or rectangular mirror typically offers the impression of a higher ceiling due to how it mimics its shape.

Mirrors fulfil their light-giving potential when close by to a natural light source where they can reflect as much of what floods in as possible. If your room allows, a large mirror will benefit from being hung opposite a window.

Always be cognisant of what view your mirror is reflecting. Its positioning should be sympathetic to the view from every angle.

A reminder that decorative objects in the home need not be reserved to art and smaller objet.

Whether a large Buddha statue or a strikingly slender contemporary sculpture (perhaps in glass or polished marble to catch the eye), oversized sculptures are an untapped source of design gravitas. They make an unabashedly confident statement. Larger proportions can render a sculpture even more present, more dramatic or more unexpected. An Alexandra Gestin sumo sculpture definitely cuts a striking figure in David Hicks’ exclusive Toorak residence project (above)—an example of the unexpectedness that larger-than-life sculpture brings.

Outdoor areas can also join in on the oversized sculpture route. Large garden statues like antique sundials or architectural water features are deserved of the same artistic appreciation.