Decorating to the Power of 3

Have you ever looked at a magazine picture and thought to yourself, "why do ALL their knickknacks look beautiful and pulled together and mine don't!" "Why does it always look good for them but like a mess for me?!" 

It's a secret I learned when I first began devouring design blogs, and it's one I return to time and time again. The power of 3! 

Here's a few examples of how I use 3's in my decorating. 

Notice in the first picture I used 3 seperate objects: the red ginger jar, the art and the smaller glass Japanese float. Three seperate objects grouped together to make one visually interesting picture. Also in the 2nd picture, you'll notice 3's in the stack of 3 books and again the books are grouped to make 1 and then there are 2 pieces of coral, so again the 3 is repeated. 

Studies show that objects grouped in odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye than even numbers! Keep this in mind the next time you are looking at home decor mags or blogs and see if you notice this trend.  

However, JUST as important as the number is the depth and height of your objects. Take at look at these next pictures and notice how the objects are staggered and staged in 3's 

You'll notice in the suitcase picture that there are actually 6 items but your eye really sees them as 3. The suitcases repeat the 3 and then you have the group of frames, suitcases, and then the cloche. 

Go take a look at your knickknack patty wacks, uh I mean knickknacks, and try this idea out. ;)