Not the Scale!

Designer: Beth Webb
Photographer: Emily Followill
Cover of Veranda Magazine, September/October 2020
Found by me on Pinterest - October 2025

BALANCE HARMONY EMPHASIS RHYTHM SCALE CONTRAST UNITY 

The thing we try to avoid in life, but… we need the SCALE. 

In design, scale refers to how an object, such as furniture or a rug, relates to the dimensions of the room and you, the human body.

Look at this - a picture I saved on October 17, 2025. It’s a Pinterest post. Beth Webb is the designer. Emily Followill the photographer. This picture graced the cover of Veranda Magazine’s September/October 2020 edition.

Why I love it? Scaled perfection!

What’s big is big, but not too big.

What’s small is small, but not too small.

From top to bottom – why it works. The ceilings are high. Probably 12 feet. Perfectly spaced beams add definition without adding weight. Taking the bookshelf to the top emphasizes the ceiling height and draw the eyes up. The wallpaper is drama; trees scaled to feel like the real deal. Two ginormous lights seem ridiculously oversized when sitting next to you, but hanging they fill the space and are proportional to the size of the room and the table. Difficult to see, even the windows are framed to appear larger. The actual white casing and the glass are rather small, but add the recessed niches around each window and you have visually and physically increased their size. They have been scaled up to properly fit the space and you. Now, a person can lean into the window to look out. If the windows were simply frame and glass, they would be minute in relation to a human. The head table arm chairs and fabric side chairs are balanced. Sans fabric, the side chairs are tiny sticks buried in the forest. Even the floor tile is scaled to perfection. Too small a pattern would feel dizzying. The medium scaled flooring compliments the graphic wallpaper and proportionally works with the size of the space. Every single ingredient in this dining room works with each other, the space, and the person. It’s about scale.

With scale, there’s trial and error. Something huge on its own feels just right inside the room. Something perfectly perfect as a solo act, can feel like doll house furniture when placed with others.

Scale is also an innate feeling. You know when the chair is too small. You know when you’re not comfortable on the couch. You know when your rug is dinky compared to the size of the room.

When applying the concept of scale to your personal space think about vertical scale, horizontal scale, and the amount of negative (nothing) space.

Place objects around. Stand back. Ask questions. Does this table work with the piano? Does sitting in this chair feel natural? Do the drapes make the room appear short? Is the light big enough for the island?

You will have to get on and off the scale. Visually weigh the room.

And, if you can’t figure it out… call me. I’m here to help.