When furniture is clustered to one side of a room, the whole space seems to lean. Here's how to fix the problem.

The Challenge:
To remedy the listing-ship feeling that results from clustering a chunky chair, ottoman, and sofa in one corner of the room. Placed parallel to the walls, the seating doesn't relate well to the focal point of the room, an entertainment centre that's on an adjacent wall. The only piece of artwork hangs too high to connect to the furniture and seems small in proportion to the wall.

The Solution:
Place the sofa on the diagonal across the corner and replace the heavy chair and ottoman with lighter-weight canvas chairs. This arrangement brings the room into balance.

The Specifics:
Angle the rug and coffee table, paralleling the sofa. This creates a room-within-a-room and sets up a dynamic, active feeling. To balance that energy, arrange the furniture within the newly defined space symmetrically, placing like objects on opposite sides of an imaginary centre line. The butterfly chairs balance each other on each end of the coffee table, and the torchere balances the plant on a tall stand in front of the window.

Go for impact with the artwork by choosing a larger framed print; hang it lower, so it connects visually to the sofa. Use art and accessories to lead the eye around the room, following a path of peaks and valleys. To create an interesting path, arrange items in overlapping triangles. The arrangement behind the sofa, for example, leads the eye from the high point of the lamp down to the silver platter and a pair of framed photos, defining a right triangle; the silver platter and photos make a skinny base for another triangle that includes the pair of stacked framed prints on the wall.

Use contrasts for interest. Verticals, such as the torchere, table lamp, and plant stand, balance the horizontals of the coffee table and sofa. Round shapes - such as the silver platter, the vase of grass, and the smiling curves of the butterfly chairs - echo the rolled arms of the sofa and add a softening counterpoint to the squares and rectangles of furniture and framed pieces.

Rely on the power of colour to keep things in balance. The airy construction of the butterfly chairs makes them visual lightweights, but the bold, solid-colour fabric allows them to stand up to the sofa's mass.

Suggest depth by placing a tall plant stand beyond the sofa and in front of the windows. This draws the eye through the seating area toward the window. The raised plant also balances the tall torchere.