Living

RHYTHM AND HARMONY CAN BRING YOUR INTERIORS TO THE NEXT LEVEL

The words “rhythm” and “harmony” likely bring music to mind, but these are also terms that interior designers use to describe our work.

MARGARET CHAMBERS If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to design a cohesive and interesting room, you’ll want to study these design principles.

Rhythm

You can lead a viewer’s eye throughout the room by repeating a pattern or color among your furnishings and accessories. This kind of visual flow is called rhythm. The use of rhythm can be subtle: For example, a particular shade of yellow in a painting could be echoed in the pillows on the sofa.

You can also create interest through progression, in which you line up your accessories from large to small, small to large, or even from light to dark in tone. A series of similar but differently-sized vases in an entryway is a charming example of progression.

Harmony

Another way to achieve balance in your interiors is through harmony, in which all the elements of your

CLOCKWISE: Architectural detail gives the foyer of the SMU Theta sorority house built-in rhythm. The elegant staircase curves as it rises, inviting the eye to follow. Gold and yellow accessories create another kind of visual rhythm in the sitting area below. Framed de Gournay wallpaper panels fill the stairwell’s high-ceiling space and create a rhythm that follows along with the rising staircase. A series of framed, dried flowers add rhythm to the wall over this beautiful Regency bench in this Southern chic Preston Hollow abode. MICHAEL HUNTER WITH DESIGN BY MARGARET CHAMBERS

space relate to each other in a pleasing way. A room has harmony when almost everything in it is part of the same color family: in other words, a monochromatic color scheme.

While a room with contrasting colors and rhythm is exciting, a room with harmony is especially restful. Monochromatic color schemes are great for rooms you want to relax in, such as the bedroom. A symmetrically designed room will also feel more harmonious than an asymmetrical room.

You don’t have to make everything in your room all of one color to achieve harmony. Generally, 60% of the room should represent your dominant color, 30% should be your secondary color, and the last 10% should be for accents. Distributing similar textures throughout your room will also help: from coarse textures like brick and timber paneling to smooth textures like polished concrete and glass.

Now that you’ve read about a few examples of rhythm and harmony, hopefully, you can approach your interiors with a fresh eye and see where you can make improvements. Keep in mind that you need the right amount of contrast to avoid ending up with a boring design.

Margaret Chambers, a registered interior designer (RID) and member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), leads Chambers Interiors and Associates. Her colleague Caitlin Crowley helped edit this column. Visit chambersinteriors.com/blog for more design advice.

Dr. Steve Curtis Pens Memoir About Encounters With ‘Christmas Angel’

By Carley Hutchison

People Newspapers

What does an angel look like?

Dr. Steve Curtis describes his as a homeless man with café au lait skin, electric black hair, and pleasant blue eyes.

Three encounters through the decades with men matching that description inspired the Highland Park resident’s latest book, a memoir of short stories titled Christmas Angel.

“If you took all the people in the world and blended them in an enormous blender, what you would end up with would be a person who looked like my Christmas Angel,” Curtis said.

The first meeting with the angel came when Curtis was making a life-changing choice, the second when Curtis was “veering off course,” and the third when Curtis was feeling frightened and alone.

“Each time we met, he found me and not me, him,” Curtis said. “He either had been homeless or was homeless at the time.”

Curtis credited the encounters with putting him back on the right path and providing him with many life lessons.

The memoir covers five decades from Curtis’ senior year of high school through just after the orthopedic surgeon retired from the W.B. Carrell Memorial Clinic and as an associate clinical professorship at the UT Southwestern Medical School.

Curtis has followed a winding career path.

After double majoring in science and liberal arts at SMU and graduating from UT Southwestern, he went into the U.S. Air Force medical service, then got his orthopedic surgery training in Houston.

“I had no idea that’s what I wanted to do until I started it,” he said.

He consulted with Nike on designs for spine-friendly athletic shoes, worked at the

Carrell Clinic for 40 years, and published articles nationally and internationally on scoliosis. In retirement, Curtis, a pancreatic cancer survivor, has focused on his writing, producing eight novels over the last decade, five released under

A Christmas Angel by Dr. Steve Curtis includes many

old family photos. COURTESY DR. STEVE CURTIS

the pen name R.S. Curtis.

He also writes poems and screenplays and hand draws cover art, maps, and illustrations for his books.

“I’ve been writing my whole life,” he said. “Even while practicing medicine for 50 years, I was writing that whole time.”

ALSO BY R.S. CURTIS

Once in a Blue Moon – a fantasy set in Crested Butte, Colorado

Paradise Divide – an action-adventure also set in Crested Butte

Restoration of Wood, – a romantic comedy set in Austin

A Football Story – based on experiences as a team doctor during the SMU Football scandal of the 1980s

Davids Valley – about an Oklahoma family

Fortnight – a time travel adventure about the Civil War

rstevecurtis.com