### [Proportion in Interior Design: Why Do Some Rooms Feel More Spacious?](https://01des.com/en/article/3763)

**Published:** 2026-11-02T06:35:58

**Author:** 01DES Editor

**Excerpt:** Turn a dining table through 90 degrees and a route that…

GUIDES

One room measures six metres by three, another 4.5 by four. Both have 18 square metres of floor area. Place a sofa against the longest wall in each: the first room offers a longer wall, but a whole metre less depth in front of it. Floor area alone tells you little about the plan.

![Two rooms of equal area: the plan on the left has a 2:1 aspect ratio, while the one on the right is nearly square.](https://cdn.01des.com/uploads/2026/11/20261102-063323-PMH6Yf24.webp!dis)

The length of a sofa and the height of a doorway are dimensions. Compare the sofa with the length of the wall behind it and you are talking about proportion.

## ROOMS OF EQUAL AREA: WHAT CHANGES OVERHEAD?

A floor plan shows how furniture fits but tells you little about the space above your head when seated. In a narrow room lined with tall cabinets, a high ceiling does not give you more room at your sides. Under the low ceiling of a reading nook, sitting with a book and standing to leave call for different amounts of headroom.

Manhattan MicroLoft in New York takes the question to an extreme. Before conversion, the apartment had about 39.5 square metres of floor space and more than 7.3 metres of internal height. Specht Novak Architects arranged four staggered platforms: the living area sits lowest, with the kitchen slightly above it. Stairs lead to a sleeping platform, then up to a roof garden. Both stairs incorporate storage, and a compact bathroom fits beneath one flight.

![Stairs rise along the wall beside the dark sleeping platform projecting over the living area.](https://cdn.01des.com/uploads/2026/11/20261102-063325-gpzTf0B4.webp!dis)

![The bed sits beside the window; another flight leads up towards the roof garden.](https://cdn.01des.com/uploads/2026/11/20261102-063326-Ug6f8vPD.webp!dis)

A section shows how the area beneath the sleeping platform remains usable as a living room, while the space beyond its edge stays open through the height of the apartment. Neither is apparent from the floor area alone.

## WHY CAN SOFAS OF EQUAL LENGTH LOOK SO DIFFERENT?

A solid base conceals the floor beneath a sofa. Slender legs let the floor remain visible right under the seat, so a sofa of the same length can look lighter. Compare the thickness of the arms, how much of a window the back obscures and the patches of floor left between pieces.

![Both sofas are the same width. The one on the left has thick arms and a solid base; the lower-backed sofa on the right reveals the floor beneath.](https://cdn.01des.com/uploads/2026/11/20261102-063327-Y1p4m0ps.webp!dis)

Photographs help in comparing visual weight. Other dimensions only make sense in relation to the people living with them. The Gentleman is a 95-square-metre apartment in a 1929 building in Potts Point, Sydney. Both residents are over two metres tall. YSG Studio kept the entrance door. Elsewhere the team temporarily removed internal doors and architraves, raised the openings and added Australian red cedar at the base before reinstating the original surrounds.

![From the passage, a succession of doorways reveals their proportions relative to the walls. Their clear height cannot be measured from the photograph.](https://cdn.01des.com/uploads/2026/11/20261102-063328-zVeppW8T.webp!dis)

## PULL OUT A CHAIR AND MEASURE AGAIN

With a dining chair tucked under the table, the gap to the wall can look generous. Pull the chair out and sit down and part of that gap is occupied. If the route to the kitchen passes behind it, measure again with someone seated to find out whether a second person can pass.

![From left: chair tucked in, chair pulled out for sitting, and passage behind an occupied chair. Measure the last clearance from the back of the occupied chair.](https://cdn.01des.com/uploads/2026/11/20261102-063329-x5ggCjWX.webp!dis)

Try the same exercise in the living room. A coffee table too close to the sofa can catch your knees as you stand; too far away and you have to lean to put down a cup. When consulting planning guidance, check which action a dimension allows for and compare it with your own furniture and the people using it.

## WHAT CAN YOU SEE FROM THE DOORWAY?

When comparing photographs of two living rooms, locate the entrance first. Does a tall cabinet block the view or can you see through an opening into the next room? The walls may be in the same place, yet the distance you can see may differ considerably.

In São Paulo, Dado Castello Branco Arquitetura designed the roughly 1,200-square-metre CM Residence for a family of five. Look in two directions. The timber spiral stair rises through the atrium, with openings visible both above and below. Outwards, the ground-floor living and dining areas face a garden by Isabel Duprat. Full-height glazing opens to give direct access outside.

![A timber balustrade wraps around the opening in the floor, revealing parts of the stair both above and below.](https://cdn.01des.com/uploads/2026/11/20261102-063331-FQapUoJW.webp!dis)

![At the end of a wood-lined passage, an opening frames a view outdoors.](https://cdn.01des.com/uploads/2026/11/20261102-063333-WogjEFV4.webp!dis)

## HOW TO READ A FLOOR PLAN

Start with a piece of furniture of known dimensions. How long is the wall behind it and how far away is the window? Follow a familiar route, drawing out the chairs and opening the cupboard doors along the way. Compare sections and photographs to see whether you could look over the furniture to the window from a seat. A wide-angle lens can exaggerate depth; consult the dimensioned plan to find out whether there really is room to pass behind a table.

> Return to the two 18-square-metre rooms. To choose one as a dining room, draw in your own table to scale and add the chairs where they would be with people sitting in them. You now have something more telling than floor area to guide the choice.

Image credits

Figures 1, 4 and 6: original diagrams by 01DES.

Figures 2–3: Manhattan MicroLoft, design by Specht Novak Architects, photography by Taggart Sorensen.

Figure 5: The Gentleman, design by YSG Studio, photography by Anson Smart.

Figures 7–8: CM Residence, design by Dado Castello Branco Arquitetura, landscape by Isabel Duprat, photography by Douglas Friedman.

**Tags:** Furniture Dimensions, Interior Circulation, Spatial Proportion

**Categories:** Guides

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