Design Photography: Hey, Where's the Furniture?
Showing rooms without furniture draws attention to the shapes and materials in a space
Houzz is a useful site for interior design and decorating since it illustrates how a multitude of rooms can be finished and furnished. But every so often you'll find a photo of a room devoid of furnishings. Such anomalies capture houses before the owner moves in, allowing the space to be "read" without the added information of furniture and personal embellishments. Even the most minimal houses rarely stay so unadorned as the photos that follow, but discussion of them will reveal some of the qualities of the interior made more apparent from such a presentation.
More: How to Take Beautiful Home Photos
More: How to Take Beautiful Home Photos
Beyond the table in the foreground is an empty room, save some firewood next to the fireplace. Without furniture, the shiny floor reflects the wall opposite and at left, the latter of which is also reflected in the glass surface at right. Without furniture, the asymmetrical placement of the windows becomes more apparent.
This room, with its central fireplace, may not be as slick as the preceding photo, but some qualities still rise to the fore: mainly, the directionality of the floor and ceiling, two parallel planes in wood.
Another lonely fireplace. This furniture-free photo illustrates the diagonals of the ceiling and chimney, as well as how the translucent panels on the opposite wall split up that expanse. I'm guessing the fireplace tools in the foreground serve to give the kink a justification, though I'd love to see a triangle of firewood continuing the diagonal to the floor.
This distinctive apartment is photographed so that the striated wood walls get all the attention. Even the view outside is so washed out it is almost pure white.
Another view shows some minimal furniture (a dog bed?), yet it illustrates how the striated wood walls are like three-dimensional objects within the white space.
This view reveals what the house abuts: "a 3-storey high sandstone cliff which at one time formed part of the shoreline of Sydney Harbour," according to architect Ian Moore. Needless to say, furniture would distract from this formidable element, but I'm curious to know how the owners actually did furnish the space. It's not often one deals with a boulder in their living room.
One last look at the boulder. It is quite the wallpaper!
The lack of furniture in this room (minus the tiny table in the far corner) allows the ribbon-like windows in the distance to be distinguished. The windows run horizontally and then vertically as it turns the corner.
Photographing rooms without furniture also draws attention to the shape of the space. In this barn renovation the ceiling dominates, partly from the point of view but also from the lack of anything on the floor to contend with the trusses and the slope of the ceiling.
A similar shape is found in this hallway that culminates in, well, a room without seating. A glance from the other direction...
...reveals more of the same. At least there are people in these photos to give some sense of scale!
Next: Architectural Images: Truth or Fiction?
How to Take Beautiful Home Photos
Next: Architectural Images: Truth or Fiction?
How to Take Beautiful Home Photos