Trinket shelf, curio cabinet, display ledge
Where does the eye land on your shelf?
A shelf of favourite things can feel off without an obvious reason: four bottles the same height in a row, every tall piece on the top shelf, one red thing shouting. List what is on it and where. The page draws the shelf to scale and measures it. Ask for the read to see where the eye lands first and how it travels, then for a re-arrangement in groups of three that actually fits.
1 The pieces
One per line: shelf | name | height x width | colour | material. Shelf 1 (or top) is the top; 0 or box = not on display. Left to right in the order you list them. Start a name with * for the piece you want seen first.
2 The shelf
Openings: the clear height of each shelf, top first. One number means they are all the same.
3 The cabinet
- balance beam: tips toward the heavier side
- 1the eye path (the read)
- a group (the plan)
- settled
- uneasy
- broken
- * your hero piece
How the page measures the shelf
- Full = the pieces' widths added up against the shelf width. Over 80% is crowded; over 100% does not fit.
- Tallest = the tallest piece against that shelf's opening. Over 100% does not fit; everything under 45% sits low.
- Flat = three or more pieces within 15% of one height - a line with no rhythm.
- Balance = each piece's area x a material factor (glass reads light, stone heavy) x how dark its colour is, weighed about the shelf's centre with the pieces spread evenly. More than a third off centre leans. It is an estimate, not a measurement.
- Colour families ignore white, cream, black, grey, clear and metals. Five or more on one display is busy.
- Rework: a piece taller than its opening or a shelf wider than its board. Tune: anything else flagged. Balanced: nothing flagged. Sizes marked est. are guessed from the kind of object.
4 Ask for a run
Take it with you
The .csv lists every piece with its shelf now and in the plan, its size, colour and material - a checklist for moving things. The .svg is the drawing in the view you are looking at.