Design Inspiration: Tricking Out the Corners

The modest corner takes center stage.

Ralph Emerson said, “If a man knew anything, he would sit in a corner and be modest; but he is such an ignorant peacock, that he goes bustling up and down, and hits on extraordinary discoveries.”

Johnny Castle put it much more simply, “nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

What Ralph and Johnny mean to say is that corners are not exciting places. They’re dull, geometrical necessities unfit for ideas, innovations, and women who have been sexually awakened by a little dirty dancing. Considering the way we treat corners in our homes – jagged little spaces where dust bunnies mope behind unimaginatively angled armchairs and floor lamps – you’d think they were talking about our living rooms.

But corners are cool. And here are a few inventive, happening and inspirational ways to trick them out.

German designer Yvonne Schroeder created these corner frames for the retailer Details. They come in beech, black, white or natural maple finishes.

The Lorna Shelf by William Feeney is a custom-designed shelving system uniquely created for those bereft corners.

The Wrap-Around-the-Corner Frame from Photojojo is designed to hug the wall as opposed to snuggling into it. It is built to display twelve of your most corner-worthy photos.

Clearly, these dramatic corner windows are flashing “come hither” eyes. Hence the lounge.

This is how to treat a kitchen corner. Like a lady, who knows where her cutlery and her spices are stored.

A wall of sketches offset by a corner bookshelf really pulls this room together. It gives the impression of being lived in, yet worldly.

The Kulma, meaning corner in Finnish. It is designed to use the space inside of a corner or hug the outside. Made from oak, by designer Martina Carpelan.

A dolled up cozy eating cubby, perfect for brunching.

Postcards from the edge? Nope. The corner.

This corner is given a Moroccan edge, easy to mimic with plush pillows and a flea-market stool.

Images: Pinterest via Weekday Carnival Details; William Feeney; Photojojo; La Morbo de los Santos; Decor8; Modern Hepburn; Martina CarpelanSkeppsholmenPinterest; Sorakeem

K. Emily Bond

K. Emily Bond is the Shelter Editor at EcoSalon and currently resides in southern Spain, reporting on trends in art, design, sustainable living and lifestyle.