Columns and arches can be used together or separately to open space up and add beauty and elegance. Simply taking a doorframe out and replacing it with a larger archway will create a more airy, open feeling in the adjoining rooms. The arch itself can be simple or highly decorative. Columns can be used to open a room up while still retaining a divided space; a doorway is removed or part of a wall is cut out and columns are added to frame the opening. Now two rooms have become part of one larger space while still retaining their separate identities. This is often done to the kitchen and living room or dining room; opening the kitchen up to the rest of the house is wonderful both for family living and entertaining. No one wants to be alone in the kitchen cooking dinner while the family watches TV or does homework in another room, but those two spaces can easily be brought together.
Some interesting facts about columns: most columns are wider at the bottom than they are at the top. This mimics the effect the eye naturally expects to see (that things further away appear smaller) and makes the columns look taller than they are. A slight outward curve in the sides of the columns actually makes them appear straighter.
