Question: We moved into our new home in June and need some ideas for how to arrange some of the living room furniture. The living room has a cathedral ceiling, fireplace and four windows.

The furniture includes one oriental rug, a love seat, rocking chair, armchair, wicker rocking chair, coffee tables, armoire that houses television and stereo, two end tables and music cabinet. We will inherit an upright piano and another small upholstered armchair. The windows face south, so it gets quite warm. We are thinking about installing top/down honeycomb shades.

Kathy Kirkpatrick
Richmond, CA

Answer: Your sunny living room is a wonderful place to watch television, make and listen to music, socialize or read by the fire in the evening or when it's not so nice outside.

Let's start this furniture layout by using your oriental rug to help define one of the areas in the room. Place the rug the long way from one wall to the next to create the illusion that the room is wider.

Instead of leaving the sofa in the middle of the room, let's place it against one of the long walls. And, on the opposite wall, across the room, let's put the television armoire for easy TV watching from the sofa. By using both long walls this way, we've anchored the room with the two largest pieces of furniture and created balance and symmetry.

One of your coffee tables goes in front of the sofa and, on either side of it, your end tables with a lamp on each to illuminate this part of the room. The piano that will arrive shortly will have its own perfect place to reside, the wall farthest from the window end of the room, perpendicular to the sofa. This spot is far enough from the large windows to protect both its delicate mechanism from temperature changes and the wood from the sun's light. Between the piano and the end table goes your music cabinet, so now we've created a music corner. The small chair that will also arrive soon can face into this newly created seating area and will give you a lovely, intimate seating area for listening to music and conversing. Let's make another seating area near the windows and fireplace using your two existing upholstered chairs. We'll put them on either side of the fireplace and add a small end table next to one so you have a place to put a book or refreshment. This will also give you an inviting visual "destination" as you enter the room and help draw you into the space.

Now for the window treatments. Since the windows are such an important part of the overall feeling of the room, let's use a covering that makes a strong decorative statement, keeping in mind their function: to diffuse the strong sunlight, offer privacy and provide insulation.

Top/down honeycomb shades are a good idea; however, it's not as interesting a solution as we might like.

Instead, I suggest using a woven shade made of natural fibers and with a privacy backing added to it. This backing will block out the strong sunlight and provide privacy. They also offer some insulation.

They can be top/down shades and mounted inside the window casing. Several companies can make them for you. The price can vary widely from one manufacturer to another, so do some research to find which one best suits your budget.

Let's add some large plants near the windows for height and interest. So the armoire isn't the first thing you see when you enter the room, put a medium-size plant on the floor next to it, nearest the entry, to soften the hard edge of the cabinet.

Over the sofa I suggest you put a large piece of art, making sure it's one that hangs horizontally to further enhance the size of the room. Above the piano is a perfect place to put a mirror so the view of the windows and their light is reflected back into the room from this end. Another good focal point to feature art is over the fireplace.

Since the window shades are a natural woven material, you have lots of latitude with the fabrics you'll use in the furniture. Be sure to choose colors that complement your oriental rug as an accent, perhaps adding interesting throw pillows on the sofa.

Use synthetic fabrics for the chairs nearest the windows so they won't fade in the sunlight.

Your wicker chair seems totally out of place in this room both in terms of scale and material so, if possible, I'd leave it out.

I think this new layout will make your large, bright living room more interesting by creating spaces within it that are determined by design as well as need.

 

TO GO BACK TO THE "ARTICLES" PAGE, CLICK HERE