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[Oznell]

Designer Laurel Bern had a letter from a reader about how to deal with a "too-big" living room.  (Must be nice to have that problem...  However, I do prefer intimate spaces most of the time.)

The reader sent in a picture.  The room is in a 1930's house in Maryland, built in the Georgian style.  The room is 20 by 25.

Yep, that's a biggie.   The reader worries that it won't be homey.

She showed her beginnigs of furnishings for it.   Presumably, she will put more in.

What's the first thing you'd do?   (First thing I'd do would do a little dance that I had such a stunning room to work with.)

But the next thing?   Move the seating area (couch) closer to the hearth.  Don't leave it dangling in the middle.

I agree with the design dictum, when you have a big, or a long, room--   Divide and conquer!

Laurel showed her pictures of gorgeous rooms that do just that, and some that don't.   The successful ones, to me, all have the same result-- they create cozy smaller "rooms" within the larger one, through placement of tables, or secondary seating areas.  There aren't any vast, lonely central areas.

The "dos":

This much-publicized room, that even I've posted here before.   Creating an end, middle, and then "other end" seating area, breaks it up in a manageable way.

Nancy Keyes' living room.  It already has that natural divide of the pillars, but she reinforces that with the table with lamps on it.   Keeps from having that dreaded, long bowling alley look, when you look down it.

And for maximalists, this spacious, layered and "collected" room.  Again, the table in the middle breaks it up, and then you can have two separate cozy seating areas either end:

She also shows the "back-to-back" sofas solution, which achieves the same result of making two, more intimate conversation areas.

Another traditional, back-to-back arrangement.

Then, Laurel gives her "Don'ts":

Some of her comments are funny.  She opines that the furniture below is arranged "as if they're about to have church fellowship"!   A cavernous room like this can't be all spread out-- you'd be shouting to get yourself heard across those vast spaces.  She hated the chair facing away from that big fireplace too.

Do you agree with her that this one below comes across as "stiff"?  That's the word that occurred to me too.   There is close-in seating near the fire, but it looks cut off,  and there's that big hole in the center of the room.  Hotel lobby. 

My living room is not huge, but it IS long and skinny--  two small parlors were knocked together to make one room at some point.  I put my aunt's old library table in the middle, as a mail table, and that created two manageable, more squared-off areas.

Would love to see that reader's Maryland house once it's decorated.

[depglass]

What I would do is add a reading lamp.  There are three things you can do in a living room, talk, read and watch TV.  Guess that means defiling the area with a (gasp) TV.  

[faeriemoon]

I have a large living room that is divided into two areas.  It's really the only way to keep it intimate and inviting.

[ECBG]

Thank you so much for another interesting thread!

In the first room, I would move the couch up only a little to provide comfort from a lit fire.  I would put some chairs and a small table to the left and right of the couch creating a "U" shaped conversational grouping.

I would also add a table behind the couch for interest as well as accessories and lamps.

(LOVE their Loius XVI chair with the plaid fabric!)

Love the blue room, but it is a little crowded.

#3 and #4 are both interesting.

The elements and accessories are very interesting.

Love the turq drapes with the leopard and the oriental rug.  I think the dark olive couches are a little too neutral.  I'd add a little blue to that olive.

The beige and medium blue hits me as too soft and lacks interest to me.

I much prefer the room with the butter yellow couches and red lamps.  LOVE the black wingback!

I think the hotel lobby is very attractive.  Conversations need to be private and luggage is being pulled through the are and groups of people walking.

[Harpa]

Love the room! And all the "room" it has!

I don't think I would have any trouble, except I may consider getting a 6 or 7-ft. grand piano. Then with the pedal harp...! The acoustics would be wonderful in a big room like that with bare floors.

We did have a large living room in our former home. My granddaughter suggested that I put the sofa on an angle. That was just the ticket. It gave the room more balance and character, yet kept the open space, which I loved.

[pupwhipped]

Oddly enough I like the very last room arrangement the best...one of her "don'ts." Doesn't look stiff to me. It looks relaxed, inviting, and has room to move around. Many of the others, although cozy, are too cramped and I wouldn't feel like I could move around without banging my knee on something or knocking some knickknack off on the floor. Different strokes. 

[Oznell]

Ha -- @depglass , you are so right!  A TV is a must!  Especially for someone like me, who doesn't have a separate family room.  My living room must also be my TV room, my "everything" room.

@ECBG,   I so enjoy your detailed analyses.  I love that plaid chair too.

I confused everyone-- when I referred to that last room as a hotel lobby, I was being catty!  To me it just looks like a lobby, but it's actually a private residence.  But like you, I would like it if it were a hotel lobby.  As you say, good for trekking luggage.  I just don't like that big of an open space in a private room.

@Harpa,  great idea,  I didn't think of that, but a grand piano is just the ticket in oversized rooms like this--  it could be deployed so cleverly to divide and conquer the room, and still not be too overwhelming as it might be in a tighter space.

[mspatmac]

As usual @Oznell I would need to know how this room fits into the home layout and is it a family home that needs to grow with the family?  If there are other areas, like a family room a kids play area and a large warm kitchen for close friends and family, super bowl parties, birthdays, etc then the room shown can be a show room.  The grand piano and harp sound magnificent. 

All I could think of is what I would do for Christmas 😂

If it's all you have to work with I would divide it into sections to fit the owners/family needs.  IMO the home should fit the into the family not the other way around.

[spiderw]

I love rooms that are spacious and can fit furnishings and decor warmly and comfortably.  I would definitely have window treatments, drapes, curtains, in my opinion always adds warmth.  It would be a pleasant challenge to furnish a room that has a lot of space and I would welcome it.  I love formal and elegant , color , rugs as the one in the layered and collected room as you referred to it, Oznell,  In fact I do love that room.  I have antiques from my mother and collectibles I bought over the years. With a room like that I would be able to display much more than I can now.  I could alleviate the number of items in my breakfront and create groupings all around.  Like I said, a pleasant challenge for me!!!!!

[stevieb]

My own view is that while you can make seating areas or groupings within an enormous room look a bit cozy, there's very little way to disguise that an oversize room is, well, oversize.