My great room is 16 deep x 20 wide from wall to wall. The built in cabinets take up 2' of space and the fireplace hearth eats another 2'. My furniture arangement is as you describe - I have a 5' walkway behind the sofa and 3.5' between the fireplace hearth and coffee table. We also have french doors that open to the covered patio but we elected to have them swing out to save that interior floor space. I have a 8x12 rug in the room and my sofa, tables and 2 chairs are arranged around that and the seating pieces have front legs on, back legs off the rug. We have plenty of room to walk around the furniture but it is still intimate enough for conversation. My house is nowhere near as formally appointed as the ones in the pictures above and upon the advice of a decorator friend, my furniture sits closer together than is normally seen in staged photos but again, it works for us.

The builder did not put a light in my unground gunite pool. Any suggestions on a light or lights I could get without running electricity or drilling into the walls. Pool is just under a year old and I can’t even use it at night. I really don’t want floating lights because they bunch up in the corners. thanks for any help.

Thanks Patricia....I'm not opposed to puck lighting but my other surrounding cabinets have linear under cabinet lighting. I thought the pucks might look incongruous. Correct me if I'm wrong. BTW, if I go with the strip lighting on the floating shelves, my cabinet maker will route out a channel so it will be flush with the shelf.

Thank you both! The idea is to gently light the texture of the wall tile, lessen the comparatively dark space above lighted floating shelves, and for a soft effect in the evenings, not to light the ceiling. Everything will be on dimmers. It's a very narrow galley kitchen circa 1979, and having some floating shelves will hopefully give it a bit more breathing room. I've had open shelves for years and enjoy them very much. Dust control isn't a big issue for me. I'm careful not to clutter them, and I don't mind dusting everything in my house once a week or as needed. My modest amount of open shelving is no exception and worth what little trouble it is to enjoy a few special things I like to look at. Jennifer, I've seen what you mentioned, and I appreciate it. As you said, the more commercial look isn't the vibe intended, but the concept is similar. We've decided to move forward with it. If it doesn't look right, the led strip can be removed with a quick snip of the scissors! :0)