The living room is where we socialize with friends and family. So, when we think of decorating a living room we think about ourselves, but also about others. While the bedroom is a local private room, this is the contrary. Without doubt, this is the public place of our house where almost everything happens. Besides being a division were you spend a lot of your time, it is also mostly a room to eat. And what are meals without acts of socialization and fellowship? In this article we will let you some key ideas to decorate your room to maximize your space and its functionalities. As a starting point to decorate your room, think of you and your lifestyle. Do you have a big family? Have childrens? Do you like to read or receiving many friends at home? Your needs will guide you in this project of decoration. Step 1:Create large circulation areas. Respect the access to balconies or terraces. Calculate the space needed for all the doors to open properly, the same with doors and drawers of the furniture. Create circulation areas between the couches, coffee table and other furniture. Make sure there is good circulation around the table and can draw back all the chairs for a person to sit comfortably. I leave you some useful measures. For example, between the sofa and coffee table must exist at least 40 cm. Between television and the sofa should be at least 2 meters. For a person to sit at the table, there must be at least 35 cm between the table and the wall, so that the movements are as comfortable as possible. Ideally, this measure is at least 70 cm in order to be able to sit, stand and move freely. Between a table and furniture must be 50 cm for open doors and drawers and another 35 cm to circulate. Step 2: Create a good distribution and use of space If you like to receive people, you should pay special attention to living and eating area. Try to maximize the number of seats to accommodate all the visitors comfortably. Also choose a proper dinner table. If you do not have much space, remember that the round and oval tables allow more seating. Moreover, you can choose tables which can extended, that when not being used, it mark the eating area and is not overwhelming the space. The living area should be near the windows to better enjoy the natural light, continuing the balcony or terrace. In the opposite corner of the room, put the area to eat. Should differentiate the two spaces, though they must have a visual continuity, such as color, same style of furniture and the same textures. You can divide these two areas in various ways. Use low furniture not to cut down the extent of visual space, put one of the sofas back to the eating area, or a solution in which use the rugs to define spaces. More sophisticated solutions are creating gaps in the soil, although this option requires work and is therefore more costly. The coffee center table in a room should be the central element of the seating area, especially if it is given to gatherings with friends. However, the usual is to put the TV as the center of our rooms if that is what gives more pleasure to ourselves and to our family. If a room is small, choose a coffee table square or round to about 80 cm and put a two-seater sofa and an armchair in the shape of L. If the room has generous dimensions, you can place one three-place sofa with other two-place sofa in L or face to face. If the room is narrow, the coffee table can be rectangular 80 cm x 120cm. If you have a really big room, place the U-shaped sofa and go for a square table 120 cm x 120 cm. In the angle between two sofas, use auxiliary tables especially for placing lamps and create points of light. Enjoy all the corners, even those of more irregular shape using a piece of furniture, shelving or corner furniture. The shelves are a good solution to make an entire wall providing an excellent storage solution in the room. Not to overload the space visually, they may be painted with the same tone of the wall. Small shelves under the windows are also practical and decorative. Step 3: Enjoy the light This is a common idea in all divisions, but in a living room it is essential. The format of the windows is the driver for the solution to be adopted in deciding the type of curtains or blinds to better fit the needs. If the windows have sliding doors, you have all possibilities open. The windows that open inward require more attention, in this case blinds or shutters are not practical. In this case, the curtains are the most appropriate solution. Use curtains in narrow windows, they will appear larger If on the other hand you have wide windows, you can use a tissue with stripes on the sides and a neutral tissue for the center. In the choice of textures, if you want to capture light and brightness, you can choose light shades of light tissues like linen, silk, organza or muselina. If instead, you need to break excess of natural light, you should choose between heavy and opaque fabrics. We hope these tips helped you in the process on how to decorate your dining room

We are beyond disappointed in our architect. It has been a very frustrating process! I feel like we are at the point of no return though. We will be speaking with him tomorrow and we make a final decision then. To answer a couple of questions: the two staircases are bc the one in the playroom leads to an attic bedroom and the one in the mud room is going to a home office above the garage - it was supposed to be moved to the garage but wasn’t (more frustration). The Murphy door will likely be removed. I so badly wanted it to work out and thought it’d be a really cool feature but it’s making things more complicated. Again, the centering of the door was my idea to help the elevation work a little better. I would love for him to play around with the porch area/foyer to “make it work” but that’s just not who is is. Had I known this, we never would have hired him. Luckily I have a friend who has been very helpful (done most of the design work) but we’re both stumped here. Thank you everyone for the replies! If we end up changing dramatically I’ll post an update.

I would forget the shelves by the fireplace. That TV is too high and could have gone on the left wall with a nice cabinet beneath with maybe some display and the sofa facing the TV and sitting on the rug so that you can access the door. Decor items and art are things you need to shop for. The art in the DR is hung too high , hang some art on the entry wall with a coat tree in the corner for guests and a shallow shelf under the art.

I don't get this house. Besides all that has been mentioned above...The front door (the main door to the house) dumps you (and visitors) into the dining room. If that were a formal dining room, seldom used, it would be odd and awkward, but it is the ONLY dining area in the house. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, kids studying, dropping book bags, school projects--all as the first thing everyone sees when they walk in. There's no place there that can stay a bit messy (like a breakfast nook). As I look at other spaces and see huge usability and interoperability issues, I think that this is, once again, a house that no one has given thought to how people live. The rooms exist like pieces in a Tetris game, not as a unified whole. Who puts a toilet next to a bed head? Who gives prime exterior wall space to a closet? Who puts the tub and the crapper in the same room ("Sorry, honey, I'm in the tub. Use another toilet.")? Why split that room into two that way? Who designs a media room with no closable door (and a bedroom right above, with no closet)? The only--only--thing that makes sense is the location of the powder room--away from the beaten path yet handy and discreet. But with a pointless pocket door. There are so many violations of Architecture 101, it amazes me.