See How a Designer Tackles XXL Proportions in a Living Room
This two-story Maryland space is big enough for large crowds but intimate enough for family time
Before: The room was mostly beige. The fireplace surround was concrete that had been faux-painted to look like stone, and not very convincingly. With the room’s high ceilings, huge windows and enough floor area for a roller rink, figuring out a comfortable furniture layout was a challenge.
Getting Brave With Color
Kaplan made over the overwhelming beige expanses with a charcoal paint, which helped the walls recede into the background. She covered the faux-stone fireplace paint with Benjamin Moore’s Gunmetal in a semigloss finish. Then she painted the chimney a light color to contrast with and break up the dark walls. This gave the fireplace a stronger presence that better suited the large scale of the room.
Tip: Wait until the job is done to judge. “My clients hated the fireplace surround when it was the only thing we had done and started to panic,” Kaplan says. “But now that it’s all put together, they absolutely love everything about the room.”
Wall color: Hearthstone, Benjamin Moore
Kaplan made over the overwhelming beige expanses with a charcoal paint, which helped the walls recede into the background. She covered the faux-stone fireplace paint with Benjamin Moore’s Gunmetal in a semigloss finish. Then she painted the chimney a light color to contrast with and break up the dark walls. This gave the fireplace a stronger presence that better suited the large scale of the room.
Tip: Wait until the job is done to judge. “My clients hated the fireplace surround when it was the only thing we had done and started to panic,” Kaplan says. “But now that it’s all put together, they absolutely love everything about the room.”
Wall color: Hearthstone, Benjamin Moore
“Going dark on the walls, window muntins and fireplace surround was really scary for my clients because it was a big change and a departure from the rest of the house,” Kaplan says. “But painting the muntins dark charcoal really accentuated the beauty of the windows. And the color speaks to the dark steel-framed window trend that is so popular right now.” White trim around the windows coordinates with other arched openings in the room.
A Zoned Approach to Layout
Creating a furniture layout that could make a family of five feel cozy yet accommodate parties of up to 100 was a challenge, but studying those hotel lobbies helped. Kaplan took a zoned approach. “Think about a party where most of the guests don’t know each other — I wanted to create small seating areas that would encourage happenstance conversations, where people would feel comfortable,” she says.
The pair of sofas in front of the fireplace is the family zone. Kaplan chose large-scale sofas and a large-scale coffee table to suit the proportions of the room. The family can gather here and feel cozy as a small group. A pair of armchairs at one end and stools at the other serve as additional seating.
Tip: Seat cushions are an important consideration when sofa shopping. These sofas each have one long tufted bench cushion. “The bench cushions on the sofas hold their shape really well, are more elegant for entertaining and the tufting means they never need fluffing,” Kaplan says.
Window muntin paint: Graphite, Benjamin Moore
Find a gray sofa in the Houzz Shop
A Zoned Approach to Layout
Creating a furniture layout that could make a family of five feel cozy yet accommodate parties of up to 100 was a challenge, but studying those hotel lobbies helped. Kaplan took a zoned approach. “Think about a party where most of the guests don’t know each other — I wanted to create small seating areas that would encourage happenstance conversations, where people would feel comfortable,” she says.
The pair of sofas in front of the fireplace is the family zone. Kaplan chose large-scale sofas and a large-scale coffee table to suit the proportions of the room. The family can gather here and feel cozy as a small group. A pair of armchairs at one end and stools at the other serve as additional seating.
Tip: Seat cushions are an important consideration when sofa shopping. These sofas each have one long tufted bench cushion. “The bench cushions on the sofas hold their shape really well, are more elegant for entertaining and the tufting means they never need fluffing,” Kaplan says.
Window muntin paint: Graphite, Benjamin Moore
Find a gray sofa in the Houzz Shop
A pair of tufted chairs with slender side tables provides a spot for intimate conversation within a big crowd. The two wingback chairs in the back left corner form another sweet spot for two. “The wingback chairs are Mom and Dad’s favorite place to sit together every day,” Kaplan says.
This floor plan offers a closer look at the furniture layout. A beautiful rug anchors the main seating area in front of the fireplace. In the bottom left corner is a door out to the pool. “The kids come directly into this room from the pool, so we didn’t want a rug to extend into that traffic path,” Kaplan says.
Why a Sofa Makes a Room and How to Find the One for You
Why a Sofa Makes a Room and How to Find the One for You
Standing Up to High Ceilings
The dimensions of the furnishings, particularly their height, are key in mitigating the room’s large scale. For instance, Kaplan chose the etagere for its height, which makes the oversize arched opening next to it feel smaller. And she mimicked the etagere’s height by hanging the drawing on the other side of the opening at about the same height. She also used chairs with high backs and tall side tables topped with tall table lamps to stand up to the two-story-high ceilings and other extra-tall architectural details.
One of the elements that has the biggest effect on the scale of the room is the large, low-hanging chandelier. “The chandelier brings the ceiling down and creates a focal point at a more human height,” Kaplan says.
Find the right chandelier for your space in the Houzz Shop
The dimensions of the furnishings, particularly their height, are key in mitigating the room’s large scale. For instance, Kaplan chose the etagere for its height, which makes the oversize arched opening next to it feel smaller. And she mimicked the etagere’s height by hanging the drawing on the other side of the opening at about the same height. She also used chairs with high backs and tall side tables topped with tall table lamps to stand up to the two-story-high ceilings and other extra-tall architectural details.
One of the elements that has the biggest effect on the scale of the room is the large, low-hanging chandelier. “The chandelier brings the ceiling down and creates a focal point at a more human height,” Kaplan says.
Find the right chandelier for your space in the Houzz Shop
Kaplan incorporated some of her clients’ favorite things in the design, including this chest and pair of watery landscape paintings. “It all really pops against the dark paint,” she says. Tall buffet lamps extend the height of this vignette. Two new shagreen boxes tie the blues in the paintings to the gray paint and add another luxe texture.
The clients also already had the drawing seen in the previous photo, picked up on their travels. It’s by Carlos Martin, an artist from Zaragoza, Spain. And the gilt-frame mirror remained over the fireplace before and after the remodel; its ornate lines create a nice juxtaposition to the sleek edges and finishes of the other furnishings.
The clients also already had the drawing seen in the previous photo, picked up on their travels. It’s by Carlos Martin, an artist from Zaragoza, Spain. And the gilt-frame mirror remained over the fireplace before and after the remodel; its ornate lines create a nice juxtaposition to the sleek edges and finishes of the other furnishings.
The Room in Full Use
“Having a strong family-centric space mattered a lot to this family,” Kaplan says. And now the remodeled room makes guests feel welcome and comfortable as well. This snapshot from a recent wedding shower shows how well the design accommodates a big crowd.
Takeaways
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“Having a strong family-centric space mattered a lot to this family,” Kaplan says. And now the remodeled room makes guests feel welcome and comfortable as well. This snapshot from a recent wedding shower shows how well the design accommodates a big crowd.
Takeaways
- Meeting the challenges of scale and proportion requires skill and experience. If your home has such issues, it’s a really good idea to call in a design pro.
- Sometimes inspiration for home design comes from unexpected places. In this case it was chic hotel lobbies.
- Dark paint and breaking up expanses of color can help bring extra-large walls down to human scale.
- Create opportunities for conversation and connection with seating arrangements. Be inspired by places where you recall being comfortable and having wonderful conversations.
- Use tall items and low-hanging chandeliers to help bring a high ceiling down.
More on Houzz
Read more stories about living room design
Find an interior designer near you
Shop for home furnishings
Living Room at a Glance
Who uses it: A family of five
Location: Potomac, Maryland
Size: 504 square feet (47 square meters); 18 by 28 feet
Designer: Kirsten Kaplan of Haus Interior Design
In the 1980s, the philosophy of “bigger is better” dominated American culture. It applied not only to hairdos, shoulder pads and stereo speakers, but also to home design. Often an otherwise wonderfully designed house would have one room built as large as possible without a lot of consideration for human scale (proportions that fit us and make us feel comfortable in our surroundings). Soaring ceilings dwarfed the average-size sofa or bookshelf; massive windows made standard doors look Lilliputian.
That was the case in this Potomac, Maryland, living room, which measures 18 by 28 feet and has two-story-high ceilings. The homeowners, a couple with three young children, host large fundraisers and needed a space that could accommodate up to 100 guests comfortably. But they also needed their living room to feel cozy and intimate for the many nights the five of them are at home enjoying family time.
Interior designer Kirsten Kaplan had been working with the homeowners for years, and they had all decided to save the largest room for last. Armed with a thorough understanding of her clients’ tastes and lifestyle as well as their trust, she was ready to face the super-size challenges the room presented. The work included new paint, new lighting, new furniture and accessories, and a pleasing layout with lots of seating options.
“We wanted everything to feel sleek, elegant and young — no granny feel allowed,” Kaplan says of the room’s style. She and her clients shared ideas using Houzz ideabooks. “Houzz is particularly helpful when looking for more glam, sleek, elegant spaces,” Kaplan says. “And we looked to sleek hotel lobby designs to understand seating groups. It was helpful to sit in hotel lobbies and watch where people chose to sit, and assess what drew them to those spots.” The materials palette includes enticing fabrics like velvet and furniture and accessories with a range of lustrous metallic undertones.
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