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Room arrangement
The choice of seating, and how it's arranged, makes all the difference to a living room. A seating arrangement that manages to combine comfort with style is one of the keys to a successful scheme.
Often the living room has to be all things to everyone - a place for the family to relax together and watch television, read or listen to music; a play space for young children; a room for entertaining, which can lend itself to being dressed up for special occasions.
Every living room has special requirements, so the first step in planning a flexible seating arrangement is to sit down and see what works well in practice and which elements need to be changed. Would drawing your chairs and sofa closer together lead to a more sociable arrangement? Is the flow of conversation interrupted by people passing through the room on their way in and out? Does the TV dominate the room? Make a note of anything that could be improved, and use the information to help you organise your priorities.
Table manners
An occasional table, or perhaps a coffee table between facing seats, helps to give a base for seating. It's also somewhere to display a collection of ornaments, collectibles, or a vase of flowers. Tables don't have to be very large, especially if they will cause an obstruction to the flow of traffic around the room. A small table at either end of the sofa, or a square one in the corner of a right-angled arrangement, is ideal.
In a long room with a dining area at one end, a narrow table agains the back of the sofa is an attractive way to define the two areas - it also avoids the problem of having a dead zone behind the sofa. Where space is at a premium, consider using a nest of tables (right), or a glass-topped table which will appear to take up less floor space than a solid one.
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