Arranging Furniture Around A Fireplace Made Easy

Armchairs instead of Sofas or Loveseats

How Successful Rooms Are Created

This photo reminds me of a successful outcome for a client who had a space problem in an open floorplan room.

On one end of the room we chose a large sectional for watching their TV. At the other end of the room we decided to place a lovely bleached oak dining table with French blue dining chairs.

The problem was what to do with an off-center fireplace wall that was somewhere in between the seating and dining areas of the room.

Since there was ample space in front of the fireplace, we decided to create a special and intimate seating area - Four upholstered chairs with swivels surrounding a round table for drinks or coffee.


However, early in the design phase it looked like only a loveseat or two armchairs facing the fireplace would work. Yet once I had the floorplan drawn to scale, I determined that the fireplace 'nook' had the capacity to become a very special space for entertaining friends by using four armchairs instead of the usual loveseat.

Answering this challenge reminds me of Steve Jobs who once said "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

For my clients, this was a solution that looked great and worked for years to come.


Lesson: Never underestimate the power of taking the time to draw a floorplan to scale and to open your mind to more than either or solutions.