The original owners of our house used what we consider to be our current living room, as their formal dining and seating area. There were a few issues we had with this when it came to us figuring out the best purpose for the space.
- It divided the room into two separate spaces that rarely got used.
- It disrupted the flow of the house.
- It made it difficult for guests, and for us who lived in the space, to feel comfortable within it.
To combat these issues, we simply moved our dining room into the space next to our kitchen. This freed up our living room, so it could become one large open living area for people to flow in and out of, and still feel cosy within.
Since it is still a long, irregular-shaped room, we had to anchor the space to give it direction and a place to draw your eye to. This was achieved by adding our gas fireplace and mantle, providing both depth and height. Choosing the right rug was also important to us, in order to gather the seating areas of the space.
Even now there’s still so much more need to do, to tie this room together. Our goal is to add more seating spaces and side tables, along with artwork and decor to soften and add interest to the area. So if you have an irregular-shaped room, it’s important to firstly establish the purpose and use of the space, then anchor and furnish it according to your design tastes and style. The functionality of the room will shine through the character you put into it, so make it yours!