A long room with a fire at one end. Everything else in it is arranged to make that the thing you look at.
The decisions
A full-width linear fire rather than a conventional fireplace. In a long room, a wide low fire holds the wall properly where a small central opening looks lost, and it gives you a horizontal line to organise the furniture against.
Seating is arranged facing each other across the room rather than all pointed at one wall. It is the arrangement that makes a room work for conversation, and it only becomes possible once the fire is doing the job the television normally does.
Alcove joinery either side, lit from within and painted the wall colour so it disappears until you switch it on. Painting fitted joinery a contrasting colour is the quickest way to make a room feel smaller than it is.
Lighting
Table lamps and wall lights doing the work, with the downlights kept for cleaning the room rather than sitting in it. A drawing room lit from the ceiling is a waiting room.
Details that matter
- Full-width linear fire set into a stone surround, flush with the wall face
- Panelled walls in a single warm neutral, with the joinery painted to match
- Concealed cove lighting at the ceiling perimeter for the evening
- Large rug sized so all the furniture legs sit on it, which is what pulls the seating into one group
