Living and dining rooms allow you to entertain your guests.
Having well-designed living and dining rooms is crucial if you want to entertain your guests. An attractive living room allows you to hold both formal dinner parties with friends and colleagues and relaxed holiday meals with the extended family. Afterward, you can retire to the living room for coffee, drinks and relaxed conversation.
Visual Anchor
A long dining room table seated in the middle of the room can look bland and institutional without a visual anchor to give the room focus. Place an artwork with bold color or interesting design behind the head of the table. A painting featuring bright colors that contrast with the color of the walls and ceiling is a good choice. Alternatively, put up a mirror behind the table and a chandelier above it. The chandelier will reflect off the mirror, providing a visual focus to unify the room.
This strategy also works well in living rooms. Arrange the living room around a central coffee table with a single, striking artwork over it. Arrange armchairs, sofas and other seating in a symmetrical pattern around it to give the room structure.
Multi-Use Spaces
Some people make extensive use of their dining rooms, but many don't. The space, dominated by a large central table, sits neglected for most of the year while the family eats in the kitchen and entertains in the living room. Why not combine the living and dining room into a multi-use space for entertaining. Put in a small table or two, comfortable chairs and artwork to create a spacious den suitable for cocktail parties or tea. Keep an extendable table in the kitchen and simply wheel it in and put in the extra slats when you need a dining room.
Alternatively, keep the dining room and living room separate, but turn the dining room into an office with a desk, a small coffee table and a couple armchairs for guests. Slide the desk into the corner and move the coffee table and chairs into the living room when you need to bring the dining room table in.
Coffee Table Design
The coffee table is one of the central features of the living room. Use interesting and unusual tables and table decor to give your room character. A few pieces of handmade pottery or a colorful throw can add to the table. Small boxes, trays and containers also add an intriguing bit of design. Decorate the table itself by adding stencils to it, or painting it an unusual color or adding a layer of decoupage. To give your living room more versatility, use two or three small tables instead of a single coffee table. Push them together in the center to make one unusual table or spread them out, placing each by a particular chair or sofa to give the room a more open design.
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