Why loveseats are so lovable
Q. Our living room is fairly large but narrow, so the sofa can only go against one wall, which leaves the room open to the entry hall through a wide arch. How can I make it feel self-contained and cozy, not wide-open and breezy?
A. It's all about your seating pieces and how you arrange them. Ideally, you should trade your long sofa in for a smaller love seat, which could sit at a right angle to the walls, turning its back to the open hallway and thereby creating a physical and psychological divide.
Designer advice: Except for afternoon naps, a full-size sofa is a waste of space. No one likes to sit in the middle - it's rather like watching a tennis match! Observe your own guests at your next holiday party: I'd bet they'd rather perch on the arm of the sofa than be the cheese in the sandwich.
A love seat solved the arrangement problem for designer Chris Madden in the serene living room we show here (borrowed from her book, "The Soul of a House," published by Rizzoli). Chris backs the love seat with an all-purpose sofa table ("love seat table?") that holds both necessities - the two lamps - and decorative accessories - flowers, books, family photos.
The table also garages a hassock that can be pulled out for extra seating in this crowd-friendly space. Actually, Chris has created several different seating areas, including a quartet of easy chairs around the fireplace and a separate settee (unseen behind the oak door on the right).
Also unseen: The fire I can imagine crackling behind its screen, and the turkey I would swear I can smell roasting out in Chris' kitchen.
Q. Can houses be good for your health?
A. New York's Iris Dankner thinks so. And she's been proving it for the past seven years with the help of top interior designers from across the country. Iris founded "Holiday House," a premier show house that's held in New York each fall to benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Every room salutes a special holiday in this special house, an early 20th-century mansion at 2 E. 63rd St. (holidayhousedesignshow.com). There's a Caribbean Christmas, colorful birthday bashes, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners ... all aglow with imaginative ideas and unimaginable furnishings, like Amy Lau's "Winter Wonderland" dinner table set for a small army with sparkling red Baccarat crystal.
Honoring Baccarat's 250th anniversary, the scene was inspired, Amy says, by Louis XIV's drop-dead Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. All mirrors and magnolia blossoms and gleaming white satin and silver, it's a dining table fit for a king, indeed. Open through Dec. 21.
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