Living Room Turned Moody Lounge

A recently completed project posed the same problem many face - what do I do with my ‘formal’ living room space? We all realize that we don't want the “plastic” living room that we all remember, but it seems silly to have a room without a purpose. And, any designer you find will steer you against doing so.

In talking to this client, we determined we wanted a secondary entertaining space, sans TV, that would function as a game room. We both wanted this space to feel moody and cozy. As I dove into the design work I prioritized the three concepts:

  1. Dark walls. The rest of the walls throughout the first floor are quite light. In this space we were also trying to reuse my client’s existing furniture, which was very light, so that worked well with darker walls and left us with open options in terms of color. The main reason behind the dark walls - nothing else screams cozy and moody!

  2. Asymmetrical Furniture Placement - This accomplished two things. By tucking banquette seating into the corner we are adding to the coziness. The arrangement draws you into the space, and invites you in to sit down and relax. This also allowed us to place a game table but not be limited to a central game table with 4-6 chairs … with nothing else in the space. Which leads me to:

  3. Flexible Use of Space - The banquette with round table in the corner can be used as a game table, but it can be also be used as a workstation, light dining space, or the table can be pulled back for lounging. It also allowed us to place wing chairs across from the banquette and utilize the entire room for entertaining larger groups. Much like the issue with the formal living room, I didn’t want to design a room that was a one-trick pony. I’m always looking for ways to make it work for as many functions as possible so the clients can enjoy their spaces.

The end result? Well, our client was over the moon!

What are your thoughts, would you consider a moody lounge in lieu of a formal living room? Are you struggling with how to design & layout a space in your home? If so we’d love to work with you. Please feel free to reach out for more information.

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