The Home Office

Hi Christine,

I forgot to ask you what the focal point is for a home office.  Is it the desk?

I very much enjoyed the webinar and I look forward to attending more of them.


Mary

Hi Mary,

Great question.  There is not just one answer to that one.  Sure, sometimes it is the desk, but it certainly doesn't have to be. 

In a living space I would say that the furniture all faces the focal point, such as the center of the dining table, or the fireplace or television.  In a small office, there might be just one chair, which faces the computer monitor.  ;-)  A larger office which has guest chairs facing the desk would have the desk, or wall behind the desk, as the focal point.  The question is, when you enter the room, what do you want the eye to go to? 

Feng Shui would say that the chair should not be facing the wall, but that rather the desk should be in the center of the room, where the chair is in a position where you can see a guest enter the room, not have your back to them.  This setup would again have the focal point be the desk, or the wall behind the desk. 

Here is an example where the focal point is the chair:

In the seminar, I talked about breaking a pattern, and creating a focal point- This office below is a good example of that:  Notice above how you have bookcase, break, bookcase.  The break lines up with the cute zebra chair and the mirror, creating a central dominance.

Here again, the focal point is the wall behind the desk, created with an accent of wallpaper: 

In this small space, the focal point is not the desk chair, or wall behind the desk, but rather I would say that the focal point is the art:

In the office below I would say the focal point is the rug:

What I find as an interior designer is that I do have an "ideal".  I like the focal point to be the wall behind the desk, with a secondary focal point in the chair and the desk itself.  (the photo with the beige zebra chair is a good example)  I like the main office chair to face into the room, instead of face the wall.  This is how I have designed my personal office space. 

However...  I frequently have clients with restrictions that prohibit this.  My cliet will say, "we need two chairs, two computers, six file drawers, two bookcases, and a sofa sleeper. " The restrictions are too many to also be able to treat the office with the focal point that I would like to.  Sometimes function has to come first, forcing me to design some built-ins rather than be able to put a pretty desk in the center of the room. 

Which home office photo is your favorite? 

Nicole's Living Room

Christine,

I am so happy to find your blog again, it is awesome!  I have it bookmarked now too.  Moving across several states was quite a process, but I am settled!

Will you PLEASE help me??  The pictures have captions so you know what they are.  I’m going to make this CONCISE- one room!

 

• The first floor in my new home is an open concept.  
• We need help making our Living Room look better so we can invite some people over.  We are pretty plain people.    
• I am interested in buying new seating- husband thinks sectional, I think sofa sleeper and chair.   You may recognize the couch.  It is very, very, grandmotherly old. 
• We need some new stuff and ideas on how to work the living room/make it look put together, but still be child friendly…by that I mean that white is fine, but not fancy/breakable accessories.
• Measurements:

I wish I had a room worthy of a magazine, but don’t know what to do or get…what color couch would go with the carpet, ect.  Right now it is just ‘blah’ and doesn’t flow.  Our style is not retro or bright type. 

As always, thanks so much for the help!  

- Nicole

Hi Nicole,

I thought it was funny how you said that your style was not "retro or bright type"- I don't know why I found that so funny- but it made me smile.  I kept your design traditional and not too bright.  ;-) 

Here is your current floor plan:

 Here is how I would like to see you have it:

Check out this post on Negative Space.  The first question you should ask yourself when deciding how to arrange your furniture, and so by extension, what kind of furniture you should purchase, is "What is my focal point?"   Your focal point is your fireplace, which is on an angle, which started the concept. 

My next consideration was scale.  You have a small room.  It is only 12' deep.  I used all small scale items.  In your room, they will not look small; they will look great.  More standard size furniture, however, would make your room look small.  This will not.  I have a settee rather than a full size sofa. 

I have a smaller console table behind the settee. 

 I selected slipper style wing back chairs, saving you about 6 inches in width.  That's a big difference.  (The settee and chairs and ottoman below are from Overstock.com)

 To maximize your seating options, I added a couple of small ottomans that can be used with a larger crowd. 

This coffee table is only 26 inches deep.  Perfect. 

Whereas your room is small, you do have a large twelve foot bare wall that is perfect for a larger piece of furniture that can be used as a desk as well as storage and decoration.  I also love how a tall piece of furniture can help the rhythm in a room.  The piece above is from Carolina Rustica. 

Don't forget that your fireplace is the focal point.  Hang something above it that is going to draw the eye of people as they enter the room.  Jewel tones are the up and coming color palet.  In a few years it will be everywhere.  Jump the gun and use them now.

Hang three drapery panels on your windows.  These above are from West Elm.

I chose Quietude by Sherwin Williams for your paint, but you should always get sample quarts. Remember that I can't really select paint remotely very effectively. 

On the wall to the right of the fireplace, I added two sconces, with wall decor between them.  I don't like the idea of having a set of two pieces of wall decor over the fireplace.  I can't really explain why, I just don't like it.  I will say that it just feels wrong.  Now, on the adjacent wall, we don't want one item.  You have one item over the fireplace, you need variety in subject as well as quantity.  I selected for you a photo collage from Uttermost. 

When you put furniture on an angle, I always try to use an area rug, even over carpet.  It helps to ground the seating area.  Especially angular arrangements need that grounding.  This is a Martha Stewart rug.  Another thing that helps to ground an area is a good hanging light over your coffee table. 

Add more color and pattern with some throw pillows- these are from Bliss Living:

Also notice on the floor plan that I showed you exactly how to light the room.  In addition to the hanging light there is track lighting over the wall unit, the sconces on the opposite wall, an eyeball light over the fireplace, a floor lamp by one of the chairs and a table lamp on the console table.  Somewhere in the room you need to put a floor plant with an uplight.  It's a perfect lighting plan, I just needed to make sure it didn't go unnoticed.  ;-)

There you go- we are all done.  I hope I wasn't too bright.  ;-)

Where to put that darn TV?

Hey Christine,

 

I've scoured your blog, which I love and get new ideas for our home all the time.  It's helped me pick out new paint for under our chair rail, rearrange furniture, and pick a rug before deciding on a color scheme.  The one thing I can't figure out is where to put our TV. 

 

Two days ago we bought a TV and wall mount.  Now that we have cable hooked up, we have to decide where to put the TV.  Personally, I HATE TVs over the fireplace.  This wouldn't work for us anyway, as this is the one TV in the house, and our little boys play video games on the floor and have sleepovers, watching movies in their sleeping bags. 

 

The most logical (and easiest way to run the cable cord) is to put the TV on the wall across from the fireplace.  However, the recliner (overlook the old upholstery) and couch would be facing perpendicular to the TV, making watching a movie uncomfortable. 

- Carrie

Hi Carrie,

Your fireplace is a strong architectural focal point.  I would not even consider putting the TV opposite it.  It would create such a split that the room would never feel right. 

As I see it you have three options.

1.  Put the TV over the fireplace, which you said you didn't want- but it is the best layout for your room, keeping one centralized focal point.  In a room that is not large, making two focal points and still making it a perfect room is hard to do. 

2.  Move the TV to a different room.  This might sound extreme, but it is what I did in my home.  I made my family room my living room and my living room my family room, becasue my family room had a fireplace, and my living room does not have one.  I couldn't stand the TV next to the fireplace, and the mantle was too high to hang it above, nor did I really want it there, like you.   I avoided the fireplace/ TV face-off entirely.

3.  A third option would be to put it to the side of the fireplace, but in a manner that is balanced.  One way to do that is with a large built-in wall unit across the whole wall.  Another way would be to add two open bookcase units, (one on either side of the fireplace) like the one below, and add a TV on one, making it subtle, so as to not compete too much with the fireplace.  Your sofa should be parallel  to the fireplace, not perpendicular.  Your chairs are too weak in visual weight to balance it otherwise.  It would also be the most comfortable TV angle.  What you really could use are two larger chairs and a larger coffee table.  Also- the burgundy and the leather don't work together.  I would pull out the slate blue in the rug.

(chair from bernhardt)

Have a good time watching the Olympics on your new TV.  Go USA!  Anyone out ther cheering for a different team? 

Susan's Family Room

Hi Christine,

I have a question about how to determine the focal point in a room. I think the focal point in my family room is the window at the rear of the room.  However, with the furniture positioned for TV viewing, does the TV then become the focal point?  With the size of the sectional and the shape of the room, I’m not sure how to arrange the furnishings so the window becomes the focal point instead of the TV.  Is it bad design to have the TV as the focal point? Also, I know the room is in need of more color, texture and pattern but I’m not sure where to begin!  Currently, the only thing with color and pattern is the new rug which I bought to introduce a new color palette into the room.  I thought the rug would give me inspiration but it has only made me feel overwhelmed with choices.  Should I pick up on the blue in the rug  by adding throw pillows in shades of blue?  The floral chair needs to be reupholstered, the walls need a color that will coordinate with the colors of the rug and should I add window treatments or would they detract from the architectural element of the window? What colors and patterns would work? Also, I want to get rid of the piano (a freebie which no one plays and the color is not the best) and make a picture gallery display on that wall. I would also like to move one of the chairs to that wall along with a lamp and side table.   Am I headed in the right direction? Please help me “Christine-ize” my room!!

 

Thanks so much for your help!! 

- Susan

Hi Susan

#1-  Let's start with your focal point question.  Yes the window is the architectural focal point.  Sure- it could be a secondary focal point- but no- it is not the focal point.  So long as you have it as a TV room, and have your current sectional- it cannot be the focal point.  Ideally, yiou would have different furniture that could be arranged in such a way to open up that wall.   If I had a pretty window like that, I would not want to stick a big sectional in front of it.  So long as you have a TV, and the main purpose of the room is watching it, the TV wall is the focal point wall.  To learn how to make the TV wall a better designed wall, worthy of being the focal point, see this post.

#2.- This would be hard to say if you were my good friend, but since we don't know each other, I'll just throw it out there.  You made a poor choice on your rug.  Now, I hope you didn't spend thousands of dollars on it.  Maybe it can go in your bedroom.  Is it not a pretty rug?  Sure it is.  However, it is too formal a style for your furniture.  It is too formal for the carpet, and it is too small.  Find a new home for the rug in a different room, and start over.  Your rug should be large enough to encompass your furniture, laying under the furniture a bit.  You have a big room, you need a big rug.  You also need a more casual rug.  This rug from Homedecorators.com would go great with your oversized sectional. Can you see how the sectional is super casual, and the rug is super formal?

OK - now remove the chair rail.  Chair rails don't work well in rooms filled with furniture.  Keep them in dining rooms or hallways.  Instead, add some texture to your walls with a beautiful cream grasscloth wallpaper throughout.   

Replace your leather ottoman with a coffee table and two pouffes.  Put the table where the ottoman currently is, and add the pouffes on the other side of it.

The pouffes will add color and interest, additional seating or a foot rest.  They also fill the space, along with the coffee table, giving you a better scale relationship with the large sectional.

Your flowered chair is not one that I would reupholster. It would cost as much to reupholster as it would to replace, and the style is not that much of a keeper.   Select one with a pretty back, and a consistent level of formality as the sectional.  The chair below is from Palececk.

Speaking of scale, your wall decor needs to be much larger on the wall over your sectional.  I would add a large picture, like the New York one below from Uttermost,

and then also add a couple of sconces to either side.

Yes, your room can still can use drapes.  I would add two long panels,  hung on the outsides of the window.  Think of them as the wall decor for that wall.  I selected an off white, the same color as the grasscloth, so as to not have them stand out too much, but rather just add a soft texture.  I do that because of the sectional visually cutting them off.  A bold pattern could draw attention to that, making it feel awkward.  The drapes below are from Pottery Barn.

I put everything together for you below.  Can you see how selecting the wrong rug can be so frustrating, whereas, selecting the right rug can make everything come together easily?  Add some throw pillows to increase your pattern, as well as a patterned lumbar pillow on the chair.  If all of this is too contemporary for you, you could always keep the rug and lose the sectional.  ;-) 

Jennifer's Living Room

Hi Christine,

I just found your blog and I can't stop reading it!

My husband and I have moved in to our first home and are stuck on what to do with the living room.  We don't know where to put any of the current furniture - and are open to suggestions for new furniture to purchase.  My husband hates the couch where it currently is and wants to put it against the long wall facing the windows.  I'm hoping you can provide some expert advice.

The room only has one entrance, by the stairs, and has a very long blank wall across from a long wall of windows. (The room is rectangular with the longest wall being the window wall.)  Also, the wall colour isn't white or cream, it's more of a light greyish purple, and we've just finished installing dark hardwood floors.

Thank you for your help,

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,

Your new hardwood floors sound beautiful! 

The first question to ask when determining where to put your furniture is...  What is the focal point?  I see a TV in the room, so I am going to assume that is where you would be looking.  I am a little confused why your husband would want to face the windows instead of the TV....?  Am I missing something?

So- you need to turn your TV wall into a focal point wall.  To do this, you will need some new furniture.  Your TV should be on or above a console whose size has a relationship with the wall it is on, not the size of television you have.  See this post for details.  You could use either of your two long walls- the wall perpendicular to or parallel with your windows for your TV wall.  (photo from houzz)

A large wall unit, or built-ins, could also help you accomplish a great TV wall.  Again, see this post for more ideas.

Your sofa should face your TV wall. There are a number of different ways to arrange furniture in the room.  Check out some ideas in this post.  An easy way to do it would be to simply have a sofa and two chairs.

(photo from favorite spaces)

How you do your TV wall will determine what kind of furniture arrangement you will do.  For example- if you were to do an off-set TV - like above, you would NOT want to do a symmetrical arrangement- (both chairs could be on one side creating more of an L-shape furniture arrangement).(photo from living room spaces)

- If you decide to go symmetrical, have your TV in the center.  If you like the asymmetrical look, follow through with your TV arrangement.  It is simply a search for balance. 

Remember: focal point, balance, scale, variety...

If you keep a sofa where you currently have one, put a sofa table, console, or desk behind it.  Make it something worth looking at. 

Take down your current ceiling fixture, and replace it with a cool light fixture. 

(photo from viva full house)

Your other wall, the wall without the TV on it, will need wall decor that has a size relationship with the wall itself, or with the furniture below it. 

(photo from apartment possibilities)

Start with your TV wall- you need a focal point.  Then take some new pictures and write me back.

XOXO

- Christine