Where the Room Happens
The living room is the only room in the house that’s asked to do everything: greet, host, relax, work, watch, sometimes sleep. 312 living rooms that handle the pressure — from 400-square-foot urban apartments to 1,200-square-foot great rooms with twenty-foot ceilings.
The Furniture Arrangement That Saved a 1,400-Square-Foot Great Room
Big rooms intimidate. Designer Anna Okafor solves them by making them smaller — breaking a single cavernous volume into three conversation zones held together by a rug pattern, a lighting plan, and exactly one sectional that refuses to be the star.
Read the StoryThe Living Rooms That Keep Saving Readers
How a 380-Square-Foot Living Room Seats Eight
A West Village studio solved the what-if-we-have-people-over problem with one convertible daybed and a coffee table with a secret.
Read the tourThe Fireplace Mantel Debate — Settled
Original plaster? Restored wood? Limestone? We asked five designers how to handle an original fireplace when the rest of the room is going modern.
Read the storyThe Open-Plan Living Room That Found Its Edges
Open plans drift. This Seattle home uses ceiling changes, flooring shifts, and a very particular lighting scheme to define a living room without walls.
Read the tourThe Case for the Custom Sectional
Off-the-shelf sectionals are rarely the right shape for the room. A designer explains why a custom is worth the ten-week wait — and roughly what to budget.
Read the storyThe Neutral Living Room That Isn’t Boring
Neutrals are hard. A Charleston designer walks through how she layered six warm neutrals to make a room that feels quiet without going flat.
Read the tourFive Living Room Layouts That Actually Work
Floating furniture. L-configuration. Parallel sofas. With a diagram of each and a note on which rooms they fit.
Read the storyStruggling With the Layout?
Download our Living Room Layout Playbook — fifteen templates with measurements, walkway widths, and the furniture specs that make each work. Free to subscribers.
Get the Playbook