by Raven Lebeau

Created on: July 28, 2008

When furnishing a great room, you will need to visually divide the room into distinct areas. Great rooms are usually used for more than one purpose. Sometimes a great room will combined a conversation area with a dining area, or a TV area with a game room, or some other combination of uses. To avoid a cluttered appearance, you will need to pay attention to groupings of furniture and equipment.

The room will have more appeal if similar objects are clustered together. Having chairs on one end of the room, a sofa on the other, and a dining set in the middle is not attractive. Instead, keep your dining set on one end of the room, perhaps with a buffet table or dresser to store table cloths and silverware. A china hutch is another good piece to have in the dining area of the room.

Keep your upholstered furniture grouped together as well. A group of comfortable chairs and a sofa or love seat should have a convenient coffee table and/or a set of end tables where guests can set their drinks. If you intend to use the room for watching TV, make sure there is ample seating such that everyone who wants to can watch. Also, keep the furniture close enough together that people do not have to shout to have a conversation.

It can be helpful to use area rugs to signal a change in the use of a space. If all your flooring is the same, then put a distinctive area rug under your dining table or gaming table, and a different one under your coffee table in the conversation area. This will help each portion of the great room feel cozy and comfortable, as opposed to open and institutional.

Room dividers are another wonderful way to separate spaces. You can use an "open" room divider made of wrought iron scrollwork if the separation you seek is more psychological than visual. On the other hand, if you really do want people in different parts of the great room to have privacy, consider a wicker, fabric, or wooden room divider. (By the way, room dividers are a relatively inexpensive "do it yourself" project if you do not want to pay up for one.)

A great room is a perfect location for showcasing large wall hangings like tapestries, mirrors, and large prints or paintings. Do try to limit your artwork to one or two main pieces for each area, and a few little things here and there. If you have collectibles to display, use a glass curio cabinet to make the collection look attractive and ordered rather than looking like so much clutter at a garage sale.

Learn more about this author, Raven Lebeau.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.