Why is this room in pain? Because it suffers from something called wallitous. What’s wallitous you ask…well, it’s a painful condition that has the symptoms of all furniture placed up against walls and a big ol’ empty space in the center of the room. Ok, you’re right, it’s not a real condition, but it should be!
This is a gorgeous room–huge windows, beautiful floors and an amazing fireplace mantel. To die over features! But, then the placement of the huge slipcovered couch and chairs, undersized rug and dinky coffee table are just all wrong. I’m guessing they’re trying to keep things open and show off the floors, but in the end, the room loses its sense of intimacy. So what would I change? In the pictures below, while the decor is very different and it certainly doesn’t have the original character and charm of the photo above, focus on the room layout. Large windows at the top of the room, fireplace on the left and a wall on the right.
By moving the furniture off the walls and grounding them with a large rug, you create a set up more conducive to conversations and entertaining. The scale of the table also works better for the furniture and allows everyone to be within leaning distance of a table for a drink.
So what would I do differently in the first room? Moving the couch off the wall about 1.5-2 feet and turning the chair on a diagonal to face the couch, you’d open up the wall of windows so the room would still feel big and open. The coffee table and rug would then not feel as small (therefore no need to spend the money to replace them!) I would, however, replace the side table and lamp next to the couch with a cool arc lamp that would balance the large windows. (Oh, and we would definitely have to deal with that framed picture above the couch–hung way way too high.)
Does one of your rooms suffer from wallitous? Thankfully, there is a cure and it’s an easy one!
Now it has a name. Love it!