Layout Issue - Living Rooms with Multiple Entrances

Way back in April (can you believe it’s mid July!?), we collected submissions from followers for free advice on paint colors, furnishings, layout and general design dilemmas. We covered a lot of ground in a series of 9 posts. It was a lot of fun.

Side note: if you want to check out these posts, go to the “Post Archive” tab on the right side of your screen and click on “Designer for a Day”. You’ll find a lot of free advice, mood boards and shoppable links.

When it was all said and done, we had missed one submission. It had been a long, complicated submission…yes, I’m making excuses…and after pushing it off week-after-week, it got lost in the shuffle and we completely forgot about it. Thankfully, we were in touch with the lovely woman who made the submission and she was more than understanding as to why we had missed her request. But, it’s been eating away at us. Plus, she had some universally relevant questions in her mix.

SO, today we’re going to work through one of her questions - how to furnish a living room that has multiple entrances (windows, fireplace, etc.) and provide ample seating for big families/events.

Here is her living room.

And from the other direction.

Like many living rooms, this one has 2 entrances/exits, a wall of windows and a fireplace. There are a lot of architectural features to contend with. First, some preliminary advice we have for any living room (and, actually, any room in general):

1) Furniture doesn’t have to line up to the perimeter of the room. It can float in the middle of a room as long as it is grounded by a rug and/or surrounding pieces.

2) Windows don’t have to be unencumbered to the extent that none of the glass is blocked by furniture. Sometimes that’s simply not possible.

3) Cased openings (doorways without doors) don’t have to be cleared for landing. People tend to treat cased openings like tarmacs to make sure that jets, and small children, can speed from room to room without obstacle. Everyone, small children included, will learn to navigate around furniture…and, bonus, it may even slow their sprint.

Now, back to the room at hand. We totally support the television location. Whenever possible, a television is best on a wall and not above a fireplace mantel. But, one sofa isn’t going to cut it. First, there’s not enough seating in general. Second, try sitting three people on a sofa and having a conversation that includes everyone. The person in the middle has their head on a swivel, it’s awkward and uncomfortable.

Proper conversation seating requires more than one piece of furniture in close proximity. And, our preference, is to have two pieces of furniture perpendicular to one another (at right angles). Here are a few examples of this type set up.

From our Lovell Project - the pair of wingback chairs are perpendicular to the leather sofa.

From our Prospect Project - the blue armchair is perpendicular to the gray sofa.

From our Enos Project - the curved armchairs are perpendicular to the bench seat sofa.

Another important note about all three of these projects - the chairs are floating in the room with enough space for a person to walk behind them. This isn’t as obvious in our Lovell or Prospect projects, but we promise - there is a good two feet behind the chairs in both rooms.

Below is our proposal for this living room - ignore the color and style of the furniture, we did a quick and dirty rendering.

We’re not working with actual room measurements, so the idea above is general. We would add 1-2 chairs in front of the larger cased opening and one smaller chair in the corner by the fireplace. And, bonus, a pouf by the chair near the fireplace could double as extra seating.

And, because we can’t help ourselves, we would recommend removing the sconces above the fireplace mantel (or relocating them farther apart) and add a mirror.

Armchair - $600

Woven Accent Chair - $200

Pouf - $105

Round Mirror - $80

Put a tall plant on the opposite side of the fireplace and a beautiful throw blanket over the back of one of the upholstered armchairs - transformation complete.

While we’re not taking anymore submissions for free Designer for a Day advice, we’re always taking submissions for ideas on blog posts. So, get creative. We’re all ears.

- Leah

*This post contains affiliate links*

Our Plan to Support the Black Community

We have developed a clear, action based plan for being better allies and showing tangible support for the black community in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. And we are spelling it out today. As Gray Oak Studio grows each year, we will look back on this plan, we will hold ourselves accountable and we will make bigger and better plans. We want our family/friends/followers/clients/colleagues/vendors (EVERYONE) to know that we aren’t just passionate about design, we’re passionate about creating a business that we can be proud of on all levels.

1. We will continue to amplify black voices.

We know that putting a black square on our Instagram feed and staying silent for a week to make way for black content creators to be seen and heard is great. We also know that this must be a day-to-day practice and not a one time effort. We have always featured noteworthy creatives on our Instagram stories, paying close attention to those accounts with less than 10k followers. We will now also pay close attention to those accounts with black content creators. Our shoutouts will be thoughtfully and purposefully diverse.

2. We will specify vendors who have shown tangible support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Like you, we have been paying attention to those who have shown loud and clear messages of anti-racism. We have been happy and hopeful to see so many. Here are a few examples:

• Interior Define has put together a concrete plan to diversify the makeup of their workforce and will close their offices on Election Day to make it easy for their employees to vote for change.

• Framebridge has created three working groups to support black artists, partner with change-driven organizations and create internships for persons of color.

• Brooklinen has donated money to Black Lives Matter, Campaign Zero and Act Blue Bail Funds as well as matched donations by their employees. They also created a publicly accessible list of anti-racism resources.

We will purposefully specify these vendors for our projects. We want to partner with and support companies that have social justice policies in line with our own. Please share any company who has impressed you with a powerful anti-racism message and plan in the comments below. We want to add them to our list.

3. We will feature a furnishing/item of decor/etc. from a black owned business in every project.

We are also compiling a list of black owned companies, black artists and black artisans. Every Gray Oak Studio project will feature at least one black owned business. Whether it’s the paint on the walls (Clare.com), the upholstery fabric (Bole Road Textiles) or the soap…in a beautiful dish by the sink (Simply Good Soap), we will take time to shout out the product and tell you about the artist/shop/creator.

Stay healthy, stay informed, and stay tuned…we have A LOT of amazing projects to share over the next few weeks.

- Leah + Sonia

April Stay Home - Free Designer for a Day (Vol. 9)

It’s our last volume of our Free Designer for a Day (from April) advice. Squeezed it in just before June. Whew. If for some reason we missed your submission, feel free to email us! Hello@grayoakstudio.com

Question - I would love to see a few mood boards for a toddler playroom that is both pretty and functional, especially after all this time inside :)

We pulled together a gender neutral, high-low mix of playroom fun. A “high-low” room is one that includes both expensive and budget-friendly furnishings. We believe that when it comes to interior design there’s time to go high and a time to go low. Unlike when it comes to responding to bad behavior where, as Michelle Obama says, you should always go high.

How do we decide when to go high and when to go low? Anything that will make a big statement in a room (example: an amazing chandelier) warrants a higher budget. Anything that will be useful and beautiful for the long haul and, thus, needs to be great quality in order to last (example: sofa) warrants a higher budget. But trendy decor and “temporary” furniture shouldn’t break the bank. Somethings are just at good at Target as they are at Pottery Barn (and beyond). There are always exceptions to the rule, but these are good guidelines.

Full prices are listed below, so be sure to click through and see ongoing sale prices (there are a bunch!).

House-shaped Wardrobe - $119

Cube Storage Organizer - $70

Animal Storage Cubes - $17 each

Large Woven Basket - $27

Floor Pillow - $200

Triangle Rug - Cost varies by size

White Table - $220

Blue chair - $95 (for set of 2 - they come in many different colors!)

Rainbow Art - $10 (lots of coordinating art available)

Light Wood Frame (for art) - Cost varies by size

Schoolhouse Clock - $189

Wall Color Idea - Kensington Blue by Benjamin Moore

We think one of the pillars of a functional playroom is ample storage. Places to hide all the stuff, quickly and easily. So, we layered it on.

There’s that beautiful, minimal house-shaped wardrobe for all the costumes. The cube storage unit with the adorable cubes is key. The cubes can be filled with categories of toys (blocks, dolls, cars, etc.) and the empty spaces can be filled with books. The big basket is a catch-all when you’re doing a “quick clean up, guests are arriving in 5 minutes”. And the table has storage inside! Each side lifts to store all the crayons and coloring books. We used this exact table in our Prospect Project.

We also found these gorgeous wood hooks. They could be another place to hang costumes or crowns, capes, the classic Melissa & Doug toy dust pan and broom.

VIA Wooden Athens

And that is that! While we’re no longer accepting submissions for Free Designer for a Day advice, we are always seeking inspiration for new blog posts. We love hearing from followers and readers who have real and general design questions.

- Leah

*this post contains affiliate links*