After living in their home for two years, my clients decided to call me for some advice. They had already done a fair bit of work, including refinishing their hardwood floors and painting. They wanted to repurpose several rooms in their home and to complete their decorating.

The living room presented a real challenge for them. It was the largest room in the house and had lovely architectural features: hardwood moldings; curved archways; original, funky wall sconces; and a large niche of unknown purpose to one side. Unfortunately, they rarely used this beautiful room and weren’t sure how to make it a more functional space. This is a common concern: 85 percent of my clients rarely use their living rooms. Most regret this tremendous waste of real estate and would prefer to use every inch of their homes.

When a house has both a family room and a living room, most people feel more comfortable spending time in their family rooms. Typically, the furniture is more comfortable, casual, and accepting of wear and tear, and there’s a TV. Living rooms tend to be more formal, and you worry about spilling things or putting your feet up. Plus, there’s usually nothing to do there – no TV to watch, no Internet connection or music to listen to. To make the living room useful, you have to set it up for either television viewing, reading or listening to music. If you don’t, the room will only get used when you force your guests to go into it when you entertain!

Before

• The couch was in a fairly good location, but the chairs across from it weren’t positioned for conversation.

• Believe it or not, there was a fireplace to the left, enshrouded in plants! Plants always add life to a room, but there were a few too many, and most of them were scraggly.

• Although my clients liked the look of the table and chairs in front of the arched window, they never sat there and the table just collected clutter. The niche in the far right corner of the room housed a dresser-like piece, but my clients thought the area could be used to better purpose.

After

• Part of the problem with the conversation area was that the couch was offset across from the chairs. We moved the couch down several feet so that it was directly across from the chairs. We scooted the chairs closer to the couch and angled them toward each other. I found a contemporary-looking table (holding a printer in their office), which we put between them. Now guests had a place for their drinks and the seating was within a comfortable conversational distance.

• It surprises me how we can get attached to our plants! After owning them for many years, we don’t see that they’ve grown into odd shapes or look close to death! I gently suggested we remove some of the less healthy looking plants to reveal their lovely fireplace and to reduce clutter. My clients reluctantly agreed, but after seeing some of the jungle removed, they liked the simpler look.

• One of the main reasons I was hired was to help figure out where to set up a different TV viewing space. Their large-screened TV had been in a top floor room, along with a couch and loveseat, but they wanted to convert that room into a guest room. (A long-term guest was arriving within a few weeks). We’d struggled to fit a TV watching zone into their home office, but it was too crowded. I suggested we put the TV and couches in their living room, so we muscled the furniture down several flights of stairs. The TV fit perfectly in the niche, along with all its equipment, and couches fit snuggly under the windows. Not only did we create a new guest room, but we also made their living room a more useful and attractive space.

I recently got a call from my clients letting me know they loved the spaces we rearranged and that their houseguest was very happy in his snug retreat.

Kit Davey, an interior designer based in Redwood City, Calif., helps clients redecorate their homes through the creative use of their existing furnishings. E-mail Kit your questions: kit@ctwfeatures.com

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