Arranged to Entertain

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Cheryll Gillespie

Arranged for Entertaining

Whether you’re planning a large gathering or an intimate barbecue for a few of your closet friends, get ready to cook, clean and arrange the furniture for entertaining.

Look at your rooms. Is the living room welcoming and conducive to conversation? Is the guest bedroom cozy and inviting?

The way in which you choose to arrange the furniture with in a room can make guests feel more at home, encourage conversation and can make a small space look larger and function better.

If your living room feels cramped and uncomfortable, try a trick the pros use- arrange your furniture on the angle. A little geometry makes a small room appear more spacious and open.

The main function of your living room, (when the family is not gathered to watch a few hours of television is to entertain) is to enjoy good conversation with friends.

Start designing your room to entertain by positioning the large sofa on an angle in one corner of the room; add a chair or love seat next to the sofa (at a ninety-degree angle) on the wall side of the room. Place the chair within a few inches of the sofa. With this arrangement, everyone can easily enjoy good conversation- every ‘seat’ is close enough to talk and to maintain eye contact with another. No seat should be more than 15 feet from another. A coffee table can sit in front of your sofa on the same angle.

If you have a large room, create a secondary seating arrangement at one end, perhaps two armchairs, so those guests may enjoy a private conversation. In both the main and the secondary arrangement, ensure that every seat has a table to place a drink on and that there is adequate ambient lighting. The angled arrangement allows for plenty of legroom and makes conversation easy and enjoyable.  Guests will feel a part of every conversation and activity.

If you see the back of a sofa, plan to place a sofa table here or a pair of large vases (as the back of a sofa is not particularly attractive).  Leave 30 to 36 inches for all walkways and about 18 inches between your coffee table and the front of the sofa.

This arrangement is a contrast from the traditional arrangement of two chairs across from the sofa separated by a coffee table lined up along the walls of the room.  This out dated style of furniture placement is a leftover relic of design from the sixties that made conversation difficult and stiff.  Today’s style and philosophies on design are comfortable, relaxed, natural and designed for easy living and entertaining.

In a small guest bedroom, place the head of the bed kiddy corner on the two largest walls.  Flank the bed with, wall mounted swing arm lamps and two small tables.  With this arrangement, not only is the room more visually interesting but, it will also appear larger and more inviting.

To preserve your back, create a floorplan of your room on graph paper before actually moving any furniture in the room.  Use furniture templates to move furniture around on paper before physically moving any furniture in the room.  This will save you a lot of extra work and is a lot easier on the back.

Check out your angles and then rearrange for a simply sensational space that not only looks better but parties better!

Cheryll Gillespie is a professional home expert. As 'the diva
of design', Cheryll is the host of two National Radio Shows, a
syndicated columnist, editor and featured guest speaker.
Famous for her "anyone can do it" attitude and creative approach, Cheryll has a
simply sensational sense of style that's clearly caught the nation's eye, visit Cheryll online at www.cheryllgillespie.com