LIVING SPACES

Living rooms are the workhorses of the modern home, often accommodating study, rest and play. They can be private family spaces or more formal – and public – entertaining zones, and are frequently both. But whatever function they perform, they must always ooze comfort and conviviality.

CIRCULATION

At the start of any project, when I go into a house, I think about how I feel in it. Spaces speak for themselves, and in a sense you need to tune in to this and have a conversation with each room, shake hands and say, ‘We’re in this together.’ This approach helps me to come up with a design that is appropriate for the building and that feels ‘right’.

Large spaces are difficult to design, but also very exciting because the possibilities are endless. The first task is to assess the structure of the building, the architectural features and the levels of natural light, and then figure out whether you need to make any alterations and how you are going to zone the space.

Particularly important in large or open-plan interiors, zoning defines different areas according to changes of function or mood by the style and arrangement of furniture and lighting, and often by the choices of materials and décor, too. The grid, which forms the structural ‘bones’ of a design upon which all other layers of decoration and furnishing are built, plays a key role in this. Flow encompasses both the practicalities of how you move around a space and the things you see and the way you feel as you do so. It is the ‘air’ that allows the room to breathe. Considered together, these concepts inform where furniture, art and objects should be placed in order to create a harmonious interior.

My living area occupies a third of the large, open-plan, ground-floor space of a former auction house. It runs from the entrance to the study, with a long marble ledge for displaying art and other treasures linking the spaces together. Two of the monumental wood-clad structural columns that punctuate the space create a natural sense of division from the dining area and kitchen, and this is underlined further by the linear style of the furniture. The combination of neutral tones, a rich palette of textures and materials, and dramatic lighting, including the sculptural Ribot floor lamp by De Castelli, add up to a warm, elegant living space.

This enormous room is part of an old school building, which I designed to create lots of different zones and sitting areas under the soaring ceiling rafters. The scheme comprises the perfect combination of furniture from different eras, fabrics and textures, and the result is warm and comfortable, with a great sense of flow from the functional kitchen at the far end, through the informal eating area, to the sitting room and formal dining space (out of shot). The view is great from any direction and there is always something of interest to catch the eye.

ABOVE AND BELOW The challenge with double-height spaces is that tall ceilings draw the eye upwards, so you need to bring the focus back to the level where you live. This has been achieved here by the trio of Arteinmotion pendant lights hung at varying heights, the backlit bookcases built into the specialist-plaster walls and the deep, contrasting bands of velvet on the floor-to-ceiling curtains.

The design of my old living room was inspired by the glamour of black-and-white photography, with dramatic ebony-stained floorboards and a black glass fireplace wall contrasting with the wonderful white waxed plaster walls and white linen curtains with slim black runners. Black-and-white photographs – my treasured portrait of Marilyn Monroe and Jessica in Lace Dress by Louise Bobbe – adorned the walls. The centrepiece was the triangular vintage polished steel and brass coffee table around which the vintage chairs and Modénature sofas upholstered in bespoke damask covers were arranged, together with my signature Christian Liaigre pieces – the lacquer Flibuste Pedestal and bronze Ajoure side tables.

L-shaped rooms can be quite tricky to design, as you are in danger of ending up with a space that doesn’t get used. Here, at the other end of my living room, which had French doors opening onto a balcony, I created another seating area in the same style, centred on the fabulous culled zebra rug that linked the two ends of the room together. Natural light flooded through the French doors during the day, and at night the Mark Brazier-Jones Sera floor lamp created atmospheric shadows.

HIGH DRAMA

Creating a sense of theatre is essential in any living space. Some rooms have an intrinsic impact due to their sheer scale, or because of architectural features, such as a vast picture window with an incredible view, or decorative period mouldings on the ceiling. If this is the case, these elements need to be made the most of and, to a certain extent, inform the mood of the room and the décor, furniture layout and style of furnishings. In other spaces, you need to add the wow factor, whether that’s with the use of a special, luxury material, a stunning artwork, sculpture or antique, or a statement piece of furniture or lighting.

Playing with scale, symmetry and balance is essential when it comes to creating drama and introducing an element of surprise. As ever, the grid comes to the fore, because emphasizing the vertical and horizontal planes is a great way to impose a sense of order and enhance the proportions of a room. This is especially key within a large open-plan and multifunctional living space, where the grid is fundamental in defining different zones. Creating interesting vistas and using focal points to draw the eye from one area to another will enhance the sense of vitality and energy within a space.

Lighting is another way to add drama. A carefully chosen statement light, whether it’s a design classic, an oversized pendant, a crystal chandelier or a contemporary sculptural piece, can have almost as much impact unlit as lit. At the same time, subtle lighting effects, such as wall or floor washes, shadow-gap lighting or directional spotlights, can be used to highlight objects or surfaces and create theatrical pools of light and shadow.

Gridlines galore! A view from the mezzanine walkway into my double-height living space clearly shows the use of the grid in the way the layout has been planned. The two structural support columns provide a natural point of division between the dining space and the main seating area, and all the furniture, lighting, surfaces and finishes have been chosen and positioned with both the scale of the room and its horizontal and vertical lines in mind. When designing a vast space such as this, you have to consider not only how it is going to be used but also how it will look from every angle, to integrate it into the home as a whole. Here, you can look down at the space and still feel very much a part of it.

This apartment is in an incredibly tall building and has large windows giving stunning views of the Beijing skyline and flooding the interior with amazing light. You almost feel as though you are in a glass box in the clouds, so I wanted to use a palette of grey, silver and white tones to reflect the sky and make the space feel creative and warm. The stunning custom-made pendant light of free-blown glass by Dale Chihuly has an ethereal feel and is a star piece in the room – the perfect foil for the straight lines of the Christian Liaigre Augustin sofa and JNL Samara coffee table displaying glass bowls by Anna Torfs. The Robert Kuo floor lamps and pair of large DK Home vases create balance.

This sculptural staircase and hallway are the core of this home, and I designed the six French-style panelled doors of bevelled glass to borrow light and views from the dining room beyond. The room itself appears like art, but the doors can be pivoted open to create one large, stunning space for entertaining.

The sculptural curves of an original Arts and Crafts staircase, reminiscent of whipped cream, is complemented by a glass-topped coffee table alongside a modern white sofa, and a pair of vintage chairs, made edgy with black leather upholstery, studs and a Fortuny cushion, with a bronze side table from Asiatides. This bold juxtaposition creates a wonderful and unexpected play of styles, materials and textures.

In this comfortable living room in a Shenzhen apartment, which has stunning views through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the sofas, in taupe and cream linen and taupe smooth leather, are arranged around a pair of dark wood coffee tables by Casamilano. The walls have been clad with panels of luxury Arabascato marble, with a television screen set into one. These are balanced with bespoke units housing art and accessories behind a taupe wood grid façade that creates a sense of intrigue. Marble ledges for display emphasize the horizontal lines and are balanced by the vertical lines of the Holly Hunt pendant lights and floor lamp.

CONNECTION

The living areas of your home need to function as public spaces to entertain friends and hold parties, and also as private spaces in which to relax, chat, read and watch television. Large, open-plan spaces can incorporate more than one area that you might use in different ways or for different purposes. But while the materials, furniture, furnishings and lighting with which you choose to decorate each zone don’t need to be identical, they do need to share the same dialogue so that they work in harmony together and the overall space is balanced and coherent.

With the framework of the grid in mind, the prospect of creating separate zones within a large, open space is not overwhelming, as it soon becomes clear where a seating area should be, for example, and how the furniture and lighting within that grouping should be positioned. The lines of the grid are further defined when a space is divided up, either by the placement of a physical structure – such as a decorative screen, sliding doors, shelving unit or large piece of furniture – or with a change of surface underfoot, or perhaps a combination of both.

Lighting can also be employed to mark out zones within the framework of the grid. A line of floor washers running along the base of a wall; a grid of recessed downlights in the ceiling; LED strips concealed along the top of cabinetry or the underside of shelves; a row of pendant lights suspended over a kitchen worktop or dining table; or the strict, balanced placement of floor or table lamps to create symmetry all provide a combination of ambient, task and decorative or statement lighting.

The first feeling I had on walking into this extraordinary room was, ‘Wow! There is so much space,’ and the more I designed, the bigger it seemed to get. There are three main seating areas and two further intimate ones, all designed in the same palette and with threads of continuity running through them in terms of style, colour and texture. Each zone is connected by the underfoot grid, which comprises a central wide runner of white-lacquered timber, with walkways of natural wood on either side. The zones are punctuated by lacquer-topped tables with fluted, silver-plated copper bases displaying orchids in a collection of ceramic vessels. The perimeter of the central seating area, shown here, is demarcated by a pair of Galion console tables by Christian Liaigre behind each sofa, and four large white-bronze Robert Kuo floor lamps in each corner. The use of white here makes you feel as though you are floating in the sky.

The wonderful nuances of the textures and tones at play are evident here, in what appears at first glance to be a very simple palette. Warm natural wood, glossy lacquer, a combination of metallics, different tones of linen, silk, glass and ceramics all combine to create a feeling of serene luxury. There are so many different textures, it almost makes the mouth water.

The central part of the room has been designed so that one half is almost a mirror image of the other, with the placement of floor lamps, ottomans and ornamental vessels all echoing each other on either side of the central column, but with subtle differences in the secondary seating areas, such as round coffee tables instead of square, and different accessories on display. The symmetry of the main seating area in the foreground is obvious in the arrangement of the pair of sofas facing each other over two black-stained wood coffee tables with inset metallic runners. Working out the space planning and furniture layout on plan is essential in a large space such as this.

The structural columns that punctuate the space have been transformed into key features by cladding them with glossy white-lacquered wood and incorporating chrome-edged niches for the display of collections of glassware and ceramics.

I love our study, which is like a collector’s room housing the history of the old auction house, as well as inspiring books, art and objects. It is furnished with vintage, modern and classic pieces, such as the Cassina LC1 armchair by Le Corbusier, the Barbuda armchairs and coffee table by Christian Liaigre, the desk from kellyhoppen.com and lights by Kevin Reilly. The zebra rug and bursts of orange enliven the neutral palette.

CONCENTRATION

Working at home for some or all of the time is increasingly an inevitability of flexible modern living, and having a separate room in which to do it is essential in order to establish a separation between working and home life. Even if you don’t work from home, having a dedicated space for dealing with household paperwork, catching up with social media, pursuing crafts or hobbies, or just indulging in reading or creative thinking away from the rest of the family is the ultimate luxury.

A home office or private study should be an inspiring, personal and welcoming space that will allow your thoughts and creativity to run free, but also enable you to focus on the task in hand without too many distractions. The décor should be soothing but stimulating, with objects, artworks and photographs that please and inspire you on show.

The key pieces of furniture and the focal points of the room are a large desk and comfortable chair, which should be placed in the centre of the room, rather than tucked apologetically against a wall. Good lighting and adequate storage for paperwork, books, stationery and other supplies are also essential. Bespoke joinery comes into its own in a home office, as it can be used to conceal technology and unsightly equipment from view, while cupboards and shelves may be designed specifically to accommodate whatever you need to store or display.

In this home office I created a minimalist environment that suited the client – a place where there are few distractions and the mind can focus. The simple lines of the Christian Liaigre desk and chair, and a second chair from Modénature, are completely in keeping with the spare mood of the room, where bonsai trees and other objects on custom-made bronze and wood shelving have been lit like works of art.