This arrangement certainly works well with modern family life. It encourages social interaction and eliminates stuffy formal rooms (remember the rooms you were never allowed in as a child, but were forced into service on holidays and you couldn’t wait to escape?).
Those dusty, imposing caverns are a thing of a past in the world of the open floor plan. But for the retreating personality, the introvert or the lone reader, feeling comfortable in a vast sea of furniture and tables can be challenging.
In the laundry list most people come up with in their program, a small room is often overlooked. We think it’s of utmost importance; sanity demands it. This is why we always try to add a small oasis into the programatic mix when we’re designing a house. The lounge (or “den” as it was once called) serves as a tiny retreat. An architectural hug, good lounges should be warm, enveloping and comforting. It’s waiting arms are where you go to escape the pressures of the modern open floor plan.
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I love this idea in design. The use of all of the living space is so welcoming but, we all still need a little get-a-way or quiet area. The first picture is making me go search my home for an area to create this in. Beautiful job.
xo, Lissy
I first read of the concept some years ago when mentioned by Sarah Susanka in THE NOT SO BIG HOUSE. It made perfect sense to me then and even now, “the quiet room.” Your designs make me want to curl up with a good book and a cup of hot tea! Sandra Nickel