Subscribe to Dwell
Subscribe to Dwell
All Photos/living/fireplace : standard layout/floors : medium hardwood

Living Room Standard Layout Fireplace Medium Hardwood Floors Design Photos and Ideas

Gary (left) and David relax in the living room with their dog, Edie Falco. Says Bestor, "The house is under 2,000 square feet, which is tiny by L.A. standards, and yet it feels very spacious."
The kitchen and dining space lead to a sunken lounge anchored by a fireplace built with stone from Sydney-based provider Eco Outdoor. Art by Bobby Clark hangs above a sofa from HK Living accented with pillows from Città Design. The rugs are from Armadillo & Co.
The double-height wall of windows in the living room looks out on the property and was a big draw on their first walk-through.
The second floor is where all three generations come together to eat, play, work, and gather around the fireplace.
"The main challenge was making a space with a 250-square-foot footprint actually feel large," says Mackay. "The key to its success is high ceilings, eight-foot doors, and oversize windows."
Sometimes all it takes is a little luck. For a young married couple, it came in the form of this rare find: a 19th-century, three-story, single-family home in the heart of Paris. The building was a charmer with good bones, but was in need of some serious care. In a vibrant retrofit by architect Pierre-Louis Gerlier that includes structural reinforcements, the reimagined design is set off with a new floor plan. The lower level now serves as a space for the couple’s children, with the public areas—including an open-plan living/dining room and kitchen—on the floor above. Upstairs, the attic has been transformed into a very large primary bedroom with a green-and-white bathroom suite. The living room (pictured) showcases the firm’s bespoke carpentry work with a beautiful, mossy-green built-in bookcase that frames a new fireplace, and a staircase surrounded by arched doorways that hold hidden storage. “We created visual breakthroughs in order to connect the different spaces,” says Gerlier. “The rounded arches are there to help magnify these moments.”
The heart of the home incorporates an inclosed winter garden that allows the residents to be surrounded by their plants, even in bad weather. The enclosed garden features automated skylights that regulate the temperature of the courtyard, as well as an irrigation system.
A built-in counter by the kitchen acts as a workspace.
Original doors lead from a foyer into the main living area.
The plywood fins have a telescopic effect that intensifies the coastal view to the north. "I wanted the clients to have an alternative experience to the wide open vistas they work in on the farm,
After: By knocking down a wall, they opened up the kitchen to the living room to create one great room, ideal for entertaining.
After: The new fireplace surround is make of Cava Tile and a custom salmon pink grout that Michelle mixed with the contractor. "I could have ordered something off the shelf, but this enabled me more freedom to get the color closer to what I wanted,
The changing of levels brought a natural theatricality to the space, especially in relation to the impressive views. A balance of light and airy (the white walls) and dark and moody (the rich engineered walnut floors) creates moments of stillness and pause.
The original fireplace was updated by wrapping the brick with a gray concrete plaster that better matched the warm, modern feel of the home.
The renovation preserved the home’s original rustic beams.
The chair came from an antique dealer in Mallorca. The blue painting is by Catalan artist Regina Giménez.
"Make sure they love old houses as much as you do,” says Goldman, “or else you'll be fighting them when they want to do something that sacrifices the architecture that you love.”
The living room made cozy with new furnishings. Brass Shaded Sconces from Onefortythree flank a painting by Nina Lance from Saatchi Art. The Rove Concepts Noah Sectional sits atop the Kailee Handwoven Wool Rug from Pottery Barn.
SHED replaced the windows with new wood units of the same style. Note how the shelving at the half-wall aligns perfectly with the window mullions.
SHED borrowed space from the front porch to increase the size of the living room by four feet and create a lounge spot in front of the fire.
In the double-height living area, a pair of vintage Sirocco chairs by Arne Norell face an oval coffee table from Elte.
The living room’s steel-framed bookcase, with cherry shelves, is a custom design by the architect. “The floor was so uneven, I knew the feet had to be adjustable,” says Rudabeh. The wall behind them is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy, and the other walls are painted in Benjamin Moore’s Chantilly Lace. The popcorn was scraped off the ceiling and replaced with a thin coat of plaster.
"We wrapped the roof in glass, so the interior is open, airy, and gets plenty of sunlight—something many tiny homes lack," says Mackay.
A curtain can be pulled shut over the living room windows to afford privacy when needed.
The mantle atop of the fireplace (an original feature of the home that survived the renovation) is the perfect display spot for Rose and Ben’s latest finds.
In the Bogarts’ living room, a brick fireplace inspired by Josef Albers commands attention and changes with the daylight. The artist made the bowl filled with yellow flowers in college.
Much of the furniture in the public spaces is vintage, sourced from local shops and collectors.
Canadian Castaway features a simple and rustic aesthetic with a focus on raw materials. "I didn’t want to paint the wood white, for instance," the owner says. "I just wanted to let it age naturally and invite it to mirror the natural world it's now a part of."
The new mantel uses tiles from Ann Sachs, and clear cedar panels accent the wall.
A blue-and-gold, geometric-patterned rug from Amadi grounds this living room designed by Cortney Bishop.
The small window has been replaced with a large glazed door, and the original fireplace has been restored and reinstated.
The addition of the antiqued mirrored panels amplifies natural light that the living room receives from the adjacent sunroom.
In the richly hued living room, a Milo Baughman coffee table with a chrome base and custom marble top pairs with Milo Baughman barrel chairs that have been reupholstered in a saturated blue fabric. A custom velvet sofa adds another textured layer. A custom light fixture with crystal bulbs from The Future Perfect hangs like jewelry above the space, and a geometric painting by senior JHID designer Chelsie Lee ties the colors together.
A plush yellow sectional from Camerich is paired with a Milo Baughman drum table and a Bertoia Diamond Lounge Chair. An O'lampia Retroline Duo pendant hangs above.
David and Annemie's daughter swings in the living room. A door provides access to the lush backyard and surrounding area. “The kids have a lot of freedom. They have a big area where they can go and play without needing supervision,” says Annemie.
Concrete from the exterior continues indoors as a fireplace surround. For the couch, Annemie found the wooden base and cushion covers in a secondhand store and used baby mattresses as inserts. David made the oak back.
In the living room, two shades of gray paint from Sherwin-Williams complement the upholstered furnishings from Knoll.
Vintage items complement contemporary pieces like a coffee table from West Elm and lighting from Rejuvenation.
"In our living room, we have a fairly large abstract piece from Sally King Benedict that was gifted from her years ago," says Amanda.
Martin designed the sofa with a local fabrication studio called Helmut.
The wood flooring is the original 1930 slavonia oak, rescued and refinished.
Now, the kitchen takes precedence in the new scheme. The six-meter-long island "has a strong energy," says Martin. "It was inspired by Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey monolith depicted in the first and final scenes. A fallen monolith with centripetal force. The piece helped us to reorganize and restructure the ground floor once we cleared the walls and divisions."
A hammock chair in the living room overlooks the wood stove at the center and the sofa against the west wall, creating a cozy living space.
“Being totally immersed in a wood space connects us with this biophilic response to nature and natural materials,” says Corey. “You can use modern, minimal forms and still add a really warm material. Then, the result is more than just the simple lines of a space, it’s the deeper feeling of being connected with something bigger.”
Back inside, the glass-enclosed living room is grounded by a central fireplace. “When we started designing this project, we always had cedar in mind,” says Corey. “It wasn't like, ‘Oh, it could be metal or oak. Instead, it was, ‘this is a cedar box; we're carving it out.’ ”
The mezzanine ladder can fold against the wall to free up circulation space when it is not in use.
12345