Living Room With a View

by Sarah Van Arsdale

Just in time for summer vacation, this month's featured room is taken from a lake-side vacation home, which the owners have kept spare and simple without sacrificing style.

Looking at this room before we even apply the Sheffield Guidelines to Interior Design - function, mood, and harmony - we see that our eye is drawn away from the interior and toward the great outdoors, due to those fabulous views of the water, trees and sky. This is a room that doesn't detract from the view, which is clearly the focal point of the whole house.

At first, our eye is drawn to the tall vertical windows in this room. The windows are so wide, with so little space between them, that it almost seems as if both walls are entirely made of glass, affording just a slightly broken view of the trees and water. Higher up, the windows at the top of the room bring in even more light, and having all that space above is what gives this room its enormously open, airy feeling.

Looking at the first of the Sheffield Guidelines, function, we see that the function of this room is primarily to provide a place from which one can appreciate the surroundings; where a person can relax and indulge in a little dreaming while looking out the windows. Only secondary is the function of this room to provide a restful place for conversation, reading, and watching television. There is a sofa for reclining, two more chairs for socializing, and not much else. The table to the side provides space for glasses and maybe a plate of snacks, but missing here is that standard piece of living room equipment, a coffee table.

What this tells us isn't that the owners were too cheap to invest in enough furniture; instead, it tells us that most of the entertaining here is probably done outdoors, on the deck. This room is primarily used just by a few people at a time, who might want to watch a late-night movie on television or who will recline on the sofa for a few minutes to drink in the scenery.

The mood here matches precisely the mood of a vacation: it's open, breezy, and easy-to-care-for. The lack of clutter, and the few pieces of clean-lined furniture, make the mood of this room one in which the idea of housework seems as far away as the work-a-day world. The fireplace adds a coziness to the mood, especially on a cool early summer evening.

Finally, look at the harmony of this room. Everything works together here. All the furniture is modern, with the sleek, clean lines that one would expect in this modern home. Just try imagining overstuffed armchairs here; they clearly wouldn't go. There is nothing stuffy or fussy about this room, and all of the spare furnishings harmonize perfectly with the clean, open feeling of the open space outside the windows. Even the television and stereo are minimal, not dominating the room at all.

All in all, this room works perfectly to do just as it intends: it provides a simple respite from the busy world, offering visitors a chance to stop and appreciate the natural world around them.

Reprinted with permission from the Sheffield School of Interior Design