Lounge Planning

The lounge or living room is the social and recreational centre of the house.

The way it is furnished and decorated should reflect the interests and aspirations of all its users.

The resulting variety of activities which might occur in a lounge make it a very difficult room to plan.

The living room is also much influenced by fashion, social trends and an individual's personality. The Castle Museum in York has displays of room settings through the ages which clearly show how tastes have changed and how some pieces of furniture have changed their use, disappeared completely or, conversely, have only recently come into being.

Start by drawing the room outline and noting the position of doors and windows since these are usually regarded as fixed - although, of course, almost anything can be repositioned, but at a price!