Living Room Seating, part 7

Seating Requirements

• Our living room is 13 feet wide and 9 feet across with a walk way behind. I have often wanted to yell at the architect who built this house and ask him to explain the why behind this choice. I could never figure out how to use this space well. Where does the tv go ? which way should the couches face ? What sort of seating should we get ? Our ex-tenants showed us how.
• Aim to seat/sleep 4 people comfortably. That’s the median number of humans who seem to inhabit this space. Aim to seat/sleep 6 people less-comfortably. That’s our average number of humans in this house, on the weekends. (Median is almost always more indicative than average in my profession given the outliers. Design minimum viable systems with the median in mind. ) For >6 humans, I can not be expected to have stuff ready and hoarded for the day they might visit. Middle class Indian kids/women are taught to sit/sleep on the floor so that they don’t go on to become a burden when they become guests. Most people adjust. The ones higher in the patriarchal ladder don’t adjust and claim the most comfortable seating all the time refusing to share. ( Abolish patriarchy.) Come who may, small spaces are the way to live for me. Urban density and small spaces, are a climate solution and we wont hoard space so that some guests might lounge more comfortably when they visit. We can provide for the basic needs of everyone who come to stay with us, not the wants nor the luxuries.
• Seating should be modular enough to be reconfigured as needed. Small couch plus 2 chairs that can be moved around is my solution to this space.
• The palette should be neutral and calm. I am not looking for excitement and personality from my seating.
• Small spaces look less claustrophobic when you can see the flooring. Metal legs as opposed to chunky legs help.
• Small spaces look more airy when they are orderly. I didn’t want to be match-matchy with all my seating but having the same base layer helped bring the entropy down in the small-very-busy space. Quirky and mismatched needs energy that I don’t have. I want calm and easy.
• We chose seating with black metal legs, beige cushions and leather accents. My puppy has these same undertones and she camouflages in our living room.
• Could not find a couch small enough for this space. Ended up buying half of a sectional after a long search. If a bigger living room might come our way in the future, then we might buy the other part of this sectional.
• I needed my couch/seating to look pretty on its backside, since it wont be pushed to a wall and will be very visible. That ruled out most couches.
• Seating cushions should have removable covers that I can wash. I use a piece of Sunbrella fabric, that gets washed weekly, as a throw to protect the couch from our very dirty pets and children after they spend time in the garden. When the day comes to re-upholster these couches, I will use this exact outdoor fabric because it’s quite marvelous.
• Our Indian cot should have a place. In reality, nobody seems to like sitting on it. Someday far far away into the future, a day bed should take its spot.
• Vibe of the room : conversation pit. Purchased a gray and red wool throws for added comfort.
• The TV needs a bezel and to be mounted on the wall. Knowing us, it will take us a year to get to that project. That is fine.
• I do not have the bandwidth to do more to this room for the next year.

We remember not liking this space at all when we first moved in and being annoyed about it’s usability. That we started at a zero, made any progress and got it to this state in the first few months, with amazing light dancing though the windows and a spatious-than-it-truly-is-feeling, makes me very content. It’s a job done. I can rest for a while. This is enough for now.