The Formal Living Room

“There is no greater space to promote dreaming than one’s own home. No better room to share in it with loved ones than the formal living room.” - Shaun Mandelbaum 

But please, please, do not make the mistake of confusing the word formal with unusable. Far the opposite. In this case, the word ‘formal’ only implies a deep, much-needed human ritual, something devoid of the television, devoid of electronics. Instead, within the deeper recline of a down filled sofa, against soft and sensual materials, sound and light softened by drapery, the most intimate of conversations can carry on undisturbed.

In this thoughtfully designed space, each object in perfect consideration with the next, this formal living room creates a vivid fusion between the past and present with traditional references and modern take.

A sofa that otherwise would seem too formal with its tufted back and French decorative nails is made more inviting through loose, oversized, and overstuffed seat cushions. Such opposites continue to attract through drapery with classical appeal made modern through use of not silk, instead wool; a tailored refinement outside of the billowy version more popular in decades past. 

The silk, instead isolated to a single Ikat toss cushion within velvety view, is a pattern and looming technique creates a blurry geometry referencing the modern art up above; squares shifting into squares. A dreamy appeal. The sleek, refined club chair with its handsome, stained smooth frame contrasts a nubby covering in boucle. 

Like sun on a wintry day, hits of brass, the warmth to an otherwise cool palette through line of the coffee table referencing the rug’s motif, and the form of the side table to the antique console legs in behind, these objects relating to each other through material alone, and sooner back to the space than too quickly themselves, keeping the eye moving. 

The marble top of the coffee table, and that of the antique console in behind, relate the modern to history once again. Even just through surface, most effective. The rugs reference to traditional wood herringbone floors reborn in an undeniably modern take, scaled down to read as texture instead of pattern, set tone on tone to give depth instead of contrast. The dark bronze sculpture’s movement reminds us of the graceful lines of the chair in front, yet on its own beautiful against the space’s stillness, geometry, and control. 

A space to escape the realities of the every day. -The Formal Living Room