CONVERSATIONAL SEATING
WHEN you have people over for festive gatherings, you notice when you’ve got the seating arrangements right. Seating plans are very important – and not just at a dinner table. I like to think of seating plans for the living room – what I call ‘conversational seating’.
■ I like a room to have a central focal point, such as a fireplace, and then I arrange seating so that groups of three can sit and talk. A chair either side of the fireplace is a classic seating plan, which I have in my own home, and then you can add a little chair right against the wall by the fireplace – the French call them chauffeurs. Then maybe there is a sofa in there – and I have a corner banquette around one side of the fireplace, where I have found that four or five people can gather and play cards.
■ The number of chairs you set out is an important consideration. Odd numbers are good for seating plans in general because it allows
