Decorating
How to Furnish a Room With Big Windows
Large-scale glazing is lovely, but it can make furniture placement a conundrum. Here are some ways to lay out your space
Whether you have a wall of glass doors or fabulous floor-to-ceiling windows, your desirable feature glazing may also be giving you a headache by restricting where you can place your furniture. You might not want to block the view, or you may be unsure of how seating could work against the glass.
Luckily, there are several ways to resolve these issues, so let the clever designs below suggest some solutions to help your glazing work better and allow you to enjoy it.
Luckily, there are several ways to resolve these issues, so let the clever designs below suggest some solutions to help your glazing work better and allow you to enjoy it.
2. Invite the outdoors in
Pushing a dining table right up to a large panel of glazing might seem counterintuitive – unless your window slides into a pocket, like this clever design by Architect Your Home. The window opens completely to create an indoor/outdoor dining experience.
The design is both practical and playful, ensuring the window is the centrepiece of the room without losing any practicality in terms of furniture placement. The deep windowsill could even be used as a bench if extra seating is required.
Browse more photos of this clever window design.
Pushing a dining table right up to a large panel of glazing might seem counterintuitive – unless your window slides into a pocket, like this clever design by Architect Your Home. The window opens completely to create an indoor/outdoor dining experience.
The design is both practical and playful, ensuring the window is the centrepiece of the room without losing any practicality in terms of furniture placement. The deep windowsill could even be used as a bench if extra seating is required.
Browse more photos of this clever window design.
3. Build a deep reveal
Where there’s a deep reveal around your window, there’s an opportunity to make your glazed area work harder by incorporating built-in furniture.
In this project, architect George Bradley of Bradley Van Der Straeten created this deep reveal in brick and clad it with pale plywood. With cushions on the bottom ledge, it becomes a bench seat, from where the owners can sit and feed their fish in the pond outside.
Creating a reveal around an existing window will often be a fairly straightforward job. If you’d prefer not to build-in a solid structure beneath the window, like the brick one here, you could get a freestanding ottoman or bench to slide into the newly deepened space. An interior designer or architect will have ideas that will ensure the finer details look tip top.
Check out this very clever and unusual ground floor redesign.
Where there’s a deep reveal around your window, there’s an opportunity to make your glazed area work harder by incorporating built-in furniture.
In this project, architect George Bradley of Bradley Van Der Straeten created this deep reveal in brick and clad it with pale plywood. With cushions on the bottom ledge, it becomes a bench seat, from where the owners can sit and feed their fish in the pond outside.
Creating a reveal around an existing window will often be a fairly straightforward job. If you’d prefer not to build-in a solid structure beneath the window, like the brick one here, you could get a freestanding ottoman or bench to slide into the newly deepened space. An interior designer or architect will have ideas that will ensure the finer details look tip top.
Check out this very clever and unusual ground floor redesign.
4. Keep furniture light
If you don’t have the option to open a large window to the outdoors, but still need to put a dining table up against it, choosing something light and slim will allow natural light to flow through.
The metal framed chairs and circular table in this room design by Victoria Douyère, for instance, are practical and comfortable, but they still allow plenty light from the window into the room. Choosing anything bulkier would defeat the point of having floor-to-ceiling glazing.
Find architects and interior designers in your area on Houzz.
If you don’t have the option to open a large window to the outdoors, but still need to put a dining table up against it, choosing something light and slim will allow natural light to flow through.
The metal framed chairs and circular table in this room design by Victoria Douyère, for instance, are practical and comfortable, but they still allow plenty light from the window into the room. Choosing anything bulkier would defeat the point of having floor-to-ceiling glazing.
Find architects and interior designers in your area on Houzz.
5. Create unexpected symmetry
The vertical slice of glazing in this extension by Fraher & Findlay Architects that runs up the wall and overhead could have caused a few headaches when it came to furniture placement, but this simple, elegant solution shows how to make a feature out of unusual glazing panels.
Placing a slim table end-on against the window, directly under the skylight, mirrors the shape of the skylight perfectly and draws attention to it. Placing a square or circular table here, for example, would have watered down the beauty of the window, whereas this design enhances it.
Tell us…
Do you have lots of glazing? If so, how have you furnished around it? Let us know in the Comments.
The vertical slice of glazing in this extension by Fraher & Findlay Architects that runs up the wall and overhead could have caused a few headaches when it came to furniture placement, but this simple, elegant solution shows how to make a feature out of unusual glazing panels.
Placing a slim table end-on against the window, directly under the skylight, mirrors the shape of the skylight perfectly and draws attention to it. Placing a square or circular table here, for example, would have watered down the beauty of the window, whereas this design enhances it.
Tell us…
Do you have lots of glazing? If so, how have you furnished around it? Let us know in the Comments.
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A major part of the existing architecture of this flat, in a 15-year-old block in London’s Docklands, was the set of wide but low window ledges at the base of the wraparound glazing in its open-plan living area.
The ledges were in the way and served no function, as they were too low to perch on in their original state, until designer Gabby Juzeliunaite of Claudia Dorsch Interior Design came up with a simple but clever idea. She topped them with extra-deep, made-to-measure cushions, instantly adding seating to the room and creating spaces from which to enjoy the dramatic City views.
A clever detail in Gabby’s plan was to turn a section of windowsill into a drinks and display zone, adding yet more functionality out of nothing.
“The owners absolutely love this,” Gabby says. “It’s a practical way to max the space when you have floor-to-ceiling windows.”
Check out the ‘before’ photos of this flat.