Berkeley Hills HouseMidcentury Living Room, San Francisco

1. Sectionals add definition to a room where the sofa must “float.” Living rooms with lots of doors and other features (fireplace, bookshelves, radiators) that take up wall space can be difficult to furnish. In these situations a traditional sofa usually needs a sofa table behind it to lend some support if you plan to float it (place it away from the wall), but a sectional’s heft lets it stand alone.

1. Indoor-outdoor flow. The ease with which you can move from indoor to outdoor living areas and back again can make a huge difference in your day-to-day experience of living in a home. If this is important to you, look for French, sliding or accordion glass doors leading from the main living spaces to the outdoors.2. Size of rooms. Not too big, not too small. Channel your inner Goldilocks to nail the just-right room size for your lifestyle. Imagine setting up your own furniture in the rooms as you walk through — bring measurements if you can.Key measurements to help you design a room

AFTER: “I like whitewashing, because you still have the texture of the wood, but it’s a much lighter surface,” says Yama, who applied the whitewash in three or four thin layers, providing better control over the results. Although it might seem counterintuitive to darken the floors on a house that was feeling too dark, Yama applied a dark stain to the existing oak floors, creating a sharp contrast with the whitewashed walls that felt more formal and elegant.

THIS kind of sofa would work great in our living room. This pic also has a fireplace similar size to ours and beams too.

Painted out all the woodwork. Looks great!

white shelves on white wall, assymmetry