Mill Valley Modern BarnTransitional Living Room, San Francisco

Living and Dining RoomsLiving and dining rooms tend to have a lot of seating, so the previous tip about alignment often applies.Here again, the biggest focal point (the dark fireplace) rests on a centerline defined by the sofas, the stools, the coffee tables and even the direction of the rug pattern. Another wall could be made into the dominant focal point, but it likely wouldn’t feel right with this furniture plan.For this reason, you may want to look at functional furniture layouts before determining your dominant focus and then let the best furniture plan guide you. Whatever focal point the furniture aims toward wins.

4. Cozy and ContemporaryDesigner: Tineke Triggs of Artistic Designs for Living Location: Mill Valley, CaliforniaSizes: 204 square feet (18.9 square meters); 12 by 17 feet (3.6 by 5.1 meters)Homeowners’ request: A sophisticated, edgy and inviting space in which to reconnect as a couple and entertain friends. “Think Lenny Kravitz meets Mill Valley family life,” designer Tineke Triggs says.Fireplace focal point: Triggs felt that with a fireplace surround of waxed leather extending all the way to the high ceiling, she had few options for anything that could compete with it as a focal point. Instead, she played it up even more by creating a clear path to it, flanked by two custom sofas. A barely there coffee table also keeps the visual weight on the fireplace, while a satin brass chandelier accentuates its height. Designer secret: “Adding texture to a square space adds so much interest and dimension,” Triggs says. “The puzzle lamps, waxed leather fireplace, the lamb fur on the stools — all of these textures and various shapes bring some much-needed depth to the overall design.”“Uh-oh” moment: “Space planning was a challenge here, as we wanted to have two large sofas with large tufted arms that felt grand and inviting, but we didn’t have a lot of room to work with and we didn’t want to block the fireplace views in any way,” Triggs says. “We realized that standard-size sofas would have been too large, but just shortening the sofa length would have resulted in large tufted arms that were out of proportion with everything else. The solution was to have the sofas custom made, which allowed us to pare down the size of both the arms and the length so that everything stayed in proportion with each other and the room. Getting the scale right is everything.”Also on the team: Chambers + Chambers (architect); Christopher Stark (photographer)Sofas: custom, with Plantation fabric by Kravet; pillows: custom, with fabric by Romo and with Annina fabric in indigo by Beacon Hill; window treatments: custom, with Katachi fabric in Sketch by Pollack; Puzzle lamp and Jacques coffee table: Jonathan Adler; Tibetan lamb stools: Outpost Original; rug: custom, Himalayan Weavers; Kelly chandelier: Gabriel ScottSee more of this homeMoreGood Furniture Combos for Tight Living RoomsDesign Debate: Is It OK to Hang the TV Over the Fireplace?How to Decorate Your Fireplace Mantel

The chandelier provides a focal point becasue it sticks out, which is emphasis.

Modern glam living room with fireplace

The main focus point of this living room is the big tall fireplace and the chandelier

Emphasis: I think the focal point of this room is the huge marble fire place which leads your eye to another focal point, the chandelier.