We’re excited to share that we recently rearranged another room in our house — this time the combined living and dining area. We loved moving our dining table into the large open space next to the new kitchen; the open-plan layout has always appealed to us. But after shifting the couch and one chair to make room for the table, we realized the living area felt a bit compromised. By adding seating for six at the table, we lost an armchair and reduced living-room seating to three (two on the sofa and one on the remaining chair).
Most lounging actually happens in the den, which has plenty of seats, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that a small change would make the living/dining room work better for both meals and relaxation. Then I spotted a photo of a round table with a curved banquette and four chairs, and the idea clicked: a cushioned banquette or bench at the dining table could double as extra seating for the living room.
I tried dragging our little mini-mud room bench from Target into the space and it was an instant win.
Of course, we needed another bench so one could return to the mudroom. Finding a second bench gave us even more under-seat storage, which was a bonus. We discovered a slightly taller, leggier bench at Bed Bath & Beyond that felt more comfortable at the table, and the Target bench went back to its spot in the den. Problem solved.
Below is how the living/dining room looked before we added the bench:
And here’s the room after the bench was added:
The bench has become our favorite place to eat — there’s something cozy and intimate about sharing a seat — and it can be pulled out to provide extra living-room seating when needed. We love multi-purpose furniture. The arrangement restored a U-shaped conversation area in the living room and brought our seating capacity back up to five people. I was determined there was a simple solution, and I’m pretty sure John was happy I found an inexpensive one.
Here are a few other angles of the new setup:
