One of the most questions I am most commonly asked is ‘How do I make my Great Room impressive, yet comfortable?’  It is a good question because it moves beyond appearances and into the experience of living in the space.  Perhaps a disservice was done when the ‘Living Room’ became the ‘Great Room’.   Perhaps we stopped thinking less about how we lived in the space and more about what it looked like.  While, as human beings we would rather be valued for our qualities, how we served those around us, rather than by what we looked like, we sometimes become pre-occupied with the appearance of our home and less about how it can serve our experience of living in it.  Fortunately, I am having more people come to me concerned that, while they want impressive beam work in the Great Room, they also want to avoid the feeling of being in a large cavern, they want a greater sense of intimacy.

    So how do we create both?  We are drawn to timber frame homes because of the warmth of the timbers, the craftsmanship of the joinery, the possibilities inherent in the structure.  We want the character of the beam work, the wonder of the trusses.  We want the freedom of a sense of spaciousness.  We also want to be able to feel comfortable having an intimate conversation or curled up with a book. What is comfortable to live in is more related to our sense of scale as human beings and our sense of security.  We are more comfortable in rooms that are in proportion to our own dimensions and offer a perceived sense of protection.  This is the reason alcoves, window seats, corners, sheltering roofs, and enclosed spaces are attractive to us.  They conform to our own dimensions and need for security.   In a space with a soaring cathedral ceiling, we may be inspired visually, but we may not or sitting alone reading.

    In designing your Great Rooms, consider the relationship between ceiling height and spaciousness.  Our eye tends to be drawn to the longest dimension, whether vertical or horizontal.    In a room with a cathedral ceiling we are obviously drawn to the height.  In a timber frame home, this may be the intention, to highlight the beam work.  However, the height will make the horizontal dimensions of the room seem smaller.  The same room with lower ceiling height will appear larger.   That is not to say that because the ceiling are high, the room dimension have to be particularly large.   It may cease to function as a ‘living’ room and simply be just a Grand Hall.  As the room grows in size, it will be necessary to start dividing it into subspaces.   This may be done formally with clear divisions of space, demarcated by posts or changes in flooring, or informally through the placement of area rugs or the grouping of furniture.  For example, perhaps in the center you can locate a large formal seating area consisting of a couple of couches.  Some distance away you can have a couple of comfortable chairs in front of the fireplace.  In another area, you may have a nook for reading.  Another area may have a piano.  Or you may have a couple of chairs close to the windows surrounded by plants.  The options are varied.  The key is to realize that other than entertaining large groups, most people spend their time in smaller intimate activities.

    There are many ways we can add warmth and character to a Great Room.  One is in the floor planning itself.  If it is placed at angles to other living spaces, the focus becomes on the interesting views and spatial relationships and less on the vertical.  Designing a large bay or jogs in the walls can also make the room shape more interesting and create balance and counterpoint.  This may include window suites, recesses for specific furniture or cabinetry.

    While, in my experience, open planning still tends to dominate space planning, how the great room relates to your kitchen or dining area is critical.  A person in the kitchen may want to engage with those in the Great Room.  But after a meal, do you want to be able to look directly into kitchen activity or messy countertops?  Consider various visual or psychological breaks you can use.  These can include, strategic post placement, raised bar counters, cabinetry, a change in the floor level, abrupt changes in materials or lighting levels.  Often a half bathroom is required for the main floor living spaces.  Take care to ensure that while it may serve the open spaces, its entrance is tucked away off the main view axis. 

    Of course, ceiling beams and trusses can bring down a high ceiling and informally subdivide spaces.  The size and spacing of the beams should be a function of the size of the space and the effect desired, if possible, rather than have the space defined by the structure.  Too often we let the structure define the space.  Then we end up seemingly trying to put a round peg (ourselves) into a square hole.  We are not rigid creatures.  We tend to like flexibility and respond well to proportion and rhythm.  Beam layout should reflect the clusters of activity that will occur.   And trusses should similarly relate to the character of the spaces below.  Different truss forms foster a certain character (see sidebar).

    How lofts or upper floor areas open to floors below effect the feeling in a great room.  A large second floor wall space will tend to enclose the room below much more than an open loft.  If a large upper floor wall tends to overpower the space below, consider shuttered interior windows or design a ledge or soffit at the break between the upper and lower floors.  This can be a solid shelf for display of sculptures, artifacts and plants, or an open wood lattice.  I have used this effectively to create interesting lighting possibilities below and above.

    You can choose to have a vaulted central focus your great room with wonderful beam work and sill lower the ceiling height around the periphery to create nooks and alcoves for people to sit alone or in small groups.  Activity-oriented spaces transform architecture from visual to living spaces.  Book and display cases and entertainment centers also work well set back from the edge of the ceiling vault.  

    If you use lighting to highlight the exposed timbers, do so subtly at reduced light level so it highlights so as not to take the focus away from the living space below.

    Great Rooms can be one of the greatest design challenges in a timber frame home.  While we naturally want the drama and architectural interest of a high space and to highlight the beautiful beam work, the high ceilings can have an adverse effect on the perceived spaciousness of the living spaces and make it more difficult to achieve intimacy and warmth.  Rather than simply communicating to your Designer pictures of Great Rooms or beam and truss work that impress you, talk about how you live, how you usually inhabit your rooms.  Consider different times of day, evenings and weekends, yourself and others that may use the rooms, including kids.

    By creatively defining our spaces, being conscious of the effects of variations in ceiling height, by using light and color effectively, and by using the timbers to support the mood inherent in various activities, we can create a wonderful Great Rooms that are not only impressive but remarkably comfortable.

© Murray Arnott