By Linda C. Lentz

Joanne Kellar Bouknight, author of Celebrating the American Home (The Taunton Press, 2005), selected this kitchen/family space, by architect Andy Neumann, as an exemplary all-purpose room. In particular, the multilevel ceiling gabled with exposed trusses in the central area, lowered in alcoves is a prime spatial delineator. Clearly defined zones include: a daybed/window seat for reading, TV viewing, or overnight guests; a fireplace encircled by seating; a dining nook; a mini-home office; and a kitchen with walk-in and butler’s pantries to minimize clutter and overhead cabinets.

Sense and Sensibilities
In an era where multitasking has become the obligatory—indeed the preferred—way of life, no space remains sacred to one purpose. Consequently our homes need to adapt.

Interior designer Eric Cohler feels that Americans don’t use their living rooms. “‘Living room’ is a misnomer,” the New York designer contends. “What I try to do for clients is give them an all-purpose room where everyone can be together.” Often he does this by converting an existing living room into a family kitchen/dining/ hangout space. “You get a place to cook, a place to sit, a place to eat, and a place to watch TV, which is what we all do when we’re at home.”

Spatial Arrangements
Cohler’s egalitarian decorating philosophy was put to task in a recent Massachusetts renovation. “We included all the hierarchies of American space in one big room,” he explains. "There’s a media section, an area to curl up and read or have a glass of wine, a place to play games, a desk with a computer, and a more formal sitting space for entertaining. The way we tied them together was to use the same three large carpets throughout.” Additionally, Cohler upholstered the chairs and sofas with fade-, stain-, and water-resistant solution-dyed acrylic. “I wanted the pets to be able to jump up on the sofa and the kids to be able to drink grape juice,” he says.

Structurally, Carpinteria, California architect Andy Neumann utilized the ceiling to delineate individual zones, raising it and incorporating details such as trusses to center fireplaces and main seating areas; lowering it to create intimate niches like window seats and dining areas. “When rooms have multi purposes it’s nice to have them open to each other, but it’s important to define them,” Neumann advises.

In Frisco, Colorado, designer Kim Fancher composed small vignettes to optimize the utility of large multifunction spaces. She notes that she’s doing more with versatile furnishings like chairs-and-a-half that convert into twin beds, and ottomans or upholstered coffee tables with trays on them. “They could be used as tables or extra seating that can be moved,” she says. In a current installation Fancher is outfitting a dining room with a library. “The client wants to use it more, so in addition to the dining table, the walls will be lined with shelves of books and there will be two sitting areas.”

Alternative Solutions
Beyond gathering places, hallways are being employed for more than passage. Neumann carved out a window seat that faces a television placed between the children’s bedrooms in the family wing corridor of a new Sonoma, California, residence. Likewise Cohler transforms unnecessary hallway closets into mini-home offices or sleeping alcoves—complete with Scandinavian-style built-in beds, LCD TVs, and recessed shelves outfitted with alarm clocks and water—hidden behind curtains.

Guest rooms, too, are doing double duty. “People use them as playrooms, writing rooms, even dressing rooms,” says Cohler. In one instance, a client set a daybed in a room surrounded by curtained walls within which hung her wardrobe. Says Cohler, spaces like these tend to be dead. In this way, he concludes, “They are no longer static but active parts of the home.”