Windows and doors for reconfiguring a living room

When you’re renovating, extending, or building a new home, you’re presented with a perfect opportunity to really think about the configuration of your living room – and the windows and doors you’ll need to make it just right.

It could be that your preference is to use an opening on an end wall as the focal point of the new space. Using bifold doors is a great way to open the living room so that the garden and home can become one – when the weather allows.

If, for instance, you’re planning to install an oversized corner sofa to dominate the room and act as the only seating – a set of bifold doors running the length of the space could provide a welcome breeze, link to the outdoors, and an effect of a little more space than there might actually be.

If, however, you’re not keen to have your living room open fully to the garden with bifold doors – and instead want to focus the room around a fireplace, large coffee table, or wall-mounted TV – then your windows and doors could be quite different.

Two large sofas, for instance, placed either side of a fire surround could be complemented nicely by a large panoramic window opposite the fire, so view and abundant sunlight can be enjoyed by all when seated.

Whatever your configuration, the most important factor in your design should be how people move about the space.

You might well choose to use furniture to break the room into distinct areas or to encourage people to use the space in one way. If this is the plan, it’s worth also thinking about how furniture and windows and doors will work in combination to achieve this affect.

A fire-side sofa, with a long table to its rear, could help section off a perfect little reading spot at the end of a room. Why not fit a ceiling to floor window, and place an arm chair or two beside it?

It could just end up being the most tranquil spot in the whole house.