“THE GATHERING ROOM”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

………………….Years ago, when I added this room onto the house….the architect who I worked with named it……..”THE GATHERING ROOM”……instead of the “Family Room”…….I really wasn’t familiar with that term and asked him why he labeled all the architectural drawings “Gathering Room”….he answered….”because this will become the nucleus of the house where you and your family and friends “will gather”…..It made perfect sense to me, and his prophecy came true. It is the room where I do all of my entertaining…..It’s wonderful in the summer with the big windows open to the sea breezes, and it’s cozy in the winter with the large fireplace burning……The top left photo was taken in the Green Library, looking through the Living Room into the Gathering Room…..The architect said he liked the perspective of looking through one room into the other into the other……he said it was very typical of English, French…..European grand homes…….The other photos are just different views of the room…..The two at the extreme right were taken in front of the fireplace looking across the room….You can see the entrance from the living room, and the pocket door at the right, to the sun porch…..In the bottom middle photo you can see the other entrances into the room….two from the dining room and one from the living room….There are two couches and two large club chairs all upholstered in a celadon green wool/cotton chenille fabric with matching throw pillows….The walls of the room are in a very pale shade of celadon, and all the wood moldings are a dark walnut…….In the center of the room, in front of the couches, is a huge glass top table that sits atop a French window guard made of iron in a scroll design…….Behind the couch, and against the wall, under the John Carroll Doyle painting of the Egret…are two long Chinese tables….one is an alter table and the other is a scroll table….On the table behind the couch are two very large Chinese jars, that Jac found, asked to be converted into lamps. Each of the four sides depicts a different scene, and with their celadon shades they work perfectly in the room…A great find!….The one other piece of large furniture is a round dining table that can seat 6……It’s at the end of the two Chinese tables in front of the pocket door. There are four Chinese dining chairs around it with tapestry loose cushions…..There is a silver tray table between the two armchairs, and usually two end tables on either side of one of the couches made from very sturdy Chinese woven baskets, but one has been moved to make room for the TREE!!…..Book cases were very important to me so I had them built where ever it made sense…..In the top center picture, and the one below it, you see a bookcase next to the fireplace. Below the books is the TV hidden with folding doors…….Before I built the room I always told Jac I wanted a big room facing the water with great views….a huge fireplace and a TV……Jac said….”if you sell your apartment in the city you can build the room”…….I didn’t have to think twice. At this point I was renting the apartment…..The only things remaining from my bachelor apartment are my African sculptures in the room and the scull with horns on the wall!…everything else was built in……so I sold it and built my room…….our room!………..What I love about this room is….it looks like it was always here.

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Sallie

    Louis, thank you so much for the grand tour of your exquisite home decorated for Christmas. It’s breath-taking and the attention to detail is incredible. Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

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