Hilary Farr's Indoor Seating Twist Brings The Perks Of A Patio Into The Living Room

HGTV designer Hilary Farr is the queen of reimagining seemingly cramped and inefficient spaces into functional rooms with multiple uses. Whether she opens up a kitchen or transforms a living room, one of her best talents is finding a way to integrate a room with plenty of different gathering points. For instance, a kitchen mightn't just have an island for food prep. It could also have a banquette to the side for leisurely breakfasts or a large table with a booth positioned against the wall to serve as a dining table. 

The same goes for living rooms. Those aren't just spaces to watch TV in; she has a knack for carving out different areas to lounge, have cocktails, or gather, making the room more useful. That's exactly what the designer did in Season 2, Episode 4 of "Tough Love with Hilary Farr." She added patio-inspired seating in the room that consisted of four seats angled around a small table. 

This created a social corner in the living room, specially designed to encourage guests to gather around and talk. Much like how you would congregate on a patio to converse and enjoy your time together, that same vibe could now be experienced inside the living room. Curious how to incorporate it into your own home? Here is a closer look at Farr's design. 

In Season 2, Episode 4, "From Ukraine with Love," clients Amy and Max opened up their home to their niece and nephew from Ukraine. These are young adults, so Farr wanted to redesign their home to make it more conducive for four grown family members to enjoy the space together. To do that, Farr made the living room bigger by tearing down the wall of the small office next to it, creating more square feet. In the area where the office used to be, she added the patio-inspired seating arrangement. 

"That whole side of the home is one big area that is so versatile. It will be for parties, the whole family hanging out together, whatever," Farr said in the episode (via YouTube). In it, she arranged four white bouclé seats surrounding a round coffee table, mimicking an outdoor seating arrangement. There are additional drink tables next to the seats, which are skinny, tall tables that are just big enough to place a beverage on. It's perfect for gathering.

Do you love to have guests over and want to design the perfect entertainment space for hosting? Farr's arrangement is similar to what you would see in formal parlor rooms several decades ago, but it's more compact. If you would like to mimic her idea, then there are several things you can buy to set up your own patio-inspired nook. First, you will need to source four identical, comfortable chairs that your guests can sink into. It's important that you select identical ones, as it will make the nook more cohesive and better resemble the sameness of patio furniture. For instance, the Bella Barrel Chair from Target is a similar bouclé seat, and it costs $340 a chair.

Once your chairs are secured, you need a coffee table. You want it to be tall enough that guests can easily reach for their drinks, but low enough that it doesn't look like you have a dining table in your living room. A similar metal table would be the Hammered Coffee Table from Amazon, which costs $283. Lastly, to make it even more convenient to place beverages and small plates closer at hand, consider investing in a few drink tables. A similar one to Farr's pick would be the Cannon Sphere Drink Table from Rypen, which costs just shy of $200.