HOME FRONT:Having a cosy TV room can make the thought of staying in on a cold night more inticing, writes Zita Spring
WITH WINTER WELL and truly at the door and summer a distant memory at best, you can take comfort in the fact that at least there will be plenty of opportunity for that most wintery of activities - holing up in the living room with a TV guide, some rented DVDs and a bottle of wine, refusing to leave until it stops being cold outside.
If that sounds a lot like what you already spent your summer evenings doing, herein lies the difference - when winter rolls around, you can make being a couch potato an altogether more indulgent affair. Having a cosy TV room that invites you to curl up and chill out can make renting a movie or watching The Late Late Showa much more glamorous Friday night option.
Televisions and their associated accoutrements can often detract from a tasteful interior, but some thoughtful decorating choices and attention to detail is all it takes to keep a TV from stealing focus from the rest of a room. There is an interior design school of thought which maintains that having a television on display at all is inelegant (hence their conspicuous absence from many interior design books and magazines), but it is becoming a more old-fashioned point of view, and the curious trend for hiding TVs is falling out of favour.
Before you settle down and get comfy, you're going to need an elegant screen to position your sofa in front of. The only acceptable excuse for still owning a bulky, premillennial relic of a television set is that you still haven't decided just how enormous your new flat screen television ought to be. Fortunately, there is a rule of thumb for figuring out the optimum TV screen size, which depends on the layout of a room. A TV positioned seven feet from a sofa should be no bigger than a 32-inch; a TV positioned eight feet from a sofa should be no bigger than 36 inches; a TV positioned 10 feet from a sofa should be no bigger than 42 inches; and a TV positioned 12 feet from a sofa should be no bigger than 50 inches.
If you're on the lookout for a new television, the Sony Bravia EX1 launches this month and is definitely a contender for most chic TV on the market. It is wall-mounted, ultra-thin, and when you are not watching television, it turns into a digital picture frame (RRP is €3,029 for the 40-inch model).
Eliminating visual clutter will make your TV room a more relaxing space. BoConcept (www.boconcept.ie, tel: 01-2932008) do a great range of modern base cabinets, wall systems and shelving units for keeping DVD players, messy cables and general living room jumble out of sight. BoConcept also do a "Functional Coffee Table" (€669) with hidden storage - the perfect place for stashing magazines and remote controls. Storage ottomans are another versatile piece of living room furniture - you can use one as a coffee table or footrest, or for additional seating.
If you're not in the market for new furniture, one small thing you can buy to make lounging in front of the TV more refined is a stylish tray for bussing snacks and drinks in and out of the room. Check out the mirrored trays available from Laura Ashley (tel: 01-8851292).
Mood lighting is the perfect way to add cosiness and atmosphere to a room, and to this end the simplest thing you can do is to install a dimmer switch, so that you can set the tone for whatever you're watching on the box.
Having a fancy scented candle on the go will make lounging in front of the telly a more luxurious business - there's no point in saving the good candles for a special occasion if when flopped on the sofa at the end the day is when you appreciate them most. Companies who do sumptuous candles include L'Occitane, Molton Brown, Jo Malone and the Galway brand, Cloon Keen.
Getting cosy with soft furnishings is the best way to make a living room feel a little more indulgent. Nothing says comfort like a soft, shaggy rug, and one will do wonders for making a space feel warmer in wintertime. Make sure to get a good quality, hardwearing one if your living room is a high traffic area.
Rather than cranking up the central heating when you're feeling chilly, snuggle up underneath a luxurious throw instead. No Irish home should be without a beautiful blanket from the woollen mills of Avoca (www.avoca.ie, tel: 0402-35105) or Foxford (tel: 094-9256756) . To earn some fashion bonus points, opt for a lambswool throw in a plaid pattern. Beyond that, the finer details of luxurious lounging - Bovril or hot chocolate, socks or slippers, Pat Kenny, Sarah Palin or Ugly Betty- are a matter of personal taste.