2007 HC&G IDEA HOUSE TOUR

As the largest room in the house, the living room is a precious jewel, the stone that caps the crown. But size brings certain design challenges, particularly when a fireplace and two sets of French doors are focal points directly opposite each other, with plenty of floor space between.

"Although you tend to focus seating around a fireplace, this was much too large of a room in which to do that," says Franco Biscardi, who, with partner Brian Brady, served as Idea House design directors, coordinating the design team of 20. "It couldn't be a sofa and two chairs in front of the fireplace. Instead, we divided the room with a large center table and created three different sitting areas. So it's a great room for entertaining with generous seating and a lot of floor space for circulation."

The table—an 11-foot, 19th-century French antique with a light-colored cherry base and pine top—not only anchors the space but sets the tone for the soft palette Brady and Biscardi used to create "a formal living room that's not too formal," according to Biscardi.

To that end, the room features natural cotton and linen upholstery in earthy tones; window treatments of hand-woven reed shades framed by sand-colored raw silk draperies and an array of richly patinaed antiques, including a circa-1880 French chandelier made of carved, turned and painted wood the designers found at Sentimento Antiques. (Brady Design is the sole distributor of Sentimento Antiques in the Hamptons.) Prototype sofas by Biscardi and Brady made specifically for the room are grounded by two custom light blue and white rugs from Beauvais Carpets.

"Although it's grand," Biscardi says, "the room is equally suited for intimate use by one or two people who simply want to read in the two 1930s French-style club chairs in the bay window or warm up on the ottoman in front of the fireplace."