Ask a Designer: maximize seating for entertaining

The joy of home entertaining at the holidays often comes with a challenge: How do you provide enough seating for a roomful of holiday revelers with just a sofa and a few chairs? Are there creative options besides resorting to folding chairs?

Los Angeles-based interior designer Betsy Burnham frequently hears from clients who want help solving this puzzle. "People are doing more home entertaining than ever," Burnham says, so they want to design their living space to accommodate guests easily. For those without huge rooms, that can be challenging.

Here, Burnham and designers Brian Patrick Flynn and Kyle Schuneman offer advice on maximizing seating without sacrificing style.

STEALTH SEATING

"I'm a big fan of vintage ottomans, stools and sturdy side tables like stumps for this exact purpose," says Schuneman, author of "The First Apartment Book: Cool Design for Small Spaces" (Clarkson Potter, 2012). These pieces can work as tables or storage surfaces, he says, then occasionally serve "as extra seating for game nights or casual gatherings around the coffee table."

Benches can work the same way. Schuneman suggests buying two benches that coordinate nicely with the decor of your living room, and then placing them at the foot of beds in your home. When extra seating is needed, "you can easily pull them out for the holidays and bigger dinners," he says. "And you have a cohesive looking space, as opposed to a bunch of stuff you just pulled from around the garage."

Flynn, founder and editor of decordemon.com, uses ottomans in a similar way. "What I often do is use an upholstered or hardy wood storage ottoman on casters instead of a coffee table in the sofa area," he says. "Inside the storage ottoman, I keep floor cushions. When it's time for guests, the ottoman can be wheeled just about anywhere as extra seating, and the floor cushions allow guests to lounge."

Burnham points out that using ottomans or benches may be more appropriate in a casual family room or great room than in a more formal living room. But even for formal spaces, an elegant ottoman can work: "Done well, it's a beautiful way to bring another fabric into your space," she says.

CHAIRS FROM ELSEWHERE

Flynn often uses a mixture of different chairs and benches at a dining room table year-round, rather than a matching set. The look is stylish, and when chairs need to be brought into a living room for a party, they don't necessarily look like they're been taken from the dining room set. The mix can include "a three-seater bench, squatty stools, armless chairs, six chairs and a pair of wingbacks at each end," he says.

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Ask a Designer: maximize seating for entertaining