How to Create a Timeless Living Room

A timeless room is usually a well-proportioned one. Before selecting a single textile, measure the room and decide where people will sit, what they will look at, and how they will move between the two.

Anchor the plan with one generous seating piece rather than several small ones. A single low sofa of the right depth will do more for a room than a matched set that fits nothing in particular.

Keep the palette narrow and let material do the work: oak, wool, stone, linen, bronze. Contrast comes from texture and finish rather than colour, which is why these rooms tend to age slowly.

Buy the pieces you will keep first — seating, dining table, lighting — and allow the accessories to arrive over years. Rooms assembled in one purchase tend to look assembled in one purchase.