The fireplace as anchor
The projecting wall with its marble fireplace at the centre is the first thing the eye reads. It solves an old problem in large reception rooms: where the seating should face, and what it should gather around.
The choice of marble is not only decorative. Its veining gives the wall a natural movement that makes any added ornament unnecessary, and it makes the surface look different at every hour as the light shifts.
The arched ceiling softens the geometry
The arched timber ceiling does two things at once: it adds a warm material to a room dominated by stone, and it removes the right angle between wall and ceiling. The room reads less like a box and more like an enclosure.
The curve also directs reflected light towards the centre of the seating rather than the edges, so the middle of the room feels brighter without adding a single fitting.
