Great things can come from small packaging

Q: We thought we'd like all the open space in our great room, but as it turns out the room feels too open and big, especially in the dining area. Maybe you have some suggestions on how to arrange the furniture to make it feel cozier?

A: Think small. Gather your furniture into several intimate groupings, or "destinations," as professional designers might say. Creating coziness by design was the hallmark of Sister Parish,
 the American designer who taught even the English how to bring their cavernous country mansion rooms down to comfortable human scale. (The story goes that even the duke and duchess of York wanted her to apply her sense of warmth and space to their home, but hiring an American designer was out of the question for the English royals.)

The seating group in front of your fireplace or TV naturally comprises the main destination. The easiest way is to arrange its furniture - usually a sofa, side chairs, cocktail and end tables - around a centrally placed area rug large enough for at least the front legs of the seating pieces to rest on its edges.

The dining area is another destination grouping. Here, again, you might claim the space with an area rug, but make this one large enough to allow push-back room - that is, for a diner to get up from the table without tangling the chair legs in the rug fringe.

Or you could forgo the rug - especially if you have young ones with a high spillage rate - and define the dining area with a hanging light over the table. If there's still room to fill, a game table or desk could be the centerpiece of a third furniture grouping.

Now, instead of one wide-open and perhaps intimidating space, you have broken your too-big room into inviting bite-size pieces.

Melissa Smith, a certified kitchen designer, took the idea a step further in the great room we show here. She uses dramatic columns and a long, curved work island to set the galley kitchen off from the dining area, which is further defined by the area rug underfoot and the large light fixture hanging overhead. Dim the kitchen lights and diners might easily imagine that they're eating out on the porch. (We borrowed Smith's ideas from a new book all about "Classic Kitchen Style," by Mervyn Kaufman and the editors of Woman's Day Special Interest Publications, Filipacchi Publishing. Check it out yourself at www.hfmbooks.com.)

THANKS, UNCLE

Here's advice from the design pros attending the annual conference of the International Furnishings & Design Association last week in Los Angeles on how to spend your coming stimulus check. Invest the windfall in your best asset, your home, they say. Here's how to get the most bang for your $600:

- Paint a couple of rooms. Nothing makes a bigger impact quicker, and cheaper (about $30 a gallon for top-quality paint).

- Add a new chair anywhere for, say, $599 or up.

- Toss out all your bath towels and buy spa-quality, posh new ones.

- Invest in a set of luxury sheets that will last the rest of your life.

- Replace your tired kitchen countertops with an off-the-shelf laminate. In a single stroke, it will perk up the entire room.

- Build a headboard for the master bedroom. Six hundred dollars will easily cover the materials you need: plywood, foam, upholstery fabric and a staple gun, promises International Furnishings & Design Association board member Karen Wirrig, who recently did just such a project herself.

FYI: The association offers expert advice on other decorating subjects, too. To locate a professional in your area, click on www.ifda.com and look under "Find An Expert."

Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Hampton Style" and associate editor of Country Decorating Ideas.