Sitting room, and then some more

On Monday, I posted about how many places to sit there should be in one room (dining room excluded).

The consensus among the commenters was that 12 seats was way too many for a room that's on the small size. There was distracting artwork in the background and just way too much going on in the room. Since then, I've been paying close attention to this "issue."

Imagine my reaction when I came across this image on Houzz:

Talk about lacking a center of focus! It looks like some sort of luxury funhouse. The giant hurricane glass in front of the camera lens isn't helping things -- the reflections just cause more visual clutter. And, I have a feeling there are more seats that didn't make it into the view.

I thought design dizziness was caused by crazy patterns and clashing colors, not by a creamy oasis. I mean, look at those windows! This room has all the elements to be a calm and relaxing retreat.

And now, here's the "sitting room" question: Where would you choose to sit? Ha, I'd sit in the chair that's farthest away. You know, the one that's alone on the wall and facing the back of the chair in front of it. From there, I'd be able to see the bewildered look on people's faces as they enter the room.

Sitting room, and then some

Imagine that you've just entered this room, and the host is inviting you to sit down:

Which seat would you choose? I think I'd go for one of the blue patterned armchairs. So many choices! If there were three people on each couch, the room could comfortably seat 12.

This makes me curious. How many people could sit in your family room? I just counted -- I have 7 spots -- one couch, a leather chair, two armchairs, and a desk chair.

I think this room, while lovely, looks too full, and if I were more scientific, I'd calculate a chair per square footage ratio - kind of like per capita, but we'll call it per infra.

So what do you think? Do more seats make a room more welcoming, or does it come to a point where enough is enough?