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When your home has only one living space, it needs to work hard.

That was designer Elaine Griffin’s reaction when she first saw

K a t h y a n d D e n n i s M e r g e t ’s l i v i n g r o o m . The

couple have two demanding jobs, four boys, and

one 17x27-foot living space with blue shag

carpet! “The Mergets are an athletic family, and

their furniture arrangement showed that,” says

Elaine. “It was perfect for tossing the football

from one end of the room to the other, and that’s about it.” Yet Elaine

could see past the field of shag to a f u t u r e f a m i l y - f r i e n d l y

nirV3TLcl: where adults face each other

when speaking, where boys calmly do

homework or raucously play video games,

where mom can retreat to read or listen to

music. See how “everything” happens.

DESIGNER

ELAINE

GRIFFIN

by KRISTINE KENNEDY photos LAURA MOSS produced by ELAINE GRIFFIN