In France, a reception room (grand salon, petit salon), which in English meets the same requirements as the drawing room and the smaller, less formal sitting rooms in the houses of large country estates.
In the stately homes, grand homes and palaces of Europe the salon is a large open room, internal hall or drawing room for receiving guests that is almost always situated on the first floor. Neither the opportunity to make a grand entrance is not lost, nor, from this position the chance to gain the best view over the specially planted formal gardens below and parkland beyond.
In today’s less formal homes, the idea of salon can be of a valuable space, sometimes used for entertaining but enjoyed continuously –mostly open, used as library, a gallery; a blank canvas for seasonal and occasional use, parties, entertaining…