In the hearth room Undset received fellow authors, Catholics, and journalists. Here the priests from Hamar held mass, artist friends mingled at her annual Christmas and summer parties, and family would gather, dressed in their finest, for holidays and special occasions.
However, the children did not dare to run into Undset's room uninvited if they had scraped their knees, and the adults wisely kept their distance from the hearth room and the alcove during her ‘work hours’. (Source Nan B. Skille)