Spring often has us wanting to make changes in our lives and homes, and the easiest and most inexpensive way to invigorate the design of your living room is to rearrange the furniture you already own.
Furniture placement can be a daunting task, no matter how big or small the room. If you are worried about not being able to balance all the elements into a harmonic configuration, here are a few professional tips.
To have a room feel balanced, the furniture simply needs to be placed in a way that is pleasing to the eye and easy to move around. If all the heavy furniture pieces like sofas, armchairs, entertainment centres and bookshelves are loaded on one side of the room, it can feel like a sinking ship.
On the other hand, if you spread your furniture haphazardly around the room, it will possibly feel cluttered even when it is relatively empty. Think about the size of the living space in relation to the amount of furniture you have.
You might anchor the room by placing a large entertainment centre against one wall, and then arrange the seating comfortably around that anchor. Alternatively, place the sofa against a wall, add a small side table or a coffee table in front for convenience, and voilá, your room is balanced.
Using the sofa as an anchor, or as the focal point for the room, can be an effective furniture placement tool. However, modular sofas, or sofas with multiple components, can be too heavy an anchor, tipping the balance of the room with its bulkiness. A creative solution to this problem can be found in breaking up the pieces of the sofa.
Experiment with the large sofa piece against the longest wall of the room, then position the smaller sections on the opposite side, set in slightly from the wall. If the smaller sections are turned slightly to face the sofa at an angle, you will avoid that boring, boxy look that comes with having all furniture pieces pressed with their backs straight against a wall. This arrangement will also loosely create a more welcoming conversation ‘circle’.
A fresh alternative to placing the sofa against the longest wall is to bring it out, away from the wall. If you prefer this look, allow at least two and a half to three feet between the sofa and the wall for comfortable walking space. Less space is needed between chairs and a sofa, but always keep in mind walking patterns.
Imagine how people will move around in your living room with all the furniture in its proper place. For instance, if there are two doors, you might want to place sofas and chairs in a way that will allow passersby to walk behind or around the seating arrangement instead of through it.
If there is only one door to the room, don’t block the flow with a large coffee table right in the way of the sofa. Make sure there is easy access directly to the sofa and chairs from the door, allowing for some space around the seating area as well.
Larger living rooms can be designed so that they function effectively as two areas. For example, have one social, entertainment centre seating arrangement in one section, and a quieter study arrangement in another. Tall side tables could be placed behind a sofa with decorative vases and pictures on top, as long as there is still walking space behind the couch.
When deciding on how to arrange living room furniture, pay attention to your instincts. Wait to decorate the walls for a few days or even longer once you have decided on where you are going to put each piece of furniture, to give yourself a chance to get used to the new placement.
Live in the space for a while, and assess how you feel. If something doesn’t feel right, you can always move it, and use these tips to help you bring your living room back into balance.