Couches, Settes, and Tables, Oh My!

Your living room is one of the first rooms that visitors see and one of the most-used rooms for the family. This means it's an important space to get right not only in a decorative way but also a practical one. To help you design the best layout for a living room of any size, here are a few practical tips.

1. Create Structure

A large, open living room can feel oversize and confused if it has no structure. Fortunately, furniture placement is a great way to give it a type of skeleton. Create zones using furniture as you would if there were imaginary walls around them to form a room. This makes things cozy, focused, and more practical for multiple uses. 

2. Imagine Conversations

The living room is often the main room used for conversations, so pay attention to how conversations can happen with each furniture arrangement. You never want guests or family members to have to strain, lean forward, or raise their voices to converse. Most living rooms should have at least two comfortable conversation areas and more depending on their size. 

3. Orient With a Focal Point

The living room should have one major focal point. Typically, this is the television, but you can also use a fireplace, a statement piece of furniture, a rug, or artwork. Whatever focal point you choose, use this as a guide for furniture placement in the zone. Most furniture should be placed to draw attention to the focal point, and none of it should block the view of it. 

4. Move Away From Walls

Most people automatically line their furniture up against walls. But you may want to rethink this tendency. Moving furniture inward — even by a foot or two — makes large rooms feel more intimate, facilitates shared use, and allows you to take advantage of the whole floor plan. 

5. Practice Traffic Flow

How will users move around the living room? People should be able to move freely and in generally straight lines from each door to every other door as well as from zones in larger living rooms. Furniture should never be placed so that people have to stop and make a turn around it. And they shouldn't have to walk between viewers and televisions. 

Want more tips for ensuring a practical, functional, and yet beautiful living room? Start by meeting with a home interior designer in your area today. Together, you can design a great layout no matter how large or small the space is or how much furniture you plan to use.