How To Place Furniture In A Living Room: A Simple Step By Step Guide

A classic approach to furnishing a living room presupposes a set of traditional furniture units: a sofa, a TV stand, some armchairs or recliners and a coffee table. Lately, though, living rooms in most households have been combining a number of other functions  – a lot of them serve as bedrooms (or occasional guest bedrooms) and home offices. In general, how to place furniture in a living room depends on a variety of factors. Below are some step by step tips on furnishing a modern living room  that will help you get started:

Prepare a draft layout of your living room

First thing you have to do before you hit the stores and start buying furniture is to prepare a draft layout of your living room taking into account all important parameters and dimensions. The approach to placing furniture in a small living room and a large one is completely different, so you must understand clearly how much space you really have. Take time to evaluate if the layout you have in mind will actually work – will there be enough walkabout space? Will it feel too empty or too cluttered? Will you be able to open the doors of a wardrobe or a display cabinet freely, without hitting other furniture? Take a look at the environment you have drafted and think – will it feel comfortable and welcoming?

Decide on your living room centerpiece

The interior of a living room, no matter big or small, will be build around its centerpiece – the most important furniture unit in the entire room. To decide what exactly it should be, think of your needs and requirements. If you will mostly use your living room for friendly reunions, its interior should center around a set of armchairs and a coffee table. If you plan to watch TV or play computer games, use a TV stand  as a main focal point.

computer games 

Make sure your interior scheme is proportionate and balanced

Most living rooms are small or medium sized and simply won’t accommodate big furniture units. Go for compact sofas and modular furniture, and if you absolutely have to place a heavy vintage wardrobe or a big grandma’s chair in your living room, avoid placing it near windows and doorways. Note, that symmetrical furniture placement works best in big spacious living rooms, while irregular, asymmetrical placement is more suitable for smaller spaces. An important rule on how to place furniture in a living room is to balance the size of furniture units with the dimensions of your premises.

Work on furnishing functional zones

Modern living rooms serve multiple purposes, so it will only be logical to split your living room into functional zones. This, unfortunately, won’t apply to really tiny living rooms, but if your living room combines a recreational area and a home office or accommodates a wardrobe or another storage unit, make sure zones are clearly visible. You may use tall shelving units as room dividers, lighting fixtures, and different floor surfaces to split up your room. Zoning doesn’t have to involve huge expenses – placing a simple and elegant carprag coffee et rag by a coffee table to ‘mark’ a conversation area may work wonders just as well.