- Furniture Placement Secrets
- By Batsheva Vaknin
The easiest and most inexpensive
way to invigorate the design of your living room is to rearrange
the furniture items you already own. Furniture placement can
be a daunting task, no matter how big or small the room. If you
are someone who always figured furniture placement would be better
left to professional interior designers, fret no more. These
tips will help you embrace the task of balancing your sofa with
your coffee table or armchair, and allow you to create peace
and harmony amongst all your furniture.
Location, location, location
A room must be balanced. Specifically,
the furniture in every room should be placed in a way that is
pleasing to the eye and easy to maneuver around. If all the heavy
furniture pieces like sofas, armchairs, entertainment centers
and bookshelves are loaded on one side of the room, a room can
feel like a sinking ship.
On the other hand, if you spread
your furniture around the room haphazardly, a room can feel cluttered
even when it is relatively empty. Think about the size of your
living room in relation to the amount of furniture you have.
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You can anchor the room by situating
a large entertainment center against one wall, and then arrange
all seating comfortably around that anchor. Or, anchor your sofa
against a wall, add a small side table or a coffee table in front
for convenience, and voilá! Your room is balanced.
Sofa Secrets
Using your sofa as an anchor,
or as the focal point for your living room can be an effective
furniture placement tool. |
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However, modular sofas, or sofas
with many 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.
Place the largest sofa piece
against the longest wall of the room, then the smaller sections
on the opposite side. If you have the smaller sections of the
modular sofa face the long 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.
A fresh alternative to placing
your sofa against the longest wall is to bring the sofa out,
away from the wall. If you prefer this look and feel for your
sofa placement, 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.
Go with the Flow
Imagine how you and your guests
will maneuver in your living room with all the furniture in its
proper place. For example, if there are two doors, you may want
to place sofas and chairs in a manner 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 you allow 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 center seating arrangement in
one section, and a quieter study arrangement in another. Tall
side tables can 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
your living room furniture, listen to your instincts. Wait to
decorate the walls for a few days or even a week 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 bit, 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. |
