How to layout your living room

How to functionally layout your living room!

Often a living room is the second heart of the home after the kitchen.

This means that this common space often covers many uses and can often be a challenging place to implement a functional layout.

Good design is dependent on good space planning. You can have the most beautiful furniture in the world but if it isn’t laid out functionally that doesn’t matter! I want to show you a few tips that you can implement in your space right away that will help you get that functional flow in your space.

With these few ideas you can transform the usability in an existing space or start out on the right foot in a new environment before you start the creative process.

Often in existing spaces, there is hidden functionality that my clients haven’t considered before since they are used to having their living space being laid out in one way for a long time. It’s often hard to look past what is already ahead of you.

And I know looking at an empty room, or a room that doesn’t work or feels quite right can be completely overwhelming. This process is about getting out of a rut and perhaps experimenting with what you have, or actually planning ahead so that you aren’t stuck with furniture that doesn’t work for how you would like to live in your space!

I cannot tell you how many clients Ive helped to rework the space-plan of their home. In fact I just helped a client with two different sized sofas that just didn’t seem to make sense in her new space. She brought them from her old home and she wanted to make them work to save herself some money (which is always a priority). But in the new living room they really ended up feeling really dwarfed in the space. She wanted the focal point to be the TV/ fireplace, but because the long sofa would only fit on the perpendicular wall the entire flow was off! We floated the long sofa and we opted for two chairs as conversational seating facing towards the sofa and everything now works in her new space!

I think space planning is often overlooked by clients because:

A. All of the details are overwhelming (#thatswhyIhiredyou…)

B. People assume they can just “make it work” … if the piece fits through the door it’ll work in the room!… right…?

C: They don’t think it matters that much

When you do your space planning homework BEFORE you start a project or before you switch up an existing space you:

A. Will save yourself money

B. Save yourself time making bad choices for the space

and C. Save your back from physically moving all of your pieces around over and over!

bonus…perhaps save any relationships you have from driving them up a wall over bad design haha

If you decide to go it alone good luck my friend I do hope that luck is on your side! Trust me I have been doing this a loonnggg time and 9 times out of 10, if you jump in without intentions or your big picture in mind you WILL cause yourself more pain than is necessary!

• If you’ve read this far you are probably looking for some tips that will help you on your space planning journey. So without further ado here we go!

Make sure you have the right-sized rug!
This is massively important. I created this little infographic here above to help illustrate the correct proportions of a rug. Think of your rug as the canvas of the space you are creating and the rest of the furniture as the images in the painting. Often negative space is just, if not more important than the actual forms in the painting! If you feel like something is weird in your room it’s probably that your rug is too small!
More on common design mistakes here.
Make sure that everyone seated can reach the coffee table.
I have a question for you if you can’t reach to rest a cup of coffee on the coffee table what’s the point?… Yea nothing haha! Make sure your coffee table is in the right shape for the room and the way the rest of your furniture is laid out. If you can reach from one side of the sofa make sure your family and guests can reach from where they are sitting too. A common issue I see in my client’s existing spaces is the coffee table
technically “fits” but it’s not long enough to reach the other
seating. Also remember you want about 18” between the edge
of a seat and the edge of the coffee table.
Make sure that everyone seated can set a drink down on an end table.
The whole point of a living room is making it easy for people to live. You need to give your people a place to set things down that is convenient, from a book to a remote you don’t want it to be awkward for someone to find a firm surface. If you don’t have space for a separate end table, you should consider a c-table. These are tables that can slip under the front edge of a sofa so they don’t take up any extra square footage. Also smaller scale end tables like martini tables and pedestal tables are a nice way to offer a surface to your guests and add another form to your room’s aesthetic.
•unsure of your own aesthetic?, more on that here
Make sure that egress isn’t impeded in any way.
Egress basically space to move around and get through and out of a room. Make sure that there is ample space to move around in your room. When the flow gets choked in a certain area it will cause you to stress especially if you are entertaining other people. No one wants to see a guest turn sideways to shimmy past some furniture to get out of a space, also in the case of an emergency, it could end up being dangerous. Most often you need at least 30” between pieces that you need to walk past.
Avoid blocking main sight-lines with large furniture
This is huge and a really common mistake I see in a lot of spaces, and to be honest, depending on your spaces focal point may end up being something that you compromise on. However if possible you want your furniture to welcome your guests into the space not visually block their path. even if furniture is properly spaced, placing it at the entrance of a room can mentally repel people from engaging with the space. The thing I see most often with clients is when they purchase a sectional that is facing the wrong way! Yes its facing the focal point but when the long end is blocking the entrance it isn’t very inviting!
But…consider floating furniture if necessary
If you are in your space and things feel weird it may be that you are not braking up an open space effectively. Sometimes people think that all of the furniture should be anchored on walls and when you have a large open space this can end up looking really weird and not functioning for you! Using your rugs as a guide break up open floor plans by their usage areas and don’t be afraid to float furniture to better focus on your focal points
Try and have only one focal point
Speaking of focal points its a lot simpler if you use one wall as a focal point. Your space is going to get convoluted if we don’t know which wall we are supposed to be looking at. My advise if you have more than one focal point is to prioritize. Pick the most important feature and organize the way your furniture is oriented around that. If you are confused about how to do this I would really recommend enlisting a professional!
Think about how you want to use the space first
Save yourself some time and money by considering how you actually want to live first. Trust me if you head into a design project without your intentions (more on intentionality here) or your big picture (more on your design WHY here) in order it could end up being a difficult process for you.
Take some time think before you jump in and buy anything!
Consider getting rid of anything that doesn’t fit your use vision
Heres the deal. There is no such thing as room usage police! This is your home and if you have never used or even stepped into a room in your daily life A. You may have too big of a house (sorry Kardashians…) or B. Its time to consider switching it up!
Trust me you are going to love changing your formal dining room into an office/playroom if thats how your family likes to live!
PS if that roll top desk in the corner of the room is filled with junk and you hate using it get rid of it! Everything in your home should always be changing and everything in it should A.Be useful to you and/or B. Be beautiful to you. If something in your home doesn’t pass through at least one of these gates (ideally both) its gots to gooo.
(more on how to decide if you should keep a piece in your home here).
If possible have seating facing each other for conversation
Your living room is at its core about connection. Perhaps your focal point is the TV but unless you have one lawn chair in the middle of the room your wish is to connect with your loved ones or create a nice space for conversation. If it’s possible consider setting chairs or poufs opposite of the sofa, that way everyone has a spot to talk and feels welcomed.
These tips are tried and true guidelines that I use for every single one of my clients. If you consider all of these tips in your own living space you will avoid many different space planning snafus.