Furniture Placement Secrets

Furniture Placement Secrets 
By BatSheva Vaknin
Furniture Placement Secrets By BatSheva Vaknin

The easiest and most inexpensive way to invigorate the design ofyour living room is to rearrange the furniture items you alreadyown. Furniture placement can be a daunting task, no matter howbig or small the room. If you are someone who always figuredfurniture placement would be better left to professionalinterior designers, fret no more. These tips will help youembrace the task of balancing your sofa with your coffee tableor armchair, and allow you to create peace and harmony amongstall your furniture. 

Location, location, location A room must be balanced.Specifically, the furniture in every room should be placed in away that is pleasing to the eye and easy to maneuver around. Ifall the heavy furniture pieces like sofas, armchairs,entertainment centers and bookshelves are loaded on one side ofthe room, a room can feel like a sinking ship. On the other hand, if you spread your furniture around the roomhaphazardly, a room can feel cluttered even when it isrelatively empty. Think about the size of your living room inrelation to the amount of furniture you have. 

You can anchor the room by situating a large entertainmentcenter against one wall, and then arrange all seatingcomfortably around that anchor. Or, anchor your sofa against awall, add a small side table or a coffee table in front forconvenience, and voilá! Your room is balanced. 

Sofa Secrets Using your sofa as an anchor, or as the focal pointfor your living room can be an effective furniture placementtool. However, modular sofas, or sofas with many components, canbe too heavy an anchor, tipping the balance of the room with itsbulkiness. A creative solution to this problem can be found inbreaking up the pieces of the sofa. 

Place the largest sofa piece against the longest wall of theroom, then the smaller sections on the opposite side. If youhave the smaller sections of the modular sofa face the long sofaat an angle, you will avoid that boring, boxy look that comeswith having all furniture pieces pressed with their backsstraight against a wall. 

A fresh alternative to placing your sofa against the longestwall is to bring the sofa out, away from the wall. If you preferthis look and feel for your sofa placement, allow at least twoand a half to three feet between the sofa and the wall forcomfortable walking space. Less space is needed between chairsand a sofa, but always keep in mind walking patterns. 

Go with the Flow Imagine how you and your guests will maneuverin your living room with all the furniture in its proper place.For example, if there are two doors, you may want to place sofasand chairs in a manner that will allow passersby to walk behindor around the seating arrangement instead of through it. 

If there is only one door to the room, don’t block the flow witha large coffee table right in the way of the sofa. Make sure youallow 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 functioneffectively as two areas. For example, have one social,entertainment center seating arrangement in one section, and aquieter study arrangement in another. Tall side tables can beplaced 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 fewdays or even a week once you have decided on where you are goingto put each piece of furniture, to give yourself a chance to getused to the new placement. Live in the space for a bit, andassess how you feel. If something doesn’t feel right, you canalways move it, and use these tips to help you bring your livingroom back into balance. 

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