Arranging living room furniture need not involve moving furniture around for days on end, trying out the new arrangement to see what works best. There are a few useful guidelines you can use, and most rooms have at least some features to help you.
(If you're not familiar with these guidelines, take a look at them first on the living room furniture page, and then return here.)
On this page you'll see a typical plan for arranging living room furniture, together with computer generated views of how it could look.
First make a plan of your room
This one suggestion can save you hours of work and frustration, not to mention wasted energy in moving furniture around needlessly. You can make the plan on plain paper, graph paper, or use your favorite drawing program on your computer.
If you're using paper, then it's helpful to make cutouts to scale of your furniture. You can then easily move them around on the plan.
We've used a dedicated computer program which allows us to draw the plan and then produce computer generated views. This living room is about 20'0" by 23'0" (approximately 6.0 metres by 7.0 metres).
Use the existing features
The focal point is obviously the mantle or fireplace. In many rooms this would be the central point for arranging living room furniture, providing just one group. But this room is large enough for more than one group of furniture. It was decided not to include a TV, as the intention was to use the room for people to interact with one another.
So two seating areas were arranged as shown, allowing suitable access from doors, and adequate space for people to move around.
Looking around the room
To look around the views just hold down the mouse button on the view and move around. You can see where you are in the room on the little plan in the top left of the picture. Go to other positions by either clicking on the red dots in the plan, or clicking on the arrows as they appear in the view. The green dot shows your current position.
You'll need Adobe's® Flash® to see the views. If you don't have it, it's easy to download and install.
Make your own spaces
So that the room wasn't just one large area, the two seating areas were also indicated by the use of two oriental rugs. These also give some color and definition. It's always a good idea to think in terms of 'groups' when arranging living room furniture.
If all the fabrics used on the furniture had been the same, it would have looked ok, but perhaps a bit ordinary. By using different but coordinating fabrics a much more interesting but coherent effect is achieved.
Lighting
You'll normally find picture lights used in a room such as this. But here we've illustrated another way of doing it. By fitting lights into the ceiling above areas where pictures will be placed, the pictures are nicely lit and the walls are kept clear of light fittings.
Advantages and disadvantages of computer generated views
The computer generated views are very useful to see how different items go together when you're arranging living room furniture. In other words, you can see how space is used. But don't rely on it too much for color. Yes, you can see how the room might look if you use red as opposed to yellow. But don't take it too far.
The subtle shade variations you get in different lighting conditions, the way different fabrics of similar colors reflect light - these and other factors mean you shouldn't expect too much. Use it for guidance only, then make your final decisions with real bits of fabric, carpet, rugs, etc seen in different lighting conditions.
If you're interested in computer generated views there are a number of products you can use. Some you buy and install on your computer, others such as the one below are web based and you pay a small fee to use them.
See your ideas take shape
Whenever you're doing any designs for your home, take a look at a product called Plan3D. You can use it to visualize new layouts and designs, and see how your home will look before you go ahead with your plans. It's a
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