How to arrange furniture can be a daunting task!  And, I don’t always get it right the first time.  Below, I have some furniture arranging tips to get you on your way to decorating your room beautifully! The two most difficult rooms to arrange, are the living room and master bedroom.  Let’s start with the living room furniture, and then move onto the master bedroom.

Four Tips for Arranging Living Room Furniture Perfectly

Below are my four tips to take into consideration when arranging a living room.

1.  Focal Point –   Will your focal point be the fireplace or the television.  When a television can be mounted above the fireplace, this is the best scenario for not having two focal points.

2.  Foot Traffic – How many entrances do you have in your living room?  Take a look at where people will walk to get from one room to another.  You don’t want people stumbling over or around a bulky piece of furniture.  The foot traffic must flow smoothly.

3.  Seating and Drinks – Having enough seating, and having a place where people can place a drink is an important consideration when deciding on furniture and accent tables.

4.  Lighting – This is one of my most important design elements in ANY room.  Lighting is key to a comforting and relaxing room.  Only having overhead lighting makes a room feel cold and harsh.

Four Different Living Room Arrangement Ideas

Below are four different living room variations.  Nine times out of ten, I will place a couch on the longest wall.  This usually helps to keep an open feel in the room.  Below each sketch I have listed the four furniture arranging tips in order, along with detailed explanations.

Because this living room’s foot traffic goes directly through the room, it would of made furniture placement a little more difficult.

1.  Focal Point –  This room does not have a fireplace, so the television is going to be the focal point.  Placing it between the window and the door seemed to be the ideal place.

2.  Foot Traffic – Because there is essentially four pathways, ( entrance pathway, pathway to hall, pathway to kitchen, and pathway through door) having the couch against a wall, and two occasional chairs floating in the center of the room allow for an easier pathway to the kitchen and outside.

3.  Seating and Drinks – I did not place a table between the two occasional chairs opposite the couch.  It would of made things too crowded because of the pathway to the kitchen and to outside.  Guests sitting in the two occasional chairs can easily put their drinks on the coffee table.  The two chairs flanking the long table can easily be pulled around the couch when needing more seating for extra guests.

4.  Lighting –  The three lamps easily light all areas of this room, and will give a balanced amount of light needed for a soft and serene mood.

1.  Focal Point – This living room does not have a fireplace, so the television is the focal point.  The television could not be placed opposite the couch because there was not enough wall space due to the doorway to the hallway.  The television was placed on a corner cabinet.

2.  Foot Traffic – There are two direct pathways in this living room design.  Both are on one side of the room, so placing the couch on the large wall was the right spot.

3.  Seating and Drinks – This room only had one window.  Placing two chairs and a round table in front of the window instead of a couch allows for outside lighting to fill the room. The round table and coffee table are two perfect spots for drinks.

4.  Lighting – A floor lamp between the couch and one occasional chair, one lamp on the round table, and one lamp on the narrow entrance table gives perfect balance.

1.  Focal Point – The fireplace is the focal point of this room.  A flat-screen television was placed above the fireplace mantel.

2.  Foot Traffic – This room only has one pathway into the living room.

3.  Seating and Drinks – Choosing a sectional for this room worked beautifully.  It gave plenty of room for the bar stools, plenty of seating, and created a very cozy room.   Two small chairs were placed in front of the windows, and added even more seating.

4.  Lighting – One lamp is on the round table between the chairs, and one lamp is on a table beside the sectional.  The bar also has pendants for added lighting in this small space.  What a cozy room!

 

1.  Focal Point – The television is the focal point for this room.

2.  Foot Traffic – Only one pathway from the hallway into the kitchen.

3.  Seating and Drinks –  In this room, the couch was placed on the longest wall.  Two smaller chairs were placed in front of the window, and an occasional chair was placed beside the couch.  Could the couch go on the other longer wall with the windows?  Yes, but you would block a lot of light, and make the room feel smaller.  All seats in this room have a place for a guest to place their drinks.

4.  Lighting –  Again, the lighting is placed all around the room and creates perfect balance.  Even if you have an overhead light, having other lights on creates a calming atmosphere.

NOTE:  If  lamps are needed solely for extra lighting in a room, I use a 40 watt bulb.  It is the right watt for low ambient lighting.

How to Arrange Master Bedroom Furniture

Tips on creating a beautiful bedroom:

1.  Eliminate the clutter.

2.  Keep furniture pieces to a minimum.  One of the most common mistakes my clients make in the master bedroom is having too many furniture pieces.  The room becomes too cluttered.  The master bedroom needs to be your retreat.  A calm place to recover from the day.

3.  Good lighting is a must.  Have matching bedside lamps.  This keeps the design style neat and clean.  Use other lamps in your room for ambient lighting.  They don’t have to match, but try to keep them the same style.

4.  A bench at the end of the bed is always a pretty addition.

5.  One chest of drawers, and either a tall armoire, or a dresser, two nightstands, a bed, and a bench is usually all the other pieces of furniture you need in your master bedroom.  Place the armoire, or dresser opposite the bed to keep balance in the room.  (Think of a see-saw, two children weighing the same is balance.)  In the example above, the chest of drawers is placed between the windows.

Conclusion:

Learning how to arrange furniture is very important.  Furniture arrangement makes or breaks a room.  I’m sure you have had a room where when you walked in and something just felt off.  And, if you are like me, it bugs you every time you walk in!

Once you have your furniture arranged correctly, you are ready to go onto the next step:  window treatments.

BUT, if you have some furniture pieces you want to give a makeover, below are some posts on how to do just that!