Arranging furniture can be a daunting task, whether you’re moving into a new home or just rearranging your living room. Where you place your furniture will influence the vibe of your room. Use these no-fail tips to effectively arrange the furniture in your home.
Determine your function
The secret to arranging furniture is to figure the room’s purpose. Think beyond the pieces you think you need and determine how you want to use the room. When determining a room’s function, ask yourself how you want to use the room, the kinds of activities you expect to do there, and how many people you’ll need to fit. Knowing these answers will affect the type and size of the furniture you’ll need and the layout.
Get focused
A well-defined focal point anchors your room and makes it easier to layout your furniture. Look around the room and determine the main feature, whether it’s a window, fireplace or even the tv. If there are several features you’d like to highlight, choose one. It may be difficult to select just one focal point, but doing so will keep your room from being overwhelming.
Create traffic flow
Arrange furniture so it’s easy for everyone to move through. You don’t want to feel like you need to carefully navigate around furniture. Be sure to allow enough space to safely walk around open cabinets and doors in addition to the furniture. A good rule of thumb is to allow for at least three feet of clearance around the room and entryways.
Create conversation zones
Create intimate areas where people can easily talk to each other without needing to raise their voices to be heard. Position sofas and chairs close enough together to encourage conversations. If you have an open-concept floorplan, you’ll also benefit from creating functional zones to break up space. Designate each area’s purpose with furniture: install a statement chandelier over the dining table to denote the dining area. Place a sofa with the back to the rest of the room to designate the area in front of it as the living room.
If you have an open-floorplan, you’ll benefit from creating functional zones to break up the space. D Place sofas and chairs close enough to each other to encourage conversations without needing to yell from one side of the room to the other.
Don’t push furniture against the wall
It’s easy to push your furniture against the wall and be done but resist that temptation! Pulling your furniture even a few inches away from the walls (yes, even in a smaller room) gives your furniture some breathing room and can make a room feel bigger.
While there’s more than one way to arrange furniture, the key is to find what works for you. These tips will help you make your Discovery home distinctively yours. We invite you to visit a Discovery Home community in Northern California or online at DiscoveryHomes.com to find your new home in the San Francisco Bay Area!