The one thing you need to have a successful room, in my opinion, is the furniture layout. You can have beautiful furniture and a great color scheme, but if the furniture isn't arranged correctly - it can make or break the room. Arranging your furniture in a way that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. A furniture layout that is designed correctly will make you feel invited into the space and also doesn't hinder your entertaining aspects and how you use the space itself.
Recently, I helped a client rearrange her furniture. The current layout was blocked off to the room adjacent. Although the two rooms were open to each other, they felt completely separated because the sofa and chairs blocked off the area and divided the room in half.
The client has a young son who plays in the other room and she wanted both rooms to feel connected. She wanted to be able to sit in the other room with a view of her son, but her current layout wasn't functioning for her in several ways.
Below is the drawing of the original furniture lay out. As you can see, with the chair dividing the two rooms, the rooms instantly feel separated. The two accent chairs aren't in the most functional space in relation to the fireplace (which is on the angle). The furniture layout also does not provide enough circulation around the furniture. The chair is in the door way of the other room and doesn't allow for enough walking room. The main seating group also isn't anchored by an area rug and is directly on the hardwood floor which makes the furniture feel scattered and unorganized.
The play area is tight with all the furniture. The desk is centered on the window but doesn't allow enough room to pull out the chair on the other side. There should be at least 28-36 inches available to pull out the chair (allow for more room with chairs with arms).
Through our E-Design floor planning services, the client had sent me photos and measurements of her space along with the pictures and measurements of all the furniture she wanted to keep in the space.
As you can see, the final furniture layout feels more open and inviting. The two rooms feel connected and she has a clear view to hear son while he is playing in the room over. Instead of ignoring the weird angle of the fireplace, I embraced it by turning the sofa on the same angle. This makes the fireplace feel important, which makes it more of a focal point rather than a "thing" in the room.
There is plenty of space to flow around the furniture and circulate from room to room with no obstruction to the doorways and entrances. The main seating group is anchored by her existing area rug. I selected a coordinating round rug for the playroom adjacent to compliment her existing rug that is now in the living room.
In the playroom area, I made a few tweaks to the layout. I turned the desk and put it against the wall with a picture gallery above with her sons artwork. With a minor adjustment of the desk, the room feels bigger and her son has more room to play.
What do you think of the new changes? Please comment below, I would love to hear your thoughts.
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