Back to: Layout ideas for the Living Room
Rearrange your lounge in Spacious ways
Be enlightened by our living room layout concepts to create a chic area filled with form and function.
Living room layout ideas can change a space, and there are many explanations why you should contemplate changing things. Maybe you’ve just moved into a rental home that doesn’t use a pocket of space effectively as it could. Or, perhaps, you don’t desire to move from your forever home – in which case, a change is a (and much greater cost-effective) answer than selling.
Whatever your justification for attacking your living room layout, it’s the space you presumably spend the most time in – so getting it correct is vital. The perfect living room ideas suit how you reside, whether you want
- a space for entertaining,
- a peaceful and isolated room to retreat to
- a multi-functional room that can be adjusted to whatever the situation requires.
You’d be shocked at how many methods you can arrange up your space.
There’s considerably more beyond moving all your furniture up toward walls and angling them towards couches. So, be more daring in your living room arrangement and use the Feng Shui methods when developing a layout.
No matter how attractive the living room concepts you have going on, perhaps if they are characteristic of a small awkward room or an ample space oddly arranged, you’re not heading to obtain the most out of them.
Confirming the layout is on the characteristics of style and function is the path to success. Living spaces are usually one of the most challenging rooms in the house to design because they’re traditionally the areas that multi-task the most.
- someplace to observe TV
- someplace to relax
- someplace to entertain friends
- someplace to store all sorts of paraphernalia
- even someplace to eat and work
Depends on your setup.
- paint color
- fabric choice
- flooring aside
Two of your primary concerns are what to put in your sitting room and where to arrange it.
TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP PLAN THE DESIGN
Furniture can be hard to lift, so prior to injuring yourself, plan through your living room layout ideas first. Once upon a time, only architects and interior designers had exclusive access to computer-aided design (or CAD for short). You can design a living room layout virtually without lifting a finger.
BARN DOORS AND BI-FOLDS CAN BE BARRIERS
Since a conventional living space consists of four walls, it doesn’t have to be in this form permanently. Modern living often means traveling from room to room and using these spaces differently.
So, install a barn door that you can slide open to fuse two rooms rather than having a concrete or plasterboard wall. Alternatively, if your living room is a closet to your garden, move a sofa next to your sliding door for a biophilic environment—a stylish living room with a touch of the farmhouse.
A STYLISH BACKDROP CAN BE A SCULPTURAL STAIRCASE
Staircase ideas can take all sorts of forms. From sleek straight-flight stairs to stylish spiral cases, half-turn hallway steps and bifurcated railings make a statement. So if you have a chic stairwell, show it off.
You can do this by popping your sofa in front of it so that the eye is drawn to the back of the room. Just be sure to touch up the paint on your treads and risers if they look tired. Luckily we’ve got a guide on how to paint a staircase if you’re finding it a tall ask.
CLEVER FURNISHINGS CAN CREATE ROOMS WITHIN ROOMS
How many ‘rooms’ within this living room can you see? We spot four. A living room (of course), a home office idea in the corner, an intimate dining area to your right, and a small play area on the floor.
The open shelving acts as a barrier between work and play, and the round dining table hugs around the bay windows to provide a light-flooded space to sit and eat. So you don’t need four separate areas to sit and relax with the family.
UTILIZE LEVELS OF HEIGHT DIFFERENCES
When designing a living room layout, it’s good to have an exciting feature on every room level.
Demonstrate this perfectly here. Aside from the wooden beams giving this space a gorgeous rustic living room appeal, we’ve Aztec-inspired cushions providing warmth and exotic interest, a vintage trunk used as a coffee table alternative, furniture to add comfort, and vases full of fresh and dried foliage reaching up towards the ceiling.
Adding stylish pieces to your sitting room adds depth and dimension and can be implemented whatever the size of your space.
LIVING ROOM THEME CAN BLEND INTO ADDITIONAL SPACES
Change the formality and create a different aesthetic composition in every room. If you’ve acquired an open-plan living space and dining area, maintain your style from the beginning to the end of the space.
The space will be more comfortable evolving and curating with a coordinated living and dining accessories collection. The two ‘spaces’ will intertwine and function in harmony with one another.
A LAYOUT CAN BE BALANCED
If you are after a more formal living room layout – symmetry is the way to go. It’s very visually satisfying and does work particularly well in small living room layouts where it’s essential to give your furniture room to breathe to avoid a cluttered feeling.
You can create this look with two sofas and a coffee table in between or slightly off-balance it with a sofa facing two armchairs. You are best mounting a TV so it can be seen from both sides of the room, but bear in mind you’ll have to turn to watch, so this layout might be suited best to a room where the TV doesn’t have to be the focus.
A DARK LIVING ROOM WITH MORE LIGHT
If you can’t decide between a green or blue living room – choosing an Art Deco-inspired teal lounge with a checkered marble floor is a classy and elegant option.
But, if you’re scared that the space might look a tad on the dark side, choose a spot near the garden or place furniture near large windows. That way, you can layer natural sunlight with multiple living room lighting ideas to balance light and dark.
Adding metallic surfaces such as the brass table and candlestick holder on the black and rattan cabinet will help to reflect light.
THE LIVING ROOM CAN BE TURN YOUR INTO A GUEST ROOM
As the value of real estate increases, you may discover that your money doesn’t extend as far as you’d expected with the number or size of spaces you desire.
For example, if your savings don’t allow you to have a guest room, or if the box bedroom is too tiny – the best sofa beds function as a cozy seating and sleep space. So rather than remodeling your house to accommodate sleepovers, invest in this dual-purpose piece of furniture.
THE KITCHEN AREA AND LIVING SPACE CAN BE OPENED UP
A warm and visually appealing space is excellent for entertaining guests. Opening up a sitting room adjacent to the kitchen is perfect for letting the mouth-watering aromas of a home-cooked meal permeate the area.
When thinking about how to design the perfect living room, approach it like a private dining experience. Here, you can look into the back room and feel like you’re at the chef’s area – without interrupting the cook’s culinary meal.
A FIREPLACE CAN HAVE A ZONE SEATING
Not just for cozying up around Christmas, living room fireplace ideas are the perfect appliance to base your lounge layout around. With traditional, wood-burning stoves, you can reinforce them as a feature with a mirror or artwork over the mantelpiece.
This is especially effective in a room where you don’t have any technology. If your living room is for relaxing, reading, or listening to music, having a focal point like a fireplace will add to the calming feel.
Modern cassette models, on the other hand, are ideal for space-saving. Even during the warmer months, some electric fires can let you experience the LED ’embers’ visual effects without heating the room.
ZONE THE SPACE WITH A ROOM DIVIDER
Room divider ideas are an affordable option to zone a living room layout. Whether you’re renting or a non-committal decorator, dividers can be folded away when not in use.
We love these plain lilac ones that blend seamlessly into the living room with the other pastel accessories. You wouldn’t even know they were there… well, sort of.
MANY CHOICES FOR A OPEN-PLAN, BROKEN-PLAN OR LIVING ROOM
If you’re looking to remodel your home, it might be that your living room will be at least partly open to other rooms. This requires a certain amount of self-analysis, so think about how you will live in the room and to what extent you want a separate sanctuary to escape from household life.
You may wish to isolate the room from other people. For example, the separate room may be a space where teenagers can watch TV and play computer games with their friends while the adults remain reasonably undisturbed in the kitchen dinner.
On the other hand, you may want to create a more seamless layout where an open-plan kitchen, dining area and lounge space overlap. This living room layout idea often allows for more family interaction and can make the entire space seem more significant.
Often, the solution combines both, where rooms have been linked by knocking them through but still have a defined living space. Double doors, folding doors, or even large sliding doors can provide the option to link or close off areas.
FOCAL POINT FOR THE YOUR LIVING ROOM
How you want to use your living room will dictate its focal point. The living room layout is usually dictated by where the TV is placed, but often you don’t want it to be the central focus unless that is what the room is primarily for.
Quite often, these rooms double as a home cinema space, so if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s best to look at some genius living room tv ideas.
ADDING ITEMS WITH MORE FLEXIBILITY
You can develop a more comfortable, laidback living space by sidestepping a balanced approach and placing your furniture more unsystematically around the area.
Have your couch lengthways associated with the coffee table item in front because that makes sense, but then dot mismatching chairs, stools, and even small tables in the space opposite.
WHEN CHOOSING A LIVING ROOM LAYOUT -LOOK FOR THE NATURAL LIGHT
Turning these into the room’s focus is a brilliant solution if you have great windows views. This is an excellent idea for rooms used for relaxing and more formal gatherings. It’s also a good option if your living room is in an open plan extension and you have windows flooding the space with light.
Where you position furniture will also depend on your focal point choice. If a large window looking out onto the garden is the main focal point, the seating should be placed to take in the view, thus creating a comfortable space to relax.
FOCUS ON YOUR FURNITURE
If you’re hashtag blessed with a large living room layout, invest in beautiful statement furniture to make them the focal point. Configure the furniture in a way that promotes conversation with family and guests.
One way to do this is to designate a well-lit corner for your perfect armchair or one of the best sofas on the radar, perhaps in a statement colorway or luxe upholstery fabric that will become the focus of the room.
MOVE EVERYTHING AWAY FROM THE WALLS
When designing a living room layout, there is a common tendency to shove all your furnishings against the walls. But this attempt to claim back those precious few inches can often have an adverse effect.
Instead, copy this look, pull your furniture away from the wall, create space outside the room, and a group around a central coffee table.
If your living room’s on the smaller side, it’s tempting to put all the furniture against the wall to make it feel bigger,
This creates a space in the middle that isn’t as usable as you might think and leaves your room feeling off-balance. Instead, build your layout from the center in any size room to make it feel more intimate and welcoming.
CIRCULATION FOR THE SPACE
After you have determined the functional requirements and focus of the space, you can consider your living space layout’s functionality. How will individuals move in, out, and within the area? This method will help you determine where it’s most helpful to position the furniture.
If the space doubles up as the primary path to the garden or is a space in which people will travel between the kitchen and dining room, you can use open shelving or storage units as screens to provide partial separation.
Or, why not consider zoning the room (using the position of the furniture) to define a circulation route that does not run through the seating or TV area? For example, in an open-plan living room, you may choose to use furniture to delineate the living room area. Sofas, especially if they are L-shaped, can be used effectively to mark out the boundaries of a living room.
STORAGE CAN BE IN YOUR LAYOUT
Remember to think about living room storage concepts in your design. A bench or a type of banquette seating along one living room wall can include storage for many DVDs and home entertainment gadgets while supplying additional seating.
Look to this idea to create a contemporary design in a Victorian or Edwardian house. Add a stone-topped plinth about 45cm above floor level across the fireplace wall, and incorporate storage beneath for logs and kindling to act as the hearth for a contemporary recessed fireplace.
LIGHTING CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE LIVING ROOM
A living room can have many different functions, so the key to good living room lighting is variety and variability. With artificial lighting, for example, it is often helpful to have several different sources of light. Controlling many of these on a dimmer switch or lighting system will enable you to set the appropriate task or mood lighting in the other zones.
Using a 5A ring circuit (which will require 5A pin sockets designed for small round pins) can allow you to operate several table lamps and floor standing lamps around the room from the light switch or dimmer, which can be effective and efficient.
Lights can be very stylish design features. A pendant light can look striking in a traditionally symmetrical room with a chimney breast. At the same time, a long-stemmed arching floor standing lamp can be a visual feature and have flexibility in its position. Also, look to wall lights or sconces to concentrate light or highlight a living room corner.
MIRRORS FOR A SMALL LIVING ROOM
Surprise, surprise, mirrors make small spaces feel more significant, /so when planning the configuration of a small living space, make sure you use them.
Make mirrors a key focus of your plans. We recommend starting with a large mirror on the wall that hangs opposite the windows, as this will bounce more light around and create the illusion that the room is more significant.
If your windows are on the smaller side or you don’t want to rely on natural light, try placing a tall mirror idea behind furniture or lighting instead to create the visual trick of another room opening up beyond.
LIVING ROOM SET UP
It’s essential to divide the space according to function and give meaning to all areas. For instance, you may want a more formal arrangement in front of a fireplace as opposed to a more relaxed arrangement for watching TV,
A window overlooking a garden could be a great space for comfortable seating with a footstool or a small writing desk. I would consider outlook and lighting to give a space purpose and meaning.
‘Other popular living room zones are a reading nook, a craft or hobby area, a games area, or an intimate eating area.’
A LIVING ROOM ZONE
In all their forms, room dividers can visually split up a space, using them as a significant component when decorating an ample living space.
Dividers range from non-permanent pieces like a chic center table, as mentioned before, and beautiful coromandel screens to dividing bookcases and built-in shelving units. Both have their pros.
A center table, low bookcase, or screen can be easily moved around the space, opening up the space for larger gatherings or transferred to another room if needed.
A tall bookcase is a good middle-of-the-road solution – it provides quite a lot of separation (although an open bookcase will still allow for some interaction between the spaces) but can, technically, be moved if needed.
A floor-to-ceiling built-in shelving unit would be an architectural feature in your room’s design, and it would be a permanent feature of the space, which would certainly break up a large living room.
Alternatively, living room rug ideas can function in the same way as.
A statement rug can pull a room together, adding a bright and cozy warmth to a space, especially needed as the darker evenings and colder weather set in. These woven delights – from sheepskin to North African are also an effective way to zone dedicated areas in a room that serves various purposes.