A living room space is where family and friends come together to enjoy the good times and even endure the bad times. No matter what the occasion, a living room’s setup can either enhance accommodations or make them a challenge at times. The are the considerations when living room furniture configurations comes into play. This post will navigate some various ways to configure a living room, and the aim will be to provide some general tips.
Simple Configurations for a Living Room
There are many considerations when configuring living room furniture. The room dimensions come into play right off the bat. The next prominent consideration is amount of available space in most cases; therefore, the placing furniture in a living room is one action that’s to be done with immense care.
For starters, the planning process should start from a simple configuration approach. Many planning approaches tend to over complicate living room furniture configurations since many explanations or “how-to’s” tend to be from an advanced design angle. A way to get deal with this is by using a simplified approach.
As some may mention, coming up with a furniture layout for great room can be a frustrating endeavor, but there are some tips to the trade. A few of those tips are what’s to follow.
Getting Functional with Living Room Furniture Configurations
There are many living room furniture arrangement ideas, and many of those ideas can be rather complicated. So, the first simple approach will be all about functionality.
The functional approach to configuring a living room will be initiated by a visual division of the room into specific sections. For smaller spaces, it may be about three sections, and larger spaces can accommodate more division. Staying in line with a simplified approach, there should be three base sections. Seating, entertaining, and storing the usual bases sections, and these are some some examples for labeling each section.
After a visual division is made, a simple design on a blank piece of paper will help with sizing out furniture selections or placement of current furniture on hand.
The goal at this point is to make the most of the space. This can be done by anchoring each zone with the furniture. Essentially, the furniture pieces should be place in corners or towards walls to utilize space, and complimenting items, such as chairs or end tables, should be placed for the most functionality possible.
Configure with Symmetry in Mind
Another simple way to arrange the furniture is by using a symmetrical approach. All this means is balancing the room based on all the furniture that’s going to be used. The simple angle for this method is organizing in “pairs”. That means the focal point will be met with two supporting items.
If it’s the couch, two identical end tables can be added. If it’s the TV, two strategically placed couches can be added to the living room. The main goal with this approach is to strike the right balance of the room to get a nice clean look to the living room.
An effective configuration will make the space look nice a neat, and the clean warm appearance will be a near effortless task.
Space Maxing a Living Room Furniture Configurations
The third simple method used to configure living room furniture is a flow focused layout. An open concept living room layout has become a desirable feature over the past decade, and it is a concept that often works with a flow focused layout.
Now, to use the flow method for an open concept furniture arrangement, the desired flow needs to be established. Simply put, the desired flow of traffic will be the defining factor.
The first step is to define the “line”, which does not necessarily need to be straight. It most often starts with a door entry to the living room promptly following into seating with the exit on the next end. The line can be straight, diagonal, or even zig zagging. It should be noted a more complex line will make the space more complicate. Thus, a simple straight line may work best.
This method emphasizes the flow of the room as the basis for configuration, and it’s a method that aims to maximize the use of space.
Putting the Configuration Method to Best Use
All starting points for living room furniture configurations will start with the actual shape and size of the living room. Once it’s clearly determined, the next part will be making the configuration materialize within the established space. Here’s some specific tips that may be used for this process.
- Measure out the dimensions. Knowing the amount of space that will used for a specific item will help planning how many pieces can be used in the configuration.
- Plan for utility. Even with large spaced a furniture configuration that considers utility of the items and space will be more useful.
- Be exact based on space. If the space is limited, the more exact the configuration will need to be to work which would lead to some sacrifice of certain items.
The bottom line for putting it all together is based on the amount of space and meeting the basic needs. Any excess spaces can be used for the more “luxury” items. These three general tips can be used to select one of the methods for configuring living room furniture.
Final Thoughts on Living Room Furniture Configurations
The living room space can be said to be the most significant room in a home, and it should be configured to endure all the life events that get thrown at it. Whether it’s a plain ole hangout or a planned dinner, the living room furniture configurations will determine how smoothly the space can be used for hosting friends and family. It may take some significant upfront planning and testing to get this done, but the living room configuration is not all that difficult of a task to accomplish. Find the right configuration, and build out an enjoyable space.
For more living room ideas for planning or organization, give this article on living room arrangement ideas a quick review.