Ideas on Arranging Furniture in a Room

So you’re interested in arranging furniture in a room?

Well that’s great because I have some furniture arranging ideas that I think you’ll love.

You’ll find that these ideas will be useful to you whether you’re arranging living room furniture, bedroom furniture, furniture in a dorm room or studio apartment.

In short, it’s applicable to just about every room you’ve got your sites set on decorating.

Before I get ahead of myself let me forewarn you that mainly the living room will be used as an example throughout this discussion today. But remember you can apply these tips to any room in your home.

Truthfully, you’ll find this strategy often happens naturally. However, it is still worth mentioning since it could save you a lot of trial and error. And let me not forget, your precious time and effort will also be cut down to a minimum.

One last thing before we get started…

Keep in mind this isn’t a die-hard rule, just a simple way of seeing things.

So let’s begin viewing your room in terms of whether it is a rectangle or square.

Generally, most rooms are shaped either of these two ways. You have your square which simply means all four walls are the spaced apart evenly. And you have your rectangle which means two out of four walls are spaced further apart than the other two.

By the Way…

In my experience it is more common to find a living room that is rectangular shaped. But let’s not forget that the smaller the dimension of a living area, the more it will appear to be shaped like a square. Although technically, it would still be considered a rectangle.

But we’re going to go by looks here. No need to get technical.

If your room looks like a square, call it a square. And the same goes for a rectangle. Since it won’t make any difference, keep mathematics out of it.

So, take a look around your room and take note of what you consider the room to be.

Is it a rectangle or square?

Once you’ve done that, next you need to consider…

Arranging Furniture in a Room by Wall Size

Now think of your walls in pairs. If it is rectangular shaped, you’ll need to look for the two longest walls in the room. Of course they’ll be adjacent to one another.

By the Way…

Just like me, you may find that one of the longest walls in your home isn’t technically very long because it is shortened by doors or doorways. If so, don’t worry, you’ve still found the right wall.

The goal is just to find the longest wall in your home and pair it off with its adjacent wall so that the appropriate furniture, like your sofa and television, can be placed across from one another when it’s time to start arranging furniture in a room.

If you have a square shaped living area, simply look for the two walls in your room that you feel will offer you the most advantage or will make the most sense when arranging furniture in a room.

Now that that’s done, let’s discuss a few other things.

Arranging Furniture in a Room by Width

Since the process of arranging furniture in a room is easiest when you match large pieces of furniture against long walls, that’s what we’re going to talk about now.

In Laymen’s terms arranging furniture in a room is as simple as matching…

Big to big and small to small.

Big furniture to big walls. Small furniture to small walls.

But let’s consider it a bit more. Although you generally match large pieces of furniture to the longer walls, before you do that it’s important to ask yourself if the furniture you are arranging in a room is a “width” or “length” item.

Since they are placed in a room differently in order to maxamize space it helps to differentiate between the two.

If you are decorating your living room, it’s common to deal with “width” items.

Examples of “width” items are…

Sofa
Loveseat
Daybed

They are simply items that are greater in width than length.

As said above, “width” items usually work best placed along the longest wall. The reason it is usually best to place it along your longest wall is because your biggest piece of furniture usually takes up the most space.

By placing it against the longest wall it leaves you with a lot more co-operative space left over.

Let’s use an example to make this a little clearer…

Say you wanted to put your sofa against a small wall. You place it against the wall and take a step back and realize something doesn’t look quite right.

You ponder a moment and then finally it hits you…

Your sofa has swallowed up the entire wall. And your living room looks a whole heck of a lot smaller simply because the sofa is in the wrong place.

You’ve changed nothing except location, but why does it matter? Well the answer is simple.

There is an imbalance in positive and negative space.

Need to Know…

The result is that you’ve got too much space on one end of the room and not enough space on the other. In short, your sofa is taking up the wrong chunk of space in your living room in terms of proportion and dimension. In the end this leaves your room looking a bit off.

So, to save yourself some time, simply pair off “width” furniture with your longest walls. And you’ll be on the safe side of decorating.

Arranging Furniture in a Room by Length

Okay, now that we’ve talked about “width” items, how do you handle “length” items when you’re arranging furniture in a room?

Well they’re actually arranged a little differently. The most common “length” item that you’ll deal with will be a bed. Sometimes you’ll also run into “length” items if you’re dealing with wall mounted furniture.

Need to Know…

Your job with “length” items is to simply make certain the length of the item is either parallel to the longest wall or placed against it.

That will be the easiest way to keep the balance. And speaking of keeping that balance. Let’s talk about…

Arranging Furniture in a Room to Keep the Balance

When arranging furniture in a room, a good way to keep it all in perspective is to imagine your room is a seesaw or scale. And each piece of furniture is a weight that tips the balance of the scale in one direction or another.

Your main goal is to keep the scale leveled off so that no part of your home is tipping over with too much furniture and the other with too little.

To elaborate, generally your largest piece of furniture, such as a sofa, would balance off your living area by being placed in the center of your longest wall.

The scale is then leveled off and you are usually left with positive space on both sides of the wall.

Consider This…

And that’s where the smaller pieces of furniture come in.

Furniture like a…

Chair
Desk
Dresser

They are there to offset the scale.

Arranging Small Furniture in a Room

You now know that “width” items are placed along the longest wall and “length” items are placed along short walls and parallel to the longest wall(s).

Well, smaller pieces are also placed along the shorter walls and where you have space left over after you’ve placed the larger pieces of furniture.

Remember… Big to big, small to small.

Big furniture to big wall and small furniture to small wall.

When you’re arranging furniture in a room, keep in mind that any wall you put a piece of furniture against should have some space left over. Ideally, no wall should ever be swallowed up entirely by one piece of furniture.

Some space should be left over on either side of the furniture.

Think of it like this…

A piece of furniture should take up some space but is should also give back a little.

With that in mind you’ll be giving each piece of furniture room to breathe and keeping the balance between positive and negative space.

By the Way…

Arranging Furniture in a Room by Height

When you’re arranging furniture in a room you may notice that “height” items are can be very guilty of being space hogs. One particular “height” item that is guilty of this is a lamp.

Lamps can be major space hogs when placed in pairs. Some lamps sit very tall on side tables or night stands and when lower furniture such as a sofa or bed is placed in between them, the sofa or bed looks swallowed up.

In cases like this, to fix this problem this is what I do…

I remove the lamps from both sides of the sofa or bed.
I look for a way to pair them off in two corners across from one another that do not ensare my bed or sofa. Or I look for two corners in any part of my room—diagonal from one another. They don’t have to be close together. The goal is just to get them far enough away from the bed or sofa so it does not look entrapped by the pair of lamps. Once I’ve found my two corners I catty-corner the stands and place the lamps on top.
If I only have one corner free, I catty-corner the stand in the corner I have left and place the lamp there. If the corner where the other lamp is placed is far enough away from the other, I may leave one stand by the bed or sofa. If not, then I find a free place along a wall in my room that would look good and offer enough distance from the other lamp and I place it there.

And that usually solve the height hog issues I come across when I’m arranging furniture in a room.

Keep Things Open When You’re Arranging Furniture in a Room

Now that we’ve talked about everything else, how do you handle the space in the center when you’re arranging furniture in a room?

Well what you do with that is really up to you.

As a personal preference I tend to keep the center area of my living room free of furniture so that I can focus mainly on decorating that area with a rug. At best, you can also place a coffee table in the center of the room to offer your home that special touch.

However, as I said what you do with that area is strictly up to you. Just as long as it’s kept to a minimum in which there is room to walk around and there’s enough negative space to feel the room isn’t closing in on you, you’ll do great.

The main goal is to make sure it adds to the beauty of your home and does not detract from it. Just keep in mind that too much of a good thing isn’t good.

And remember when you’re arranging furniture in a room, balance is the key.

Place big to big, small to small. Level off positive and negative space by giving your furniture room to breathe. Sprinkle your accessories in the left-over space and throughout your home.

And voila! You’ve arranged the furniture in your room beautifully!

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