Furniture Layout Guide: Living Room

The living room is the hub of the home, the nerve centre, if you will. It’s the main area for socialising, relaxing, and entertaining but being a room with so many purposes can mean that creating an ideal layout is not particularly easy. 

Here we take a look at how you can create different atmospheres from your space with a few living room layout ideas, and see how the placement of living room furniture can really change a room.

Pick a Focal Point

Picking a focal point is a fairly common thing to do with a living room, most notably by turning everything towards a television and making that the centre of attention. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing this, but if it’s the way you choose to go with your sitting room furniture then you need to make sure you have the right lounge furniture set.

For one thing, if everyone is going to be looking at the television, you’ll need a TV cabinet that enhances the visual aspect of the television. Something grand and bold may work but you also don’t want to detract too much from the screen itself. You’ll also want to make sure the television is slightly higher than the sitting positions, so no one is craning their necks to watch it.

Of course, the television doesn’t have to be the focal point and if your room has an alcove or another point of interest then you can point the furniture towards that and have an instant talking point. Keeping extra or moveable furniture in the room may be a good choice if you opt for a layout like this, perhaps keep a bench behind the sofa for a sudden surface or extra seating.

Keep It Conversational

If you want lounge ideas that promote social interaction and conversation, having a balanced room is a great way to go. Symmetry will aid you in this so people don’t naturally gravitate to one side of the room or the other, and having your furniture face inward, opposite each other or in a U shape will help provide this sense of cohesiveness. 

With furniture facing inwards you may want to look at a table for living room usage with a nice coffee table being a great central feature that is both practical and stylish.

If you’re going to hang a TV in this kind of setup, bear in mind that people will have to turn to view it, so you don’t want it in too awkward a place.

Practical Multi-Purpose Space

Living rooms often become multi-purpose spaces just out of ease but if you are consciously going to go down this route, creating zones for specific areas will end up serving you well. For example, if you have a young child and want a play area for tummy time and other things, make sure you have a designated zone so that you’re not tripping over soft toys, and you feel like you can still relax in this space.

Likewise, a stylish work desk for a home office can be part of a modern living room furniture set up and will go a long way to keeping all of your work in one place and not letting it seep into other areas, causing stress and confusion.

Even if you do manage to split the room into zones, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll still have to move furniture about, especially if you use the room for exercise space or anything else that involves strenuous activity. As such, easily portable and moveable furniture may be better suited to these situations and tables that can pack away and be shifted about would be ideal, like a nest of tables.

Whatever space you have and are looking to utilise you can find living room furniture sets and other items for your living space here.