Into the dining room (now the office) went the mirrored sofa table, the end tables, the storage ottomans. The living room will now serve as both living room and dining room. The question is, how do I arrange the furniture to take the best advantage of the room's pluses (big room, high beamed ceiling) while working around its minuses (it's a very narrow room with lots of doors). Budget, of course, is a factor; I need to work with what I have.
After playing with the arrangements on paper, I decided I needed to move the furniture around to see what it felt like in real life before making the final decision. Here are some of the furniture arrangements I'm considering and their pros and cons given how I live, entertain and use my space.
- Option 1: Dining room in the back of the room, living room in the front of the room as you walk in, leaving the TV and the poster where they are. The challenge with this arrangement is that it feels weird when you first come in, like you're walking into a crowded furniture store. The room is really big and I'd like to keep that lofty airy feeling which this arrangement lacks. If I kept this arrangement, I'd definitely need to purchase a new couch. Uh, no. Budget, as you may remember is a major concern.
- Option 2: Dining room centered in the front of the room, living room in the back, move the TV, move the poster. A friend of mine pointed out that the poster may be what's hanging me up about figuring out the space. That was one of the lightbulb moments in this process. Good rule of thumb: figure out the furniture and then work the accessories, no matter how large they are, around them. Same with the TV. It's worth the few extra dollars you might have to pay the cable guy to structure the room how you want it rather than basing it on where the person before you had their TV. Similar issues to option 1: with the furniture front and center, the room feels crowded. I do like having a place to put stuff down right in front of me as I walk in though, something to keep in mind. Maybe the entry table can be pushed up against the back of the couch? This is why it's a good idea to keep everything in the outbox (or in my case, a corner) until you figure out your arrangement. You never know; something you might have decided to toss may just as quickly become the item you most need to complete your arrangement.
- Option 3: Dining table on the wall (probably on the wall where the TV is now, which is just to the right as you walk in and feels like a "natural" place to be able to put stuff down if necessary). Since I don't have formal sit-down dinner parties that often, the dining table doesn't have to be front and center. It can just as easily be pushed to one wall or the other and be pulled out for parties. Against the wall, it can more easily double as a space to do craft projects, something which I'd like to do more often. And, if the TV ends up on the wall where the poster is now, all that space will mean it'll be easier to push back the couch to get up and play games on the Wii or XBox. And I like having a little "stretching room" between the front door and the rest of the room. I also like adding a couch to the items I'm planning to sell.
So I've decided to work towards option 3. What do you think? How did you figure out your room's arrangement and are you happy with it or could it use some tweaking? What I've learned is, however it looks on paper, at some point, I have to get up and move stuff around and see how it feels. I've also learned you can transform your room pretty quickly, without spending a lot of money, by moving the furniture around.
Images: Abby Stone
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What program did you use to make those room plans?
I love your chairs!
How do I do it? For me, it's usually instinctive -- I just see the arrangement in my mindand it works out without too much "planning" on a conscious level. (I rarely move furniture, I "know" where it goes and it stays there unless/until I replace it with something newer or better.)
But factors I consider are traffic patterns (leaving clear space to get through the room where I need to go); sight lines (making sure I can comfortably see the TV, fireplace, window, front door, whatever, without things blocking whatever view I consider important); and functionality (conversation groupings, dining table as near the kitchen as possible, etc.) I am careful to avoid clutter (too many little things -- although I do love my knicknacks!) so I have mental rules about bare table-tops and almost empty counters. I also watch the scale of my furniture. I love really sculptureal wing-back chairs, but I will never own one because my space is too small to support a tall upholstered piece like that.
Your friend is right about the poster, by the way. I'd take it down and hide it in another room until you are SURE you want it where it is now. Anything that fills up wall space is a distraction when you are placing other things. You can always bring it right back once you have the furniture in place.
I like the cozy dining in back. Maybe just to avoid the living area feeling like a furniture store, you should follow some AT advice and put something right at the door first to separate the space, like a sheer wall or curtain or small landing strip.
I'm currently on my third living room arrangement in 12 months. I find that setting it up, living with it for a while and then changing it around helps me figure out how I actually use the space.
Dining so close to an entrance/exit is awkward, especially during parties. I've had dining tables near the entrance before and it never feels 100% comfortable. Meals become rushed & unfocused. Guests for dinner are surprised when they enter and don't feel comfortable to mingle around the entire space. IMHO, the order should be Enter/Relax/Dine as you get into the heart of the house.
My house has a weird layout and the front door opened into the dining room so I just rearranged it to have the living room in the dining room, even though it's next to the kitchen.
I like option 1. And I like all of your furniture. And your ceiling beams make me giddy. I find your orange sweater pillow divine.
More of the same, please. Carry on!!
I would change the axis completely.
According to the decorating 'rules', the sofa belongs on the longest unbroken wall. I would move the sofa to that wall, with the media across from the sofa. Chairs can be placed at the edges of the sofa. At the door end of the room, use the poster to define the foyer area, especially if you can hang it high enough to place a narrow reception table under it, (or hang the poster over the sofa.) Either way, place a long, thin table as an entrance piece on the short wall near the door. Put the dining table against the opposite wall from the door. Consider placing the short end of the table against the wall, with two chairs on each side. It presents the table as a gaming table as well as a dining table.
Good luck. It's a nicely proportioned room, and I like your wall color, and the poster is fantastic!
I always place the dining area closest to the kitchen for convenience. I like the dining area in the back of the room, better, though. It's always weird to be to walk into someone's eating place right off. Like it's too intimate? I know, weird.
When working w/ templates and floorplans, it helps to make all pieces to scale as well as door & window openings indicated in the correct positions and sizes and door swings are accounted for - otherwise you're wasting your time. There's no way on earth your dining chairs are 1' wide, your table is 18" wide & 30" long, and coffee table & end table are both 12" in diameter...
...and I'd be willing to bet that your media credenza is more than 12" deep.
Secondly, I think there's a reason the dining room is intended as the dining room and not an office. Since it's most likely right next to the kitchen, that's probably where the dining table ought to go, not at the front of the living room....
...because I personally just couldn't imagine hauling dishes, glassware and plates halfway across the house every time I wanted to have a bite to eat.
I'd set up the back corner of your living room as the office area - placing the writing table/desk behind the single sofa facing forward into the center of the room with a table lamp that can do double duty as a reading light as well as a desklamp. Your media wall should go to one side opposite the side window and your chairs facing the sofa. Two matching sofas is probably one too many for the size of your space, which is why you're getting that "Furniture Store" impression when you walk in the door.
I rearrange my living room several times a year, usually coinciding with the change in seasons.
It's hard to advise what would be best, for me, without seeing where your windows & door fit on the floorplan images. I also would not place the dining area near the front door. I don't know much about feng shui, but it just doesn't feel like it would be conducive to a great flow of energy.
I like floorplan #1. What about placing your chair perpendicular to the sofa instead of a second sofa? I would probably be inclined to use your actual sofa with the back facing the dining table to separate the space better and the chair back facing the long wall.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who makes a room diagram with movable paper furniture! Seriously it's the best thing to do if you have really limited space.
What really isn't helping is the table is definitely not to scale on the planner you are using. Plus it helps to put all the doors and windows into the plan so you don't end up with the almost perfect plan that blocks off a door.
Until a better plan is posted, I'm going to have to guess. The first option looks the nicely laid out but it's hard to figure out where the at least two-three doors/openings into the space are since you only show one in your made-up plans.
Advising without scale drawings that include windows and doors is hard. Entering through the living, rather than the dining, area seems better. Having the sofa face the entry door seems better. I agree with bepsf that two sofas are too many in this room.
Can you place the media console against the entry wall so that its side would be the first thing seen as the entry door opens, making the media console a good location for a landing strip? If the media console's longer than that part of the entry wall, then the media console could be slightly angled away from the wall in-corner on the opposite side of the media console.
Facing and parallel to the media console would be the narrower sofa. To one side between the media console and sofa would be a perpendicular chair or chair-ottoman, sharing the round table and floor lamp with the sofa. Place the dining table close to and perpendicular to the sofa back, possibly putting the chair for that end of the dining table elsewhere.
P.S. If it feels cramped, then consider leaving only the two chairs on each side of the dining table, with none at its ends.