We did some furniture rearranging last week, which got us thinking about the best way to tackle this task. Click below for our tips, and add your own in the comments...
• Have a friend help. It makes moving heavy pieces a lot easier, it provides you with a second opinion, and it gives you the energy to keep going.
• Map out ideas with a sketch or a free online program (like this Arrange-a-Room planner).
• Have a plan, but don't be afraid to change it. We never know what something's going to look like until we see it in place.
• Use your largest pieces as anchors for the space. Move sofas, large tables, and large storage pieces first and rearrange your smaller furniture around them.
• Clear out space. If an arrangement isn't working, try removing one or two pieces of furniture. Many people have too much furniture, and by taking a big item out of the equation you can open up a whole new set of possibilities.
• Don't be afraid of empty space. If you really need a new piece to make your furniture arrangement work, leave that space empty for a little while, and take some time to find the right item.
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One thing that's in the (AT) book is the idea of not putting all your furniture up against the wall. Sometimes there really is no choice, but if you can give a little breathing room, it really is good.
And if you can manage to put your TV in such a place where (most) everyone could see it, and yet manage to be able to have a conversation without having to look it, that helps, too.
I found an online space planner to be invaluable in calculating what I could fit into my bedroom. My visual memory was giving me a LOT more space than actually existed - seeing it flat and to scale gave me a good reality check. Altho, once I got started I ended up moving a good deal of things around - but all of the elements fit!
My two favorite space planning tools are butcher paper and those little foam-topped furniture slider called "moving men."
I use butcher or craft paper to create a foot print the size of the furniture I'm thinking of incorporating into a space before I add it/move it. For example, I just orderered a new dresser but before I ordered it, I created a footprint and moved it around in the space to make sure it worked where I wanted it to. This was also a fabulous approach to layout for my sewing/work room before I started moving my 500lb industrial machine and drafting table.
I'm 5'2" and live alone -- and there's no way my friends will come help me move furniture quite so often as I do. The furniture sliders make it easy for me to scoot a couch or even a completely full armoire around the house (minus the stairs):
http://www.amazon.com/Moving-Men-8-Piece-Furniture-Slider/dp/B0000645RF
moving men - i am ordering them now.