apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Most of these spaces have area rugs bigger than my living room!

I spent days playing furniture Tetris with scaled down paper cutouts and floorplan for my little slice of Earth until I found just the right aesthetic/functional layout.

Hmm... these are inspiring. I need more seating, but I can't find just the right chair. Preferably, a slipper chair. It would go next to the moss green futon... I'm open to suggestions!

(Where I stood to take the photo was next to my computer desk. by the door... it looks bigger than it is)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/starjewel/3829051516/in/set-72157594206118839/

Creativeintheory, I wish I had your discipline. I just push furniture around.

These are good and certainly suggest they are quite large spaces. The thing I have only recently learned is to avoid just having a couch. One lonely seating option, no matter how nice, really contracts a space to a single point. Even ottomans-as-seating give the impression that there is more room for guests.

Regina, thanks for the very useful post. This is just the kind of thing that I like to see on AT! Instead of the gym, I'm rearranging my furniture tonight.

These are all great spaces. I especially love the full, rich, layered, and luxury feeling Ron manages to pull into his space. Tres chic!

OK thoughts about dining with guests using only a coffee table? I'd like to streamline for my small living room but I'm worried that everyone would have to bend forward to eat, esp. my six-foot-four husband. Thoughts?

ChryssF: Try some floor pillows! When you have guests you can place the floor pillows around the coffee table, maybe push the other furniture out a bit for more space to sit or pull the coffee table away from the sofa. This way no one is straining their back bending forward to eat. You could store the pillows when you don't need them.

Unfortunately since I have full sized components and speakers and add to that my room is long and narrow, no matter what I did, even a relatively short (just over 70") 2 seater couch was almost too long when placed across the width of the room as a divider as it left little room to get around, now I COULD have placed it on the north wall, but that's where the baseboard heat is so I'm stuck with one way and that's with the couch back up to the bedroom closet wall due to where the slider opening is, shortening that wall by a good 2 ft.

Oh well.

Damn, mind not working right, meant, full sized audio/video components, including vintage floor speakers but even so, at 11.5" front to back, that's one shallow space for the rest of the room is just over 17" in length.

@ChryssF: What about folding tray tables? You can bring them out for guests to use and they don't have to sit on the floor or crowd around the coffee table, but you can put them away when not in use.

A lot of useful information.

Great post! Thanks.

I have to agree with Heartdepauvera on most of these pictures.

I have the L furniture layout in my living room so as to not block the television. Not ideal for conversation. If TV wasn't there, I would definitely situate occasional chairs directly across sofa.

Do these people not have TV's? That's my biggest problem, arranging social seating, but still being able to watch TV...

Does anyone know where those 2 slim side tables are from in the first picture? I have been scouring to find side tables like that with no luck.

@ Grr & ciddyguy --

yes audio/visual components are really complicated in a small space. my flatscreen, tall speakers, & subwoofer occupy one wall & as attractive as they are (the speakers are in rosewood), they still pose lots of problems. i don't like hiding my components in a massive cabinet & the speakers demand space & openness to work properly. i did buy an attractive low cabinet to put the tv on & have hung large artwork that detracts from its size. this helps but components will also inhibit conversation, dominating the room & i'm still trying to work around these problems. it does seem like 99% of the spaces shown here don't use media or at least use portable media that can be hidden away. would love to see more discussion about addressing this problem when one has huge audio/visual components. would particularly like to hear how these components can be incorporated successfully into the space of the room without hiding them behind a screen or a cabinet.

It would be helpful if you gave sq. footage of spaces. Also, like Grr I have a T.V. where do I put it? With a large sofa 3 bookcases and a really neat table (made from all recycled items, tiles, a table being thrown out as a base and playwood being thrown out) in front of the sofa I have room for no more then one chair. Sq. footage is 13' X 13'. Which sounds like a lot of room till taking into consideration 3 doors (two next to each other) and no walls to speak of. Also heat registar in the wall that can not be blocked. There is a bay window at one end of the room the sofa is in it. A pocket door leading into the dining room opposite the window. I must say I really like your site checking it out every few days or so.

The last two "seating arrangements" are indeed achieved in tiny studio or studio-like apartments. Bravo, AT, for covering this topic for a good range of "apartment-sized" rooms.