Room Layout and Decor Suggestions

When planning the furniture layout for a living room or social area, remember that symmetry is an important part of beauty. The human eye is attracted to proportional arrangements, whether of facial features or furniture. A room that is imbalanced will feel off, no matter how nice the furnishings.

Furniture placement Many decorators recommend choosing a focal point when organizing a room. Unfortunately, in most living rooms the television becomes the focal point by default. To avoid this, keep the TV in another room, or place it in an inconspicuous spot. If you have space, try to position your furniture into two different areas, even if one of them is just a corner with a chair and a reading lamp. This multi-use layout adds interest to a room. To create unity or separation, use area rugs, moveable screens and folding partitions, or artwork and decorative accessories.

If your room is too small, use color, lighting, and furniture positioning to increase its size. Lighter colors suggest spaciousness, though a darkly colored back wall will provide an illusion of width. Set your sofa or loveseat to face windows or doors for greater openness. A sectional sofa is a flexible choice for small rooms. Using several light sources of varying wattage will help you manipulate a room's image.

Decor Styles
At the very least, the style of your sofa or sofa set should match the size of your room. Puffy or chunky sofas and loveseats will appear to take up more space than they actually do.

Before planning a room layout, we recommend choosing a decor style or two that reflect your taste. Combining two design styles will give your room greater visual complexity and allow you more furnishing options. Examples might include Southwestern rustic, vintage modern, or Asian contemporary. If you're not sure where to begin, find a sofa, loveseat, sleeper sofa, or recliner that you like, and build a room motif from that piece.