ABC’s of Fine Design

I have gotten a few emails recently about how to arrange furniture in your home. I put up a great post about this back in February that you should check out titled How To Arrange Your Furniture, fitting title huh?

This is something that many people just cant seem to do well. It’s not that they have a bad room to do it in, it’s just that many people insist on putting furniture against the wall and not out in the floor. Why is putting your furniture out in the middle of the floor a good thing? Well you can create groups of furniture that way. If you entertain alot, this is great. You guest can have their own little groups instead of trying to compete with a big group.

It’s also helpful if you have children, you can set up an area for them in the same room, but it won’t be in the walk way for the rest of the room.

So take a look at that post get some ideas, and rearrange your room with furniture out where it can be seen, not just blended into a wall.

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This is an article I found on how to arrange furniture:

• Draw a floor plan of the room, noting the location of windows, doors, heat registers and electrical outlets. Measure the major pieces of furniture you’re planning to put in the room, then either sketch out a scale drawing of the space on graph paper and begin arranging furniture using templates or—easier and more fun–take advantage of one of the free room planning programs available online.

• Before you start arranging furniture, consider how the room is used and how many people will use it.

• Identify the focal point in the room—a fireplace, view, television, etc.–and orient the furniture accordingly. If you plan to watch television in the room, the ideal distance between the set and the seating is three times the size of the screen. Therefore, if you’re watching a 32-inch screen, place your chair 96 inches away.

• Place the largest pieces of furniture first, such as the sofa in the living room or the bed in the bedroom. In most cases, this piece should face the room’s focal point. Chairs should be no more than 8 feet apart to facilitate conversation.

• Unless your room is especially small, avoid arranging furniture so it’s all pushed against the walls.

• Lighting is important, arrange your furniture so you have good lighting throughout the room

• Symmetrical arrangements work best for formal rooms. Arranging furniture asymmetrically will achieve a more casual look.

• When arranging furniture, think about the flow of traffic through the room—generally the path between doorways. Don’t place any large pieces of furniture in that path if you can avoid it, and allow 30-48 inches of width for major traffic routes, and a minimum of 24 inches of width for minor ones. Try to direct traffic around a seating group, not through the middle of it. If traffic cuts through the middle of the room, consider creating two small seating areas instead of one large one.

• Vary the size of furniture pieces throughout the room, so your eyes move up and down as you scan the space. Balance a large or tall item by placing another piece of similar scale across the room from it. Avoid putting two tall pieces next to each other.

• Combine straight and curved lines for contrast. If the furniture is modern and linear, throw in a round table for contrast. If the furniture is curvy, mix in an angular piece. Similarly, pair solids with voids: combine a leggy chair with a solid side table, and a solid chair with a leggy table.

• Place a table within easy reach of every seat, being sure to combine pieces of similar scale. Coffee tables should be located 14-18 inches from a sofa to provide sufficient leg room.

• In bedrooms, allow at least 24 inches between the side of the bed and a wall, and at least 36 inches between the bed and a swinging door. In a dining room, make sure there’s at least 48 inches between each edge of the table and the nearest wall or piece of furniture. If traffic doesn’t pass behind the chairs on one side of the table, 36 inches should be sufficient on that side.

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