1. DESIGN A FLOOR PLAN
First and foremost, designing a floor plan will help you to find the ideal living room layout for your space. Take the room’s measurements and measure your furniture pieces as well. Then, download an interior design app or sketch it in the old-fashioned style with a pencil on paper.
Designing a floor plan will help you to preview the end result of your space. In addition, it will expose dead corners or give you clearance on the need for bespoke furniture design.
2. DEFINE YOUR FOCAL POINT
What is that element in the room that you expect all eyes to meet? What is the attention-catcher? The showstopper? The outside view, a painting on the wall, a suspension lamp, a fireplace, or a modern coffee table? Once you’ve decided, is time to design – angle the furniture to draw the eyes to your element of choice.
Be mindful of the shapes and colors of your furniture and decor. Juxtapose muted hues with vivid colors and pattern elements. Spread some similar color accents and shapes around the room.
3. BALANCE SHAPES AND COLORS
4. CREATE SEVERAL CONVERSATIONAL MOMENTS
It’s always nice to have an intimate conversational area within a room – it can be a bedroom, or even in the bathroom or dressing room (a couple of stools and a side table are transforming, for instance).
5. USE RUGS TO OUTLINE DIFFERENT AREAS
The ideal living room layout uses large modern rugs to outline different areas. For instance, the seating area might be delimitated by a rug while a bookcase or a sideboard stands on the bare floor. This tip can be worn on other spaces’ layout. For instance, in a large hotel lobby, modern rugs will differentiate different social areas.
6. CREATE LAYERS OF LIGHTING
Well-appointed lighting fixtures are essential to pull off the ideal living room layout. Use different sources. To illustrate, overhead fixtures are great for ambient light while sconces or floor lamps are for accent lighting, and table lamps are for task lighting.
7. COFFEE TABLE AN ARM’S LENGHT FROM THE SOFA
A good rule of thumb for the ideal living room layout is to set tables an arm’s length away from seating. For instance, place a coffee table about 18 inches from a sofa so that it is within reach but not too close.
8. SIZE AND PROPORTION
While scale denotes the size of an object, proportion refers to the relationship between the sizes of different objects. To achieve an ideal living room layout, one large piece of furniture can be balanced by two smaller ones – for instance, set two chairs across from a sofa.
9. WELCOME NATURAL LIGHT
Don’t block the windows and allow natural light to flood in and illuminate the room. Avoid placing sofas and other furniture pieces blocking the sunlight. An airy window will connect indoors with outdoors and add some flow to the space layout.