Fitting and arranging furniture into an empty space might not seem so daunting at first, but as soon as you begin the process, you’ll realize it’s not as easy as it seems.
That’s why people hire professional designers and floor planners to help them design and arrange furniture in their homes for them.
If you don’t want to hire anyone to do it for you, the only option left is the DIY route. You have to do it by yourself.
Well, you don’t have to fret, even though the task may seem daunting. There are just a few tips you need to follow to get the best possible arrangement that will make your inviting, with everything well placed and looking like you hired a professional to do the job.
With these tips we have here, you can be your own professional home designer or decorator. Here’s the first tip.
Measure your space
Though quite obvious, but it can easily be overlooked. It’s important that you first measure the space you have to work with first, before you start moving items into your home.
Your pieces of furniture should also be measured as well, so that you can determine how much space they’re going to consume.
Here are a few simple space rules you should follow.
If you want to enable easy conversation between two people, you should not place your chairs and sofas more than 8 feet apart.
As for your dining room table, you need make sure there’s a minimum space of 36 inches between it and the surrounding walls to allow you and your guests to easily move or push their chair back to get seated or to get up from the chairs.
Choose a focal point
The focal point of any room is usually the point of the room that grabs attention the most. It’s like where everything about that room converges to form one.
It’s important that every room in your home has a focal point. Sometimes, you don’t have to create the focal point. It just appears naturally. For instance a built in fireplace mantel in a living room easily becomes the focal point of that room.
Everything has to be arranged around it. It’s a natural focal point. At other times, you have to create the focal point by yourself, and you want to arrange your furniture around it to really define that point in that room.
Create areas for conversation
Do you have to crane your neck or shout while having a conversation with someone in your room? If so, then your furniture is not well arranged.
Your sitting arrangement should be in such a way that people are able to talk and have meaningful conversation without shouting or screaming at each other in order to be heard.
You need to position your chairs and sofas close enough so that people can have good conversation without having to raise their voice.
If you have a very large room, you can create more than one conversation areas. That will allow small groups of people to sit together and enjoy each other’s company.
Place tables at arm’s length
After sitting down on your seat, would you like to walk over to the coffee table to set your drink down, or walk over to retrieve it when you need it again? I don’t think anyone would want that.
That’s why when arranging furniture in your home, every coffee table should be within arm’s length of the chair. If the coffee table can’t be within arm’s length, then there should be side tables close to the chairs.
Additionally, you should try as much as possible that your coffee tables are the same height with the chair arm or they’re a bit lower than the chair arm. This will allow you and your guests to easily pick up or drop set down your drink on the table.
Make use of artwork that is proportional in size to your furniture
When you hang artwork on your walls, they bring out the beauty of your home, and help to create a unique atmosphere in your home.
However, if you don’t use the right size of artwork, you might end up doing your room a disservice. A tiny picture frame should not be hanged close to or behind a large piece of furniture.
Instead, you need to use a larger piece that’s proportional in size to the piece of furniture. The artwork should be approximately two-thirds the size of the piece of furniture.
Say you don’t have a larger piece of artwork, you can use a power tool like a nailer or a speed drill to drive screws or nails in your wall and hang a group of small piece artwork there instead of just one piece.
The artwork being referred to here is not just framed photos, but mirrors and sculptural objects also fit into the description.
Always leave space between furniture and walls
One thing you absolutely don’t want to do is pushing your furniture against the wall of your room. You need to avoid that for several reasons.
First, pushing furniture against the wall can actually damage either. Your furniture can be damaged, the wall can be damaged or both can be damaged through scratching.
This is because, when furniture is pushed against the wall, there’s always little movement of your chair each time you sit on it.
Now, imagine its set against the wall, then there will be resisted movement between the wall and your chair, causing friction, scratching and damage of your furniture or your wall, as the case may be.
Also, allowing space between your furniture and your wall can actually make a small room look bigger than it is. It’s one of those tricks to make your room look bigger.
On the other hand, even if your room is very large, feel free to move your furniture close together in the middle and allow lengths of space behind the furniture for people to walk by.
Pushing your furniture, like seats together allows people to have easy conversation without screaming across the room.
Create a clearly visible walk part
Furniture should not be placed in zigzag fashion that does not clearly define where to walk through. When people enter your home, the walk path should be clearly visible.
Just as mentioned above, if your room is large enough, you should leave space behind furniture, so that people can move freely without being tipped by the furniture or by anyone who’s already seating down.
Introduce good lighting
Without good lighting inside the room you’re arranging, none of the brilliant furniture arrangements you’ve made is going to show.
So, you need to introduce good lighting into your home, to make everything you’ve worked on visible. Try to use different types of lighting such as floor lamps, sconces, overhead lighting and table lamps.
You need to position the light in such a way that there is balance inside your room. The back of an accent chair is a good position to place a floor lamp. You can also place it at the end of a sofa.
Your side tables need not be empty. Table lamps on side tables are a good combination.
With all that has been said, if you actually apply these tips that I’ve mentioned in this article, I’m sure you can actually turn your home into a fun and lovely space that will make people whisper wow as they find their way into your home.
0 Comments