Furniture layout....help please

11 years ago

I desperately need furniture for our great room. I've attached a general floor plan with a blank space in the great room and then 2 ideas for furniture layout. The furniture layout options were done by me on free planning software with approximate measurements - and I didn't detail the entire kitchen. The first furniture plan (2nd picture) with the sectional was proposed to me by an interior decorator who owns a furniture store. She came to the house and took measurements. She feels that the sectional would give a cozy feeling to the room and that more pieces would be a bit much for the space. She said we could do 1 or 2 chairs, I put 2 just to see if it would fit.

The second plan (last picture) with the separate sofa and loveseat was my original idea.

I can see pros and cons to each plan. Any preferences or other ideas?

Thank you!

Featured Answer

xarcady

11 years ago

A lot depends on who is using the room and what they are doing in it. Is this for a couple with no children, a family with lots of little ones, or a family with a couple of teenagers? Will the room be using for entertaining, or tv watching or arts & crafts or chair forts?

How many people will you need to seat on a regular day? Do you have a tv and game system that the room needs to accommodate? Do you need storage of any kind--books, craft supplies, DVDs, general overflow storage? A charging station for electronics? Will people be eating snacks and therefore need places to put cups and plates? Will people be playing board or card games, so maybe a table and chairs would be useful?

How do you see the function of this room as different from the function of the formal living room at the top of the floor plan?

That's a lot of questions, I know, but until you can answer most of them, you really don't know what kinds of furniture you will need. You should determine that first, and then where to put them all.

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Comments (12)

roarah
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I am not a sectional person and also now prefer chairs to loveseats too, so I would try for one sofa where you have it in the 3rd picture and keep the two chairs where they are in the 2nd picture and also add two more chairs across from them where the love seat is in the 3rd picture. I would also put swivel mechanisms on all four chairs.
PRO
mdln
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
What is the rectangle on the right wall? TV?

What are the room dimensions?
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User
11 years ago
I like the second pic. Like Roarah, I am "not a sectional person". But I love two sofas formed as an "L" with a square table tucked into the elbow joint. However, one thing I would change in your diagram is that I'd get two full sofas, not a sofa and a love seat. Another GWer here, CarolT, has that exact setup, with the TV on an articulating arm behind the single chair, and it looks fantastic and she loves it. Maybe she'll see this and can post a pic or two of her room.
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
11 years ago
Where are the reading lamps?
sixkeys
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you ALL for your input so far. To answer some questions: family of 4, kids are 10 and 6. TV in a large media unit/bookshelf on the far right-hand side. No game system. Secretary desk along the "top" wall to store cell phones, paper, pens, laptop out of sight. We use the room to watch TV, although not all together. We also have quiet time for board games and reading. Kids sometimes do homework at the dining table. A second table small table would be nice, but I really hate the feeling of having too much furniture. We eat all meals in the dining room, quick snacks at the island. Don't need to store a lot of items in the room.

Dimensions: Top long wall is 33'6". Right-side wall is 14'8". Bottom main wall (with the sliding doors and windows) is 22'5".
PRO
mdln
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
sixkeys
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you! Those options look nice. I lean towards the second one because it gives two paths around the sofa to the chairs if you are coming from the kitchen.
carolt924
11 years ago
When replacing the furniture in our family room, we went with Tibbrix suggestion of two sofas along with a chair and walk mounted tv on an extending arm. the room is approx. 13.5 x 19.5, certainly not a large room, but I think the layout suits the room and works well for just a couple of us or the whole family of six.
sixkeys
Original Author
11 years ago
Great layout and room! Thank you so much for the picture. Are the two sofas the same size?
User
11 years ago
sixkeys, yes, those two sofas in Carol's room are the same size. I just love those wall-mount, articulating arms for TVs. You can angle them any way you want, and push them back against the wall and out of the way when you're entertaining. and easy enough to swing the single chair around for an extra seat if needed for watching TV. Otherwise, two people or a bunch of kids can crash on those sofas for a movie or sports or whatever while also being able to enjoy the FP and the view outside the doors/windows on the opposite wall, with no glare affecting the TV. It's a good looking and practical setup, IMO.
sixkeys
Original Author
11 years ago
That makes sense. We don't have a FP, so we will probably stick the TV in a media unit centered on that wall. But that is a great solution instead of putting the TV above a FP.