Living/dining room layout help needed!

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

Hi all, we have just bought our first home (exciting!) but need some help in how to lay out the combined living room / dining room space (floorplan and photos below). I'd really appreciate any ideas people have about how how to layout the furniture in my room, from something drastically different to just minor tweaks or suggestions.

Some considerations I have are:

(a) I would like to put in a shelf / corner for my plants in the top right corner (I think that area will have the most sunlight in my Aussie home where north usually has the most light, although I will be supplementing with grow lights). I was thinking a shelf, and maybe some standing pots bunched in that corner?

(b) I have an Ikea Karlstad couch (205cm x 93cm) and small west elm industrial storage coffee table (91cm x 66cm) that I will need to fit in the space, but other than that will be buying everything else.

(c) In the way I've got it set out in my head right now (see photo 2), I feel like I'm coming up against hurdles of whether the couch should be up against the window, or if it should be off the wall and allow for curtains? And the window, couch and tv unit don't line up nicely

(d) I think the area under teh stairs would be a good area for a bench to put on and off shoes, and shoe rack/shelf or some sort?

I've added photos below of:

1. the floor plan

2. my curent thinking in a rough paint job, and

3 & 4. some (very blurry, sorry) photos of the living/dining room that I took during house inspections.

I feel like I just can't think of any other way to set out the room logically other than what I've got in photo 2, but it's also how the house was set out for the inspections so I'm not sure if I'm just unable to get away from that layout rather than it being the only solution. Would really appreciate any new ideas or tweaks to the layout, thank you!

Featured Answer

decoenthusiaste

7 years ago

Have you thought about putting the dining table at the window, TV on the gallery wall, and the sofa with the chaise portion next to the current TV wall with a walkway through to the kitchen? Put the silverware chest between the door and window. You might want to turn the rug for that arrangement. Hard to judge size from your floor plan and photo, but you could try it to see. You may have to put chairs at the two ends, but that way everyone could see the back garden from the table.

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Comments (10)

PRO
CDR Design, LLC
7 years ago
For now, get the main pieces in place. Don't worry about the smaller items. We will find a place for them. I would

-put the tv on the gallery wall, centered on the wall

-Sofa will face new tv wall and will also be centered on the tv wall.

-dining table will be backed up to the sofa. Only 3 sides will be accessible.

-2 chairs on long side of dining table. Other 2 chairs on the ends.

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decoenthusiaste
7 years ago
That's what I wanted to suggest, CDR, but I hesitated because I couldn't find a photo to illustrate the look.
PRO
CDR Design, LLC
7 years ago
Yeh, and this photo isn't exact, but gives one the idea.
kayxbeco
Original Author
7 years ago
Oh wow, that's a great idea - thank you! I will put the TV on the gallery wall and the couch/dining table in the middle. I won't be able to move my furniture in for a couple of weeks but will let you know how it goes!
PRO
CDR Design, LLC
7 years ago
Good luck with your new home! Be very careful with gallery walls. They can go wrong very quickly. I see more bad ones that good ones. Instead, I'd choose a very impactful piece of art on the wall where the tv is now.

You might have to move the tv/sofa/table to orient more toward the window than the center. I am thinking you'll have about about 90 cm (35") left on each side of the sofa if you center it. If you want end tables, you'll have to shift the entire furniture arrangement toward the window. You want a nice walkway from kitchen, along where tv is now and on to front door.
kayxbeco thanked CDR Design, LLC
njmomma
7 years ago
following
kayxbeco
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks CDR! Sorry I wasn't very clear - I meant that I'd scratch the gallery wall and put the TV there instead. Totally agree that there's a lot of room for error! I was thinking maybe some sort of shelving situation either side (mainly so I can get a lot of plants up on the left side of that wall), I'm not sure if that'll look too busy and I guess might depend how centred (or not) everything ends up being? Definitely hard for me to think in the abstract so I will wait and see once I get the placement of the couch, table and TV right (and probably come back here for more advice!)
PRO
CDR Design, LLC
7 years ago
Sounds good. Love you Aussies! I have a wonderful client in Australia.

Were those smiley-faced people really in the photo listing for the house sale?
kayxbeco
Original Author
7 years ago
Haha no - these are the photos I took during the open house, not the listing, and so I just put the smiley faces on the people who happened to be in my photo!