One of the main purposes of a rug is to help define a space. When choosing one, you’ll be considering the floor space you have, what furniture you want on and around it and the connection and balance between the two. Some typical rug sizes are: 4 by 6 or 5 by 7 feet (standard), 6 by 9 ft. (large) and 8 by 10 or 9 by 12 ft. (extra large), but often you can have a rug custom sized. Before you go shopping, use masking tape or newspaper to map out the ideal rug size on your floor and see how your furniture will fit. When in doubt, go slightly bigger — it’s always easier to tuck more of the rug under furniture than it is to make a small rug fill a big space. Here’s how to choose a rug to define your room.
Living Rooms Small to medium-size open-plan living areas. Visually separate the seating area in an open-plan space using a large sisal rug that fits all the furniture on it. This will help define the perimeter of the zone within the larger, multiuse space. A 6-by-9 rug generally works, and it’s OK for the backs of the sofa and armchair to sit just off the edge of the rug.
After a bit of research, I found a solution that surprised me in its simplicity yet intrigued me with its range of possibilities: trays. A lovely tray filled with the right pieces immediately enhances a room. Trays have a practical side too. They meet a variety of functional needs, from entertaining with ease to storage. They also offer flexibility. Creating your tablescape on a tray will also allow you to quickly move it out of the way when you need more tabletop space.
On a glass or mirrored coffee table, trays play a particularly important role. “These surfaces tend to be a bit high maintenance,” Bonnell says. “They show every little smudge, fingerprint or drink ring. Trays offer a more forgiving surface. They definitely help reduce the amount of Windex used in a day. Also, I like to anchor mirrored and glass tables with the visual weight that a tray provides.”
3. Choose small-scale furniture. There is more to living room furniture than full-size sofas and bulky armchairs. Antiques shops are a great place to look for small-scale furniture, because the average room size was typically quite small until the last half century or so. Look for small settees, love seats and chairs that can work for your space.
Focal point. Identify the room’s focal point — 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 (measured diagonally). Therefore, if you’ve got a 40-inch set, your chair should be 120 inches away.
Contrast. 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
Priority. 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 pushing all the furniture against the walls.
Ottomans. Once you introduce ottomans to your living room’s layout, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them. Ottomans are the perfect accessory to a seating arrangement: They take up little visual space when it’s just you and your family, yet they offer that extra seating when guests arrive for a party.
Throw pillows. This is one of the more affordable cosmetic updates you can do for your living room. If your current throw pillows are worn or feeling a bit lackluster, consider what colors or patterns you might want to introduce into your space. With an idea in mind, look for reasonably priced options at shops like World Market or Target. With a new brood of pillows, your living room will take on an entirely new personality.
This open living and dining space was a hit among users for its straightforward but statement-making design. The items in this room are all pretty affordable — a huge plus — and they're also easy to maintain. Basic couches are given a bit of spice with patterned pillows, and adorable portraits of the client's children add a great personalized touch.
Use different rugs. Rugs are perfect for defining areas — a large living room may need a few zones to make it work efficiently. Taking a color from one rug and linking it to another, like in this room, will also help. Using bold colors in your rugs means you can keep the more expensive key pieces neutral. You can match color in your cushions and lamp shades. Tip: If you have the room, lay your rugs opposite ways; this will instantly imply different uses within the room.
Use task lighting. Task lighting is an important element in a well-balanced, enjoyable large living room. Table lamps can change the mood of a room when used with recessed or hanging ceiling lights. Tip: To work out the amount of sufficient lighting, multiple the length of the room by the width. Then multiply this figure by 1.5 — this is the total wattage needed to light the room. For example: If a living room is 20 feet wide and 25 feet long, the total area is 500 square feet. If you multiply 500 by 1.5, you get 750, so the living room needs 750 watts of total light to function efficiently. Divide your final wattage among your ceiling, wall and task lighting. In large rooms four different types of lighting work best.
•Use Chairs Instead of Sofas In a small living room, create a sense of greater space and openness with a collection of chairs instead of using sofas or love seats. The scale of these armchairs suits the smaller living room.
•Create Order with Symmetry Pairs of matching sofas, side tables, and lamps strike a perfect balance on each side of the fireplace in this contemporary living room. Symmetry imposes a sense of order on the space
•Arrange for Face-to-Face Conversation Arranging the seating pieces to face each other over a shared coffee table makes conversation easy, and the table keeps drinks in easy reach.
place furniture facing together, no more than 8 feet apart, for conversation
Add nesting tables. The trick with small homes is finding ways to add furniture pieces that do double duty, or that can be moved out of the way and hidden quickly and easily. Three-in-one nesting side tables are a great option.
Add right-scale furniture. Before you bring any piece of furniture into your small home, always measure it and make sure it’s the right scale. Crowding a living room with oversize furniture is not the best use of space.
SEE HOW TEALS, BLUES AND GREENS OF PAINTING BLEND INTO ROOM COLORS !!
PAINTING AS FOCAL POINT ON EAST WALL •Scene Stealer To maintain a light and airy look, use blue as an accent in a space filled with neutral hues. In this neutral living room, a robin's egg blue infuses the space above the fireplace with subtle personality. The bright hue draws the eye above the mantel and beautifully showcases a piece of framed artwork
TEAL
Don a classic black strapless. I promise, a little black chair in a room always works. Black is classic and anchors a room; it looks good with everything and gives the eye a focal point.
Rikki Snyder 1. Go bold with pattern. This chair is like that bohemian, chic tunic in the Chico's catalog. It's comfortable and casual, and says, "Don't be so serious."
Here it is: our anniversary Eastlake chair. We found it at a secondhand store, piled with junk and with its fabric falling off. No problem; we loved it. We reupholstered it using a budget remnant
Freshen up a classic with paint. This wing chair is painted a sassy blue, with complementary fabric. It's OK to paint furniture that's feeling too stuffy.hat do you like about this photo?
On occasion a small chair will be used solely because it belongs to your family history, or because you found it and loved it. With its straight back and short seat, this little black chair may not be comfortable enough for book reading or lounging in front of the TV, but it's just right for conversation and cocktails. In addition, it adds a wonderful tease of story and makes you wonder where and why. And that's reason enough to add one like it to your room.
You can happily use two small chairs that are not a matched pair, as has been done so well in this room. Because the chairs are different (but similar in scale), the room has a natural, it-just-sort-of-happened look that feels immediately comfortable and welcoming.
Honestly, "thoughtful seating alternative" is why I am such a champion of the small-scale chair. I cannot tell you how many times I have listened to older clients complain that they are unable to sit comfortably in their own homes, and even less so in the homes of their grown children. Most upholstered furniture these days is too deep, too squishy and simply too difficult to get out of for mature adults.
This pair of small chairs draws your eye to the fireplace and invites you to sit down and stay warm. I have done enough floor plans to suspect that the designer might have worried that they would cramp the space. But as they are stylistically similar to the sofas and in a soft, complementary color, they work well visually and provide a thoughtful seating alternative.
A small-scale chair has one wonderful advantage over the other chairs in a room: It's easy to move
What is better than one small chair in a room? A pair of them. In this living area, they are the wonderfully "other" element: classic rather than contemporary, patterned rather than solid, small rather than large. The space could just as easily have accommodated a large, overstuffed chair, but these offer so much more.
teal accent chairs
teal accent chairs
Large open-plan areas. If you have lots of space and large pieces of furniture, then choose a large rug but place it just under the front legs of the sofas, as in this room. This will keep the rug and furniture connected and still fill a large space without your having to buy a massive (and more expensive) rug. Typically a 6-by-9 or 8-by-10 rug will be enough to fill larger spaces.
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