Not all rooms are the same. Rooms come in a nearly infinite combination of shapes and sizes, so there is not one single hard-fast rule for furniture arranging. However, some universal furniture arranging rules can apply to most spaces. Apartment Therapy has provided five excellent “rules” for furniture arranging that will help you create spacious and dynamic room interior design.
In interior design and furniture arranging, we want to make rooms seem as spacious as possible. Placing the large, heavy pieces at the farthest point from the room’s entry is one way to accomplish this. By placing the large heavy pieces far away from the entry point, eyes are able to take in more of the room at once upon entry and makes it feel more spacious.
Aim for balance
Try to distribute the visual weight of the furniture around a room, this will make it feel balanced. If you don’t have a second large piece of furniture to use to balance out a first, balance it with a bold or dynamic design element such as a rug or an accent wall.
Don’t crowd the entry
Similar to the first rule above regarding large objects and the entry point, crowding the entry to a room impedes traffic flow and makes a room feel cluttered and less spacious.
Don’t always push against the walls
As rooms are typically “box” or “cube” shaped, a natural tendency when arranging furniture is to line it all up along the walls. However, particularly in small spaces, this results in making the room feel surrounded with little space in the middle. Pull pieces away from the wall and use larger pieces as visual dividers that break up the room into smaller seating arrangements. Pull stools and side tables to more central spots within the room.
Think about movement through space
Keep in mind the ways in which people will move throughout the space. Place pieces in positions that make movement through the space as obstacle-free as possible. A common furniture arranging mistake is the creation of too many small traffic aisles between the walls and furniture. Try to squeeze furniture together in ways that increases the size of the main travel aisles. This makes traffic flow seem more obvious and intentional.
Go try it out!
Now, go try this out on your own space! Often, just a few simple changes such as described above can make a world of difference in your living space.
Are you looking to do some more extensive remodeling in your home? Don’t go it alone! Read our posts explaining why you need an interior designer, then consider these 3 benefits of hiring an interior design firm. If you are located in Southern California’s Inland Empire, we’d love to help you with your project. Contact us for a free home consultation!
h/t: Apartment Therapy: Make Rooms Look & Feel Better: 5 Smart Furniture Arranging Rules
That makes sense that you would want to save space for moving around. I would think that it would look worse as well if there was not enough open space. If I get some new furniture, I’ll have to make sure that there is still space to move around it.