As a designer, one of the questions I hear from clients on practically every consultation is “how do I arrange my furniture in this space”? Arranging furniture so that it can fit the room nicely, serve it's function, sometimes multiple functions and, maintain good traffic flow in a room can be challenging. When looking for ways to arrange your furniture, it is always best to follow certain basic guidelines.
Measure, Measure, Measure
This is a critical first step to ensure that all the different furniture pieces that you will be bringing into the room will fit the room nicely. A quick and easy way to map out your rooms dimensions is to measure the length and width of your room and, then record these dimensions on a sheet of graph paper. Each square can be recorded as one square foot. Measure all your furniture and record the dimensions on the graph paper as well. If something does not fit, don't bring it into your space. Measuring the length and width of your room before you go out and buy furniture or start re-arranging furniture will save you both time and money.
Drawing Attention with Focal Point
Every room must have one and, when you are arranging your furniture, it is always best to arrange it around your rooms focal point. Some rooms have natural focal points. Living rooms for example may have a fireplace or a large window. A natural focal point in any bedroom is the bed. The focal point in a dining room need not always be the table. It can be a fireplace, or a feature wall where art work is hung. If you do not see a natural focal point, you must create one so that all the activity that will be going on in the room will center around it.
Creating Balance and Forming a Healthy Relationship
When I look at creating a balanced layout for my clients, the simplest place to start is by drawing out a room and then dividing it into four equal quadrants. Think of these quadrants as a balance scale. If one quadrant has too much weight compared to the others, you will feel a “sinking” feeling each time you are in that area of the room. I then ask myself how much visual weight do the individual pieces of furniture that I will be putting in the room carry. The amount of space that a piece of furniture appears to take in a room usually has to do with its color, design and structure. White chairs or couches for example appear visually lighter than black ones. Glass tables appear to have less weight and take up less space in a room than wooden ones.
Therefore, to create balance in all four of your rooms quadrants, always spread out your “heaviest” pieces of furniture as evenly around the room as possible. If you have mainly large pieces, you will need to balance them out with smaller ones. For example, if you are placing a large sofa in one quadrant, try to place two chairs or a piece of equal visual weight on the wall opposing it as shown in the example below.
In addition, try not to place too many pieces clumped together in the same quadrant leaving other quadrants empty or with few or little pieces to balance the scale. In the above example, our designers placed a media console as well as bookcases and accessories around the four different quadrants of this living room to keep each quadrant in balance with the other.
Living In Harmony
Once you have considered the scale of all your different pieces of furniture, your next step is to consider the axis of your room. In design, when we speak of a rooms axis we are referring to the elevation of the room. In general, the focal point should dominate the eye from floor to ceiling. For example, if the focal point of a room is a fireplace, you will commonly see a large mirror or a piece of artwork placed above it as shown in the examples below.
Once you have created and established the axis on your focal wall, you will want to place objects on the axis of the opposite wall in the room. This will also help to balance the room. Try to use objects of equal weight as they should be high enough to establish their own axis. If you are arranging your bedroom for example, you could draw attention to the bed as a focal point by putting artwork above the headboard. Then, on the opposite wall, place your dresser with a large mirror over it.
Getting Around Comfortably
When designing a furniture layout for my clients, it is equally important for me to know where not to place furniture. Therefore, your last step when you are arranging your furniture, is to consider your rooms traffic patterns. Traffic patterns are embedded lanes in each room that allow people to flow through.
In conclusion, as you start laying out your floor plan remember that variety is the key to a successful and interesting furniture layout. Try to avoid lining up furniture against the walls all around the room or placing it directly perpendicular to the walls in hopes that you will gain more space and that this will make the room feel larger. Instead, pull the furniture away from the walls and try different and interesting angles. By pulling the furniture away from the walls, you will instantly add more drama and interest and, the room will feel fuller and therefore bigger. Always remember to start with your focal point and make it the most dramatic part of the room. Your furniture should be arranged in such a way that it emphasizes the focal point and, that it is balanced throughout all the four quadrants of your room. Always make sure that the furniture arrangement does not interfere with the traffic flow of the room and remember to finish off the sense of balance you created with the furniture layout by addressing the rooms elevation or axis. This will give your arrangement the finishing touches it needs and, give it that designer unity and harmony that you are seeking.