How to Lay Out a Living Room
The dimensions that decide whether the room works, whatever it ends up looking like. Usually a fireplace, a floor and a lighting plan.
BeforeAfter
- 1
What the room is arranged around
Living rooms are remodelled for three reasons: the fireplace is dated, the floor is tired, or the lighting is a single fitting in the middle of the ceiling. Address those and the furniture arrangement usually sorts itself out, because it was the room fighting back, not the sofa.
- 2
Rule 1
Keep seating within 8ft of each other or the room stops holding a conversation.
- 3
Rule 2
Build joinery to 18in deep flanking a chimney breast — deeper and it projects past the breast awkwardly.
- 4
Rule 3
Leave a 32in route through the room that does not pass between the seating and the fire.
- 5
Rule 4
A hearth wants 16in of clear floor in front and 8in to each side.
- 6
Rule 5
Sofa to coffee table: 16in.
- 7
When it is tight
Removing a chimney breast is the one structural move that reliably transforms a small living room, because it returns two alcoves' worth of wall and lets furniture sit flat. It is also the one people regret skipping.
Questions
- What should I decide first in a living room remodel?
- Living rooms are remodelled for three reasons: the fireplace is dated, the floor is tired, or the lighting is a single fitting in the middle of the ceiling. Address those and the furniture arrangement usually sorts itself out, because it was the room fighting back, not the sofa.
- What goes wrong most often?
- A television mounted above the fire, too high to watch comfortably. Joinery built deeper than the chimney breast so the wall reads as lumpy.
- Will it work in a small living room?
- Removing a chimney breast is the one structural move that reliably transforms a small living room, because it returns two alcoves' worth of wall and lets furniture sit flat. It is also the one people regret skipping.
- Can I see it on my own living room before starting?
- Yes — photograph the space and run it through the Studio. It is generated imagery, so compare the render against your photo rather than treating it as a plan.