For the first fifteen years of my life, I didn’t know what a living room was. Our family of six lived in a 1BHK. While I shared the room with my sisters, my parents transformed the hall into an open concept living room that had a king size bed, a 5-seater sofa set, and a kitchen crammed together. In the year 2008, when we shifted to a 3BHK and finally had a separate living room, putting it together felt like so big a challenge that it took us quite a while to arrive at a perfect furniture layout. I still remember spending many weeks to find a sofa set that matched the vibe of my living room without having to break the bank. And then a few more weeks went into finding curtains that matched the color palette of this living room.
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You only realize how big a struggle it is to design your living room when you have to do it all by yourself. You spend hours trying to find the best design ideas on pinterest and work on gathering the best decor advice out there only to realize that something still doesn’t add up. Despite giving it your best, your living room lacks the vibe you intended for it to have. Maybe the furniture is oversized, or the center table isn’t accessible to everyone seated on the sofa.
We all work hard to give our living room the best possible layout, but there’s always room for error. Despite having the best furniture and décor at your disposal, you may just end up making a few mistakes that kill the entire vibe of your living room.
Here are some of those living room layout mistakes that you might have been making unknowingly, along with the tips on how to fix them for good:
1. Having Furniture That Matches
Gone are the days when a perfect living room used to be defined by its monochromatic furniture. In fact, having matching furniture these days is considered boring and so out of fashion that it ends up making your living room look dull.
So if you have a sofa set, an ottoman and cushions in exactly the same color, you’re making a huge layout mistake.
Try mixing things up a bit to spice up the vibe of your living room. You can create a color palette for your living room and plan a layout where every piece of furniture matches one of the colors in that palette. Bring in a couple of orange chairs and a dark grey pouf with an off-white sofa set as shown in the image.
If you don’t wish to spend money on buying a lot of mismatched furniture and want to stick to the old one, introduce versatility by changing up the color of cushions and rugs as shown in the layout below.
2. Not Spacing Out The Furniture
Having too much furniture in your living room often means that you have to cram it all in the limited space leaving no room for your guests to move out comfortably.
Make sure that you place the center table at a distance of 12” to 18” from the chairs and sofas surrounding it to make it easier for your guests to place their drinks. There should be at least 16” of space between the two adjacent pieces of furniture so that your guests can move out comfortably, like in the layout shown below.
3. Your Rug Is The Wrong Size
A wrong sized rug can make even the most perfect living room look bad and unorganized. There are three ways to place the area rug in your living room to make it look cohesive.
First, arrange your furniture in a way that all four legs of the chairs and sofas are placed on the rug as shown in the picture below. Make sure that none of the legs of your furniture is placed outside the rug.
Second, you can arrange your furniture in a way that only the center table is placed on the rug while all the legs of your chairs and sofas are placed outside the rug. Be sure that your center table is placed exactly in the middle of the rug while the front legs of the chairs and sofas touch its edges. It should look something like the layout shown in the picture below.
Third, you can arrange the furniture in a way that the front legs of your sofas and chairs are placed on the rug while the hind legs are placed outside it.
Sometimes, the shape or size of the rug makes it unsuitable for any of the above three arrangements. In that case, you might have to figure out the exact size of area rug that could work for your living room. All you have to do is place newspapers over the area where you intend to place the rug and then arrange your furniture on it. It will help you know the size of rug that you need to invest in to breathe life into your living room.
4. Making Television The Focal Point Of Your Living Room
Most people treat their living room as a spot to watch television. But that shouldn’t be the case as your living room is meant to serve as a place where you can enjoy family time and have conversations that spark joy. By making TV the focal point of your living room, you are letting it take the entire attention away from quality time and conversations.
Try not to place your furniture in a way that every sofa and chair faces towards the television set as that will only deprive you and your family from having real, face-to-face conversations. Plan the layout of your living room in a manner that every single piece of furniture is placed around the center table as shown in the layout.
5. Not Having Enough Lighting
A friend of mine recently sold his home at a 10% premium above the market price. When I asked him about the exact strategy that he used to be able to quote that value to its buyer, he told me that all he did was switch up the lighting of his living room, dining area and family lounge. Obviously, I was surprised at how something as small as lighting can make a simple home look so liveable.
Good lighting sets the tone of your living room and instantly makes it look hangout-able. Just make sure that you’re mindful about where you place all the extra lighting. Apart from installing decorative and fancy lights in the ceiling and walls of your living room, you can try placing floor lamps next to your sofa (like the one shown in the layout below).
Or you can go for modern pendant lighting to bring style to your living room and make it look trendy.
Now that you know the exact mistakes that you might have been making in planning the layout of your living room, it’s time to overturn them. Once you fix these mistakes, you’ll realize that your living room feels complete and inviting enough for you and your guests.
What other layout mistakes do you think I might have missed on, and how do you think they can be fixed? Feel free to drop a comment below or write me at hello@theaestheticabode.com.