It’s easy to get excited about colours and decorating, and how you want a room to look. But a room that looks good may not work well. It’s always better to work out the configuration of your space before starting to decorate.

A space may just feel right, or it can feel uncomfortable. I like to walk into a room and “listen” to what it is saying: what will this room be used for? Where are the windows and doorways? How can we use this space?

A friend recently moved house and was feeling uncertain about arranging living room furniture in the larger space in her new home. I started by asking her how she pictured using this room.

It was obviously going to be a principal living area for relaxing, reading, watching television and eating. Each of these uses needed to be accommodated. We needed bookshelves and adequate lighting, and tables within reach of the sofa and armchairs.

My friend had several options that could be used as focal points to start laying out the room. A limiting factor was the wall of sliding glass doors, leading to a covered entertainment porch.

So we walked the living room, starting from the entrance. The natural flow for the room was to walk straight ahead, with the kitchen and island bench on the left, a dining space to the right; straight ahead was a sizeable living area. We needed clearly defined routes to move through and around the room.

As this was a deep and wide space, I suggested placing the three-seater sofa facing the window, with a sofa table behind. This arrangement divided the area; a large floor rug clearly defined the space.

Two swivel based armchairs were placed on one side facing the television, they could be quickly and easily reorientated towards the main sitting area. Another sofa was placed along the window wall, facing the other sofa, with a large coffee table between. A pair of smaller chairs placed either side of the fireplace meant that nine people could be comfortably seated in the space.

Placing several small side tables strategically around the room served the sofa group as surfaces to place coffee cups and drinks.

In the dining space the furniture removalists had centred my friend’s dining table under a pendant light fixture. We pulled the table back towards the entry, creating a more cosy feel with a solid wall behind the table featuring a large abstract artwork. We rolled out a rug under the table. The dining area now felt more contained and intimate.

Success!! Now that we had worked out the configuration of the room, we started thinking about how to decorate it.

Published in the August 2022 Issue of The Trentham Trumpet
>> Part 2