The house is our castle, and the way that we choose to live our lives within these walls governs a lot about how we feel about the world and our environments. It’s a really important part of our lives and our home can be our haven just as much as it’s a place to sleep, eat and socialise with friends and family. We’re all a little bit house-proud, no matter whether we live in a grand mansion or a wee beach shack, and the way that we choose to organise our furniture and living spaces. Many new homeowners or renters – when presented with an unfurnished space – will have a huge amount of ideas and concepts about how to best furnish the space and area. Drapes, furnishings, cushions and paintings for the walls are all brought to mind, springing forth as we imagine days and nights spent relaxing in the space.
As everyone is different and everyone has different ideas for designs and options for colours, textures and tastes, it’s up to you what kind of colours and items you want to have in your home. We can help you to figure out what you need to move where, and how it should be arranged, so without further ado let’s take a lot at some tips for arranging your furniture!
How you use your rooms and spaces
Do you have doors that open in or out to a space? You’ll need to think about the flow in a room and how you arrange the furniture will need to coincide with that. For example, do you use a certain room as a pathway to an alternate room? Do you need to have rugs or floor coverings to protect against wear and tear on carpets or wood finishes? Think about things like how would you like to feel in the room? Do you need it to be comfy and snuggly? Or perhaps you’d like an open and roomy feel? If you have a lot of furniture in a tight and closed up room, this can have a tendency to give off a cluttered vibe, and if you have an open space you can play around a little bit more with furnishings.
You need to think about what you’re going to use the room for, and then plan accordingly. If you have a lot of guests over all the time, then you’ll need to ensure you have adequate seating for everyone. If you use a room primarily for work or study than a desk is going to be an obvious choice. Consider the position of windows and the position of doors to create flow and ensure light reaches everywhere that you want it.
Furniture Placement Guidelines
Between a couch and armchairs for example, you usually want around a metre to a metre and a half. But if you use a room for discussions and family time, it might be better for you to have the couches closer together. You also should feel comfortable being able to change the space as per your family’s or share house’s requirements. In the event that you feel closer and more comfortable with the seats closer then go for it. These are just guidelines. Naturally, if you are using a foot stool or coffee table as a part of front of the couch then you should move it around until it’s comfortable to reach and access. Of course, in the event that you have short arms or long legs, modify the table until you feel that it’s in the right spot!
For TV viewing, the usual rule is to place the TV at 3 times the span of the screen away from your viewing area. At the same time with some of these new extra large flat screen televisions, 3 times the span of the screen is in the next room altogether!
A metre or so of space is suggested for foot traffic paths. But in the event that you have kids or someone with a walking frame, for example, you’re better off giving yourself a bit more space again.
At the dinner table, you should space chairs out so that everyone isn’t going to be jostling elbows at the table, but close enough so that conversation flows easily and you can reach and access everything.
If at any time you’re not sure, simply draw up a scale model of a room and move things around on paper until you’re happy with it. After all, you can always just move things around if you need to!
Fiona Wilson helps people all over Australia to better organise their homes and lives. Working closely with Wardrobe World and GarageSmart, she is incredibly passionate about finding practical lifestyle solutions for her clients.