Your living room was designed to be lived in. You can create literally dozens of furniture arrangements to best suit your needs, but where do you start? There are a lot of things to consider, like how the room gets used, budget, your personal style and more.

A little planning can go a long way in helping you decide how to arrange your living room. Don’t overthink it. Find the right living room seating for your home to make the best use of your space.

Arranging Your Living Room Furniture–Where to Begin

In many homes, the living room is the social hub. Family gatherings, or casual TV watching, movie nights–whatever you use the room for, creating the right seating arrangement matters. The wrong furniture layout can make a room feel off, or disrupt the natural flow.

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the idea of how to use the space. Take your cue from the design tips, and start planning your new furniture layout.

Keep Entryways Clear

Create a clear path for everyone to walk on. Taking traffic flow into consideration will prevent you from walking into furniture or having to move things out of your way to get around. The room will feel more welcoming and won’t feel cluttered.

Don’t Push Furniture Against the Walls

As tempting as it might be to push all the furniture against the walls, it actually makes a room feel smaller, not larger. This breathing room is important, as it allows people to move around and find their comfortable spot. The furniture should “float”.

Use the Right Sized Rugs

Aim for rugs being underneath all of the furniture if possible. If you’re using an area rug, you’ll want it to be large enough that all the furniture should comfortably rest on it. If that isn’t an option, at the very minimum, the front legs of your furniture should rest on the rug, with the back legs on the floor.

Light the Way

Lighting is one of the most important elements in a room, one that we fail to pay attention to. Most people just stick a lamp in the corner and they’re done. Incorporate a variety of lighting, including overhead lighting, table lamps, and corner lamps. Open curtains to let as much natural light in as possible as well.

Use Arrange-A-Room for Some Ideas

If you are considering making a change to your living room arrangement, Arrange-a-Room is a great tool. This virtual room arranging tool helps you arrange your space without moving your furniture. Explore different seating arrangements, or add new pieces of furniture in with just a  few clicks.

Don’t change your living room seating until you use this tool. If you’d prefer, sketch out the design to plan your new arrangement or just takes jot down ideas. You can also find inspiration on sites like Pinterest.

With this helpful guide, you’ll be on your way to designing a new living room in no time.