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Start room rearrangement by picking a focal
point
Q: My living room frustrates me. I've rearranged
my furniture countless times, but it just never feels
right. I have an upright piano, a sofa, with a matching
loveseat and chair, a coffee table, end table, and
an antique desk. I need help making this living room
a room I want to be in, rather than a room I pass
by.
A. The first step is to clear the room. Take everything
off of the walls, remove all knick-knacks and as
much of the furniture as you can. This allows you
to start with a clean slate. With the room empty,
let's decide on the room's focal point. The focal
point can be a fireplace, wall unit, window, or even
a large piece of art. You have no fireplace in this
room, but you do have a large window with a view
of your backyard. However, if we make that the focal
point, anyone seated on your sofa would have their
back to the room's entrance, which, in this case,
would make the room feel unwelcoming. The piano could
be the focal point, but you told me that it doesn't
get played anymore and that it didn't need to be
part of the main furniture arrangement. That leaves
us with the antique desk. Although it is a little
bit small for the large wall, we can make it visually
larger by placing artwork above it, and by placing
some smaller furnishings beside it. Place the desk
on the wall perpendicular to the room's entrance,
and the piano on the opposite wall.
You have a square-shaped room. Angled furniture
arrangements almost always work in square-shaped
rooms, so let's start there. Angle the sofa
so that it faces both the desk and the entrance.
Place the loveseat to the left of the sofa, also
angled, and chair opposite the loveseat. This creates
an inviting U-shaped seating arrangement, welcoming
people into the room. There is plenty of room to
get to the piano on the other side of the room, since
the seating arrangement "floats" in the
center. The coffee table fits perfectly in the "U".
Turn the end table on the diagonal, placing it between
the sofa and loveseat. The table lamp can go back
on this table, along with a few accessories. Place
the floor lamp in the space behind the angled loveseat,
illuminating the back corner of the room.
To help the desk fill the large wall, hang a grouping
of artwork above it to give it needed height, and
place the plant and antique chair on either side
of the desk to add width. Hang more art next to
the floor lamp to create a vignette in an otherwise
empty space.
Accessories can now be brought back in. Your ceramic
vase looks lovely on the coffee table, along with
a few other treasures. Family photos on the desk
and piano add a personal touch. With this new arrangement,
you now have an inviting room to share with your
friends and family
This article first appeared in Alameda Newspaper
Group papers on Sept. 3, 2005.
Go
back to the list of decorating columns.
All articles copyright 2003-2008 Anna
Jacoby.
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