Easy Steps to Furniture Arrangements 2

If you remember the grid paper I suggested you use for recording the measurements of your room; we are now ready to use this lay out by placing the furniture to be used in this room on it.

Furniture Cut-outs and Templates

To be able to get the correct scale of your furniture pieces to the grid paper, you will have to either use scale models made from paper, which you cut out and place on the lay out of your room.

Paper cut-outs can be made by measuring your furniture pieces and then using a ruler or another piece of grid or graph paper draw each piece. Let me give you a few ideas about drawing your own cut outs.

• ¼ inch on the ruler equals 1 foot of your furniture.
• For a 6 x 3 foot sofa you will draw two lines parallel to each other that measure on the ruler, 1 ½ inches. Connect these lines by drawing 2 lines, also parallel to each other that measure ¾ inch on your ruler.
• To draw a round table that measures 24 inches, draw a square that measures on your ruler, ½ inch, then round the corners to make a circle.

Or, if you like, I located a website which has these cut-outs ready for you to print-out and cut for your room. Here’s the link: http://www.homeexpo.com/guides/cut-outs.aspx

You can also find paper cut-outs in a lot of decorating books, especially those which are written for the do-it-yourselfer. One book, is Better Homes and Garden Decorating Book. I believe Martha Stewart may also have a decorating book published which gives paper cut-outs of furniture in the last pages of the book.

Templates are plastic sheets with spaces cut out to represent different types of furniture pieces. These can usually be obtained at business supply stores, and sometimes stationary stores.

Rules of Placement

• Place large pieces first (on your grid paper before you move your furniture piece)
• Add other pieces until you create an arrangement that satisfies you
• Keep in mind the functions of your room
• Remember to keep traffic patterns (lanes) open, or purposely re-direct traffic by the placement of your furniture. An example would be if your living room has an entry door which opens, allowing traffic to walk through the conversational grouping, move the sofa or chairs, so that the door opens behind the grouping instead of into the grouping.
• Balance your furniture so that the room does not appear or feel heavier at one end than the other.
• Remember you may not be able to alter the shape of your room physically without a major remodeling job, but you can alter how it appears by the scale and proportion of your furniture pieces, color, textures and patterns, and the use of lines and forms.

Types of Furniture Arrangements

Parallel – is often the only arrangement that can be used in a small room. In the home I spent my childhood and early teens, the living room was small. One entered it from the dining room (where the entry door was located), thus the only way to arrange this room was sofa and club chair on one wall, piano and TV on the opposite wall. The end wall were double French doors leading to the bedroom my sisters and I shared.

Examples would be:

• An entertainment unit on one wall with sofa and side chairs on the opposite wall.
• Two large chairs with a small lamp table between them; a sofa with smaller end tables on the opposite wall.
• A fireplace on one wall with a sofa, coffee table opposite. I have seen some master bedrooms having a sitting fireplace nook, which allows for only a small sofa or love seat with a small coffee table to be placed in front of the fireplace.

L Shaped – is maybe the most popular arrangement for a seating grouping when the wall space is limited.

Examples:

• Sofa that is flanked by lamp tables, with an upholstered chair placed at right angle to the sofa. A coffee table could be used or not used with this arrangement.
• A sofa flanked by lamp tables with a love seat placed at right angles to the sofa.
• A desk with a computer cart placed at right angles to the desk.
• For a small sitting area – An upholstered chair, end table and another upholstered chair place at right angles to the other chair.

U Shaped

If space is ample this would be a great arrangement to use.

Examples:

• Large sofa, flanked by lamp tables, a love seat placed at right angles to the right side of the sofa, and two upholstered chairs placed at right angles on the left side of the sofa.
• An entertainment unit, with a sofa placed opposite it. The sofa is flanked by two tables, and a love seat is placed at right angles to the left end of the sofa.

Facts and Fallacies

There seems to be a lot of information circulating in books, magazines, and the internet on furniture arrangements. Some of it is true, you can accept it as workable in most rooms; some of it is only workable in certain type rooms, and some is just plain wrong.

• There are some rooms that are so small there is really only one way to place the furniture. This is very true.
• The bed should never be placed with the foot to the entry door. This is advice a number of feng shui practitioners provide. Logically it doesn’t matter how the bed is placed. In two of my bedrooms, there is only one way to place the bed: With the foot towards the door. However, this advice coming from the occult camp (feng shui is part of the occult), Christians and Jews should be a little careful using this advice, as it’s basis is superstition and divination.
• The bed should never face east. This is advice I was presented with during my studies with La Salle. The reason is that some people find it really irritating to wake up with the sun in their eyes. This is preference, if the sun in your eyes doesn’t bother you, or if you arise before the sun, it won’t make a bit of difference if the bed faces east, if it meets all the criteria of furniture arrangements.
• Furniture must be arranged flat against the wall if the occupants suffer from anxiety or frequent outbursts of temper. This is another bit of advice from feng shui. The reason is that a person suffering from anxiety or frequent out bursts of temper feels insecure and moving the furniture against the wall provides more security, and will heal these problems.

Psychologically, one could feel more secure with the furniture against the wall, but there isn’t any sound scientific or medical studies which prove placing the furniture this way will heal a person of anxiety or outbursts of anger.

• Personal note, at one time I suffered from anxiety and chronic depression – the furniture was placed against the wall…it did not relieve my anxiety or depression. Only seeking professional medical assistance and the power of faith cured me permanently from this malady.
• A piano must be placed on an inside wall. This is true to my knowledge. I know from the last piano tuner who tuned my piano, that he said the tuning will hold better if the piano is placed against an inside wall, and there is less chance of the piano being affected by the dampness outside walls could cause.

Hopefully you will be able to arrange your furniture without any extra stress or physical fatigue by using these tips, hints and ideas from my experience as a decorator.

Remember I now have a decorating blog to provide advice, answer questions, and just chat about decorating, contact me on community if you are interested.