Help with furniture layout in living/dining room

9 years ago

Hello! My family is seriously considering moving to this apartment, but for the life of me I can't figure out how I can fit a desk and drafting table in this space and have it look decent. Everything I try is either cramped or incredibly awkward.

The furniture we definitely will be keeping is a dining table which is 3' x 6' (can be made a foot smaller without the leaf but the chair legs hit each other) and my 3' x 4" drafting table.

Currently we have a full-sized sofa, a 3' x 3' armchair, and a 2' x 5' desk. We're open to changing all of the furniture. If we get another desk it will need to fit a computer, printer, and have some writing space for doing schoolwork. We also have two vertical file cabinets, but if space permits, we could put them in the garage.

I would love to hear how would you arrange this room.

Comment (1)

camlan
9 years ago
How many people will be living in this apartment?

How wide is the entry hall? Could a very shallow desk go there?

Could the dining table be used for homework instead of the desk?

Could you outfit the linen closet with a desk or a drafting board? (You'd have to find someplace else to store the linens.)

Do the desk and drafting table need to be close together?

Could you get a wireless printer so that the printer could be moved elsewhere, maybe even under the desk, to save more space?

What kind of computer do you have? If you have a laptop, could the dining table act as a desk most of the time, with a sideboard or credenza near it to hold office supplies? Then the laptop could easily be stowed away at the end of the day and the table used for dining.

I could see this room set up in two ways.

One way, I'd take the space labeled "dining" and make that the office area--desk, file cabinets and drafting table.

I'd put a small sofa facing the 14 foot window wall and put the dining table right behind it, touching it even, to save space. But that depends on how many people would be eating at that table daily.

Then the tv would go in the upper left-hand corner of the living room, and a comfy chair in the right-hand corner, with a coffee table in front of the sofa.

That would give you a working area of kitchen and office at one end and a relaxing family area at the other.

The second way would be to put the office at the window end of the room. It looks as if you would need to have some access to the windows, as it looks like there's a sliding door there? But you could put the desk in one corner and the drafting table in the other.

Then run the dining table long ways across the room, to help separate the work and living areas. The rest of the living room and the dining area would become the living area. You could face the sofa towards the kitchen and put the tv on the wall on the wall around the FAU (whatever that is).

Many furniture stores now sell "apartment sized" furniture. It is not just smaller in dimension, but the arms and backs and sides are not as bulky and thick as some regular furniture. Wide rolled arms are nice, but they take up floor space. Look for furniture that is sized to fit your needs, but that has leaner lines that won't take up valuable inches.

I'd also recommend posting this question to Apartment Therapy's "Good Questions." There are a lot of people there who are used to living and working in small spaces who might have some useful tips. Even just browsing the site could give you some ideas.
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Help with furniture layout in living/dining room

Comment (1)

camlan

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