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Home Decorating Design Dilemma living room

Help with Furniture Layout in Compact Living and Dining area please...

4 years ago

Hello everyone. May I please ask for help/ advice or suggestions on the best furniture layout for the Living and Dining area of my new condo townhouse? I failed to take pictures of the actual place during viewing but I am attaching an image of the plan with measurements as sent by the agent. I'm moving out from home so I don't have much furniture to bring with me when I take possession in a few months so I am preparing to purchase everything.

As the space is very compact, I would like some advice on how to fit the following in the Living and Dining area please:

Dining table, Sofa couch (perhaps with two armchairs?), maybe a coffee table?, TV with media stand / storage, an area rug?.. any other ideas as to what else I might need?

Questions:

- I was thinking of placing a sofa along the long blank wall in the living room (then two armchairs on the side) but that leaves me with no ideal position for a tv and media console / storage. Any suggestions?

- Should I go with a round or a square dining table? Ideally, I would like to be able to seat at least 4 people. The dining area will also serve as my work table.

- I do enjoy entertaining and having some friends over for dinner. How do I maximize seating in the living and dining room? Create a cozy conversation area that also functions as a comfortable tv room?

- How can I somehow hide/ disguise the television, perhaps make it look more attractive? Online, they suggest to make it part of a gallery wall... but where do I put it exactly? It has to stay in the living area as I don't want it in my bedroom. I also enjoy binge watching (lol) sometimes so I would love to have a nice comfortable spot for watching in the living room.

Any suggestions please? Thank you!

Comments (4)

Anastasia S.
Original Author
4 years ago
I forgot to mention, no suggestions on any renovations yet please. I just plan to repaint and purchase furniture when I move in as that is only what my budget currently allows. Thank you
Manon Floreat
4 years ago
Here's an option for you, Anastasia. It's got an apartment sized sofa and two petite arm chairs. The sofa would be no more than 72" X 36" and the chairs no more than 30" X 30". You may even be able to squeeze in an ottoman or two for a casual perch. Sofa is on long wall and flanked by the armchairs.

The TV is between the patio doors and window. You can find a TV cabinet with doors, so you don't have to see the TV immediately upon entrance, if that's a concern for you.

For the dining room, you could think about a 4' round dining table. It will comfortably seat four. The advantage of a round table - especially with a pedestal base - is that it's easier to squeeze in an extra person.
Anastasia S. thanked Manon Floreat
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les917 - the answers are no and no. No TV, and we cannot (and I don't think want to) move the fireplace. nanny2a - thanks, you are totally right. The coffee table is shown slightly in the wrong spot. I envision it being a coffee table sitting in front of the large sectional (hence wanting it to be the length it is). It will not be sitting in the center of the room like shown. Does anyone see any concern about clearance between the chaise and the fireplace (where one would walk to go from center of living room into the dining room). What kind of clearance do you think is needed/what is the max length and width I could get away with for a chaise/daybed in that area? And does anyone see an issue with the fireplace sitting in the middle of the room, and nothing really being oriented towards it? That is one of my primary concerns with the layout I've put together...
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Well...at 17'X 14' you don't have much room for built-in like this on a side wall. They will take approximately 2' in depth, plus another 6" minimum for a window jamb. It doesn't look like your floor plan incorporates a 2'-6" jamb on either wall, so some change will be needed to the builder's plan to make this possible. Be sure to check and verify your furniture layout will fit the available space after the built-in. Good luck!
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Thanks for the suggestions, Nancy! Putting the dining table on the side like that helps with the "choke point" that we currently get between the table and wall in the centre of the room. Any suggestions for what you would do with the extra space towards the kitchen, since the dining table is no longer in that space? I agree about the bench: We were thinking about getting this table: https://ca.transformertable.com/pages/the-dining-set which has a matching extending bench to go along the window. I don't want any built in units on the ends because I want to be able to extend the table across the majority of the room when a lot of company is over.
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Nice and large room! IMO, you are trying ot squeeze too many chairs into the space. Add to that the dining room chars and barstools... chair overload. In the photos you've posted, the fireplace is being left out of the equation. It needs at least one chair closer. Have you tried the sofa on the window wall? There is also a lot of unused real estate between the living room area and dining area. I would enlarge the seating area to include some of this space. To define the areas, you could use sofa with a console table or cabinet back to back with the dining area.
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Anastasia S.
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you Manon! That is honestly the original layout I had in mind but I have a few concerns.. Any suggestions for the the tv media console? Which is better, mount the tv on the wall then put a slim console underneath or just let the tv sit on the table? I am also thinking maybe the tv should be angled toward the seating area for easier viewing (thus wall mount?) - but wouldn't that also somehow block the pathway to the patio sliding patio doors as one side of the tv juts out of the wall? Just airing my concerns maybe there's another solution.. Thank you!
groveraxle
4 years ago
Whatever you do, it's going to be tight. Here are two more possible layouts:

The first one has the TV mounted on the wall with no console.

If you want to hide the TV, consider a cabinet with doors.
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Anastasia S. thanked groveraxle

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