Help with Furniture Layout - Open Concept (Kitchen/Dining/Living Room)

last year

last modified: last year

Please don’t suggest expensive/radical changes or tell us how much you dislike something we’re not asking about.

We’re seeking help to configure our furniture layout. Later, we’ll buy more/different furniture, but that’s not possible right now.

The home is MCM-ish; however, this is not a restoration.

Questions:

1) Should we align our dining table horizontally (side-to-side) or vertically (front to back)?

- Please note the wall of picture windows and SGD to the screened in porch

2) Until we can buy different chairs, should we use the any of the wingback chairs?

3) Should we use both couches?

Below is our existing furniture:

- Dining Table 6ft + 2ft leaf

- Modern Sofa 7ft

- Coffee Table 4ft

- Two Matching Wingback Chairs 2.5ft (trying

to sell and exchange for MCM chairs)

- 1962 MCM sofa 7.5 FT (sits very low)

The rest of our furniture (large L sectional) going in the basement family room.

The kitchen will have a waterfall island flowing out towards the dining room.

Dimensions:

24ft side to side/horizontal

20ft front to back from kitchen island

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Comments (3)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
I find a to scale drawing of the whole space is where to start. Then cut out all the furniture drawn to the same scale and move the pieces around until you think you have it done. Unfortunately sometimes what works on paper does not work in real life so a bit of fine tuning might be needed . I think 2 wing back chirs will be a lot larger than 2 MCM chirs so take that into consideration.

I will say thta when you come here with a question you often will get comments you can either heed or ignore but when designers start answering we often see things that need a comment.I will say the DR will be tight even without the leaves You need 36" all arond a table for seating . Your style is not really contemporary IMO so a waterfall counter should poroably not been done but maybe when the space is a bit more finished you can also post some pics of the new furniture choices .
kandrewspa
last year
If you want a TV in that room the only place it can really go is to the right of the fireplace (maybe to the left if you find that works better for you). It is never recommended to put it over the fireplace unless there is nowhere else for it to go. You have more than enough space on the right for a nice console. Maybe in the future you can do something more dramatic with the fireplace as it looks small in that large wall (or maybe you are already and it's not finished yet). Put a tall piece of art over it (something that is less wide than the fireplace). Face your sofa toward the fireplace and TV. The dining table should have the long side parallel to the slider. I can't imagine it fitting the other direction. I don't think it's a bad thing to have your old furniture in there for a while. It will help you get an idea of the right size for new pieces. You may also get better advice if you post a graph paper drawing of the space so the commenters know exactly how much space you're working with. The perspective in pictures is sometimes misleading.
Zach thanked kandrewspa
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Hi @Allyson Jones, please consider the following arrangement of furnishings. This is meant to give you a lot of flexibility, more seating options for gatherings with family or friends. The carpet would need to be rotated one quarter turn every so many months so it wears out evenly given that you have traffic to the guests quarters. Do not be fret over empty walls. Empty space is very importance. Add only things that matter to you, that bring you joy, that tell the history of your family. Avoid home goods stores, all those cute items go out of style quickly. Keep only two of the stools. Endeavor to use the dining room table more. It is important for a family to turn off the tv and focus on each other. Use this plan to measure how the sofa unit should fit in the space. Use a glass coffee table to keep the space visually lighter. The chair in the corner can be a funky statement piece, either by its shape or color. If you do place a chair there, replace the light fixture currently in that corner with a floor low-wattage canister light on a timer, so it automatically turns on at night, and off a few hours after you go to sleep. Such lights, on the corner of a room, produce a very warm and inviting effect. I hope this helps.
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Zach
Original Author
last year
@kandrewspa / @Patricia Colwell Consulting - Please note, there was previously room around a table + extension + clutter, furniture, etc. per images below. Yes, it may not be the most space possible, but sufficient.

We do not plan to have a TV in this room. Our TV will be in the family room downstairs. Above the fireplace will be art. In the future, when we can afford to, we plan to redo the fireplace and make it much larger + utilize unused wall cavity to create a built-in, but that’s not feasible right now.

You don’t believe the table would be better off going side to side (so the long side aligns with the kitchen), perpendicular to the SGD - similar to how it was arranged previously (see image below)?

When there were walls in this space before, below is layout. We removed most walls and moved the kitchen to the front / eliminating the eat-in kitchen.

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Help with Furniture Layout - Open Concept (Kitchen/Dining/Living Room)

Comments (3)

Patricia Colwell Consulting

kandrewspa

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Help with Furniture Layout - Open Concept (Kitchen/Dining/Living Room)

Comments (3)

Patricia Colwell Consulting

kandrewspa

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Zach
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