6 Reasons to Float a Sofa
Use a sofa's long shape to direct traffic, define a space and more
One of the disadvantages of the open floor plan is the lack of walls that define rooms or against which furniture can be placed. If you’re faced with this problem, consider pulling the sofa away from a wall. “Floating” the sofa can solve a multitude of decorating issues. Here are 6 reasons floating your sofa might be the way to go.
1. Direct traffic. One of the drawbacks of the open floor plan, especially in smaller homes, is the lack of halls or clear traffic patterns. The back of this sofa creates a “hallway” from the entry to the rest of the home, and defines the living room. The light colors and clear accent tables keeps this smaller space open and airy.
2. Create multiple seating areas within one room. If the love seats had been pushed back against the side walls in this room, the seating area would have been too spread out. By pulling the sofas up around the fireplace, it creates a more appropriately sized conversation area, as well as another area by the window, perfect for reading the paper on Sunday mornings.
Here's another example of how to create multiple destination spots within the same room. The pair of occasional chairs by the windows are a perfect space for an intimate conversation.
3. Focus on the view. Sometimes it’s whats outside of the room that dictates how a room is arranged. The fantastic water view outside this window is the real show stopper. This furniture arrangement takes full advantage of it.
Ask a window installer to carve out a view
Ask a window installer to carve out a view
4. Divide a large space into "rooms." Focus on the sofa in the middle of the picture. This one acts as a "wall," helping create distinct rooms within this one very long space. By placing the sofa perpendicular to the long walls in the rooms also helps visually widen the room while minimizing its length, making it seems less like a bowling alley.
Placing two love seats back to back in the middle of this large room creates two distinct areas, each with its own decorating scheme. This is a great way to treat a large space, yet make it feel livable.
5. Separate a room by function. In this setting, the deep brown sofa is used to divide this playroom into a TV area and a game area. This allows several activities to take place at the same time without kids tripping over each other.
6. Maximize seating. Had these two large-scale sofas been arranged differently, they would have taken up too much space in this room. By flanking the coffee table and placing two slipper chairs at the end of the rug, a seating area has been created for up to 10 people. And, as a special bonus, there’s not a bad seat in the house for taking in the view.
Next: Browse more photos of sofas in design
Next: Browse more photos of sofas in design