The sweetest couple reached out to me this past April looking for advice on what to do with the awkward living room layout plan that came with their new-to-them country home.

Each time I came in the driveway I had a moment where I thought I’m coming into a Frank Lloyd Wright home. In my opinion, it certainly carries that influence with it’s beautiful nature setting, oversized windows, the huge natural stone central fireplace, and a full window garage door that opens at the kitchen end of the massive open concept space. That opening flows onto a beautiful deck surrounded by stunning gardens and a pond. The structural angles and high ceilings are amazing.

house and matching garage remind me of frank lloyd wright design

this awaits my clients just outside the kitchen garage door

This custom built home is on a quiet rural road just minutes from one of my favourite nearby small towns that is full of artisans, a hand crafted chocolate shop, and an awesome kitchen supply store. It’s such a great location.

Furniture Layout With A Long Living Room

I received a digital drawing right before our initial Discovery Call showing me the floor plan of the home that focused on the main living area. The entire open concept includes living, dining and kitchen that span across 45 feet of living space.

2D living space floor plan — previous owners floor plan

The gorgeous natural stone fireplace is the main focal point at the living end of things. My clients were at a loss on how to properly place their furniture to enjoy both the fireplace and stunning views with the existing kitchen, dining and living room layout plan.

Natural stone floor to ceiling fireplace with wood trim before and after trim painted black.

When I first arrived on the scene, my clients had an oversized sectional placed under the windows in the corner beside the fireplace, facing a large television that perched on a small table on the opposite wall in the other corner.

The large dining table - watch for this beauty and it’s back story in the after video - was resting next to the kitchen peninsula and there were various other small table and chair groupings in the living room zone. They had a lot going on and weren’t sure how to make it work.

Awkward Furniture Layout With Fireplace & TV

A Few Living Room Layout Rules

Like most decorators and designers that I know, if we could plan the main living area without a television bossing some of the layout decisions, we’d be so much happier.

However, a good part of life involves watching tv doesn’t it? A television is often the focal or secondary focal of the living room or family room. The design principles of proper furniture layout tell us that we make our plan around the focal point in any room. Where there is no focal point, we create one.

Having a large, open concept space with a focal television, natural stone fireplace, large corner space with oversized windows, and nearby dining area, you can see how my clients faced a pretty significant challenge for good furniture layout in their new space.

Thinking back, I believe on that first visit, we separated and moved the sectional to sit in front of the fireplace with the ottomans flanking each side. This created a seating cluster in one of the classic layout options. We knew there would be new furniture coming into this zone and I wanted to show them the way with a proper layout before any purchases were made.

Another design principle is to create zones when working in an open concept layout. Separate your dining area from the living area by defining them as individual rooms within the bigger room. The use of area rugs, clusters of properly laid out furniture and points of interest in each zone are key to getting it right.

In the end, the two matching chairs I had suggested to flank the fireplace to create a nice seating cluster, ended up in their own little corner creating a beautiful quiet-space vignette. We knew the fireplace ledge would provide lots of great seating when the couple had family and friends visiting. We also had to allow for room for the extension of the recliner sofa seating that came into the design.

Before and after of corner made into seating vignette. — pretty seating vignette - a space within the space

Mr. Client’s only item on the wish list was a comfortable recliner providing seating for him in front of the television. Can you picture it? Remote in hand, coffee on the side table, feet relaxing on the extended foot rest and his favourite show on the tv. Sounds like most Mr. Client’s I know.

Here’s a quick look at early stages of the project. This was the day Budget Blinds came to quote on the windows. There was a significant need to block the full on sun streaming through these big windows. Without coverings, that sun overheated the room and caused uncomfortable glare.

We ended up with a different solution on those windows that is still working today. We hung ready made white curtains across both windows and got the function and solutions needed, while saving a significant amount on costs. The wish list often needs to be tweaked with careful attention to how to check off the boxes while staying on budget.

Window with sheet before and with curtains after

Before Video - Early Stages

The before video made up for photos taken in the early stages of the project.

The Colour Palette

My clients asked for a calm, serene, casual and comfortable space. They were drawn to blues, creams, greys and greens. These were the perfect colours that created a palette that delivered the look and feel they were after. Knowing what I wanted to do with the wall niche and fireplace, black was added to the palette. Many of these colours directed the area rug choice.

Sample squares of Smoky Green, Tricorn Black, Creamy, Debonair, Bluster Sky and Hale Navy — clearly not all benjamin colours - oops

After Video - Almost Completed Space

We hope to have a sourcing day together soon to purchase new artwork and some accessories to style up the wall niche and add some layers of interest here and there. It’s almost there!

existing wall colour is smoky green cc-700 benjamin moore

Wrapping Things Up

As was noted, we will have a fun sourcing day to purchase a few more items to finish the space sometime soon. I feel confident my client’s are on the right path having equipped them with a plan, the colour palette, and some ideas of what needs to come in to wrap it all up.

The awkward living room layout challenge has found some lovely solutions in this beautiful home that I’m sure my clients will enjoy for years to come.

If you need help with furniture layout in an upcoming project, contact me. I’d love to be a part of creating a plan with you.

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