Salam everyone! I hope you had a great memorial day weekend. We took advantage of this long weekend to  put up ceiling fans in all the bedrooms. Okay, so it was my husband who took care of that part! But while he was busy doing that, I got busy rearranging the furniture in the family room. I was in the mood for a new look –is it just me, or do you get that feeling too? It was either go out to purchase new furniture, or rearrange what I already have to update the room. I chose the latter……for now!! 🙂 As I mentioned in part 2 of Test your furniture arrangement, in order to come up with a functional furniture arrangement, you need to evaluate the space for size, focal points, traffic patterns, and function. Evaluation of our family room:
  • Room Dimension: 20’ Long x 14.5’ Wide
  • Focal Points: fireplace and entertainment center.
  • Room Function: conversation, entertaining, reading, and watching TV.
  • Traffic Pattern:  double entry/exit to the kitchen and access to the upstairs.
  • Current furniture: 1 sofa, 2 round swivel rockers, an ottoman, 1 square end tables, 2 round end tables, an area rug, a bookshelf, and an entertainment center.
Based on the room evaluation, I came up with 4 ways to arrange the current furniture in our family room. Arrangement 1,  When we first moved into our home, we had 2 sofas so I had the furniture arranged like this… Arrangement 2: After donating my sofa (it was getting old), my arrangement turned into this… While it looks like a suitable layout, something was off! It felt like the room was too large and in need of more furniture.  I also noticed that our beloved swivel chairs were not being used as much as before except when company arrived.  I assumed that the reason behind our avoidance of these chairs was their distance from the TV and the sofa. This led me to my next arrangement.
 Arrangement 3:
 I moved the sofa away from the wall and created an intimate arrangement suitable for conversation and watching TV. With traffic patterns in mind, I created a pathway behind the sofa so as not to disrupt TV viewing. There is also another pathway to the upstairs from behind the chairs.  This arrangement was cozy and functional .
I have lived with that layout for a long time, so this past weekend, I decided to try a different one. Arrangement 4: I rotated the area rug, switched the positions of the sofa and the two chairs, and kept everything away from the walls. The result, a cozy, functional, and inviting family room. I found that by rotating the area rug and exposing more of the carpet underneath, the room felt larger, and “cooler” than before. {Color psychology: decorating with red will clarify what I mean by “cooler”}.  I love my current furniture arrangement! My only concern is that it does not provide enough seating for guests . I would like to buy an extra sofa, loveseat or a sectional sofa to make this family room suitable for entertaining.  But before I do that, I need to be certain that whatever I buy will fit in the space. So, I drew up 3 plans to help me visualize the new arrangement with each option. 

 Possible Arrangement 1: (Another sofa)

 

Possible Arrangement 2: (A love seat)

 

Possible arrangement 3: (A Sectional sofa)

 I like the sectional sofa only because it would give my family room a totally different look. However, for the size I am looking for, it would be the most expensive option. Unless I decide to start from scratch and buy all new furniture. 🙂

I hope I was able to show through this weekly series [ Test your furniture arrangement part 1, Part 2, Part 3) that furniture arrangement or rearrangement is a fun process! It is a simple way to update any room and give it a fresh look. You just need to keep in mind three important points; traffic flow, room function, and Focal points.

I could come up with 7 ways to arrange the furniture in our family room, how many ways can you come up with in yours?