I am currently building and mine is 18 x 20. I wish I had gone a little bigger after seeing the actual size, our drywall went up this week. It feels small to me.

New build and not finished, ours is 19x16 and the 19 feels fine for the width but I wish we had a few more feet in depth to allow for traffic patterns. It is an open plan though.

My current living room is 16x19 and feels just right. A large sofa, love seat and recliner fit nicely. People can sit on the fireplace ledge, if necessary. When we have a large group over, we can pull the recliner back and make more space.

Our new living room will be the same size . . . But with better windows.

It's essentially a "golden rectangle" (18 x 1.618 = 29), which is a pleasing proportion for a room. It will require several seating groups, and if the house is large and you plan for the room to carry a couple seating groups, that's good.

If you want to reduce the size of the room, I would probably reduce both dimensions to maintain this sort of rectangle, for example 15 x 24 or 25 feet.

Mrs. Pete - I have wondered aloud more than once if our room should have been 16x19 instead of 19x16..... :(

You have to keep in mind not only the overall proportions, but the traffic paths through the room, which will need their own width independent of the furniture arrangement. The space only works as "ideal" if there are no traffic paths, which is unrealistic in today's open plan. Also, a conversation seating grouping that is much larger than 10x10 becomes uncomfortable to hold those conversations. If the primary purpose of the room is to view TV, you may not be concerned about that. But if you expect the room to support both TV viewing and talking, you will be at cross purposes for the furniture arrangement in such a large room. You either need to reduce the overall size to support conversation, or pick another room for that function.

Our living room is 18 x 14 and I'm getting nervous that the depth is not enough. We also have furniture that I think may be much too big for the space. Eeek!

18x30 seems huge to me, but it depends on the size if the house and of course your usage.

I also think ceiling heights play a huge part in what room sizes work and what you use the space for. OP what are your ceiling heights in this room if I may ask?

We have a open floor plan and the family we have 20 x 15 and I too wish the depth was a little more but this is how much we could go.

We do have another 14 x 15 small living room which is not open and can serve as second sitting area if needed.

To me the 18 x 30 seems huge but again not sure what your house size is and how you plan to use the room.

xc60-great! :)

OP: Does the 30 include or encroach upon a dining area or some other space?

Ours will be 23'4" by 17'4". However that includes a designated 4' walk way making the furniture area more like 19'4" by 17'4". The space backs up directly to the kitchen. Like others I wonder about the depth being enough.