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hkstallion_gw

Help stage my living room

hkstallion
15 years ago

Hello, I have been lurking around for a while and am finally getting ready to sell my house.

I have been in this house for 5 years and have always had the furniture the same way. I was wondering if there wasn't something that I could do to make the house more inviting that I had never thought of.

It is a difficult room in that 1 side is the entry and stairs, the other is the rear french doors. the front is a fireplace with 2 windows and the rear is open to the dining room and hallway to the kitchen.

I have included a drawing to scale of the features and also all of the furniture that i have right now that can be moved into or out of the room.

should i get rid of the full couch and make it more cozy?

is it more important to show a full size couch?

I am not opposed to buying a few new pieces, I was thinking of a nicer accent chair and my table group isnt that great either.

Here is the drawing.



thanks for your help in advance

Dave

Comments (5)

  • loren11
    15 years ago

    no, do not get rid of the couch, i see u have 2 loveseats, and 3 chaises, thats a lot of seating..best suggestion i can give u is to post a picture of the room, try to show as much of it as possible, back up as far as u can to take the shot.
    my hunch would be to use the coffee tbl and 2 end tables, only, then purchase 2 slipper chairs, theyre quite attractive and small..u want the room to feel large and roomy, so the less furniture the better..if u post pics we can also advise on wall art, clutter, drapes, etc..

  • xamsx
    15 years ago

    I had a college professor who thought the best way to rearrange furniture was exactly as you posted above... with a schematic and cut out pieces furniture placed wherever he thought it should go. His wife had other ideas, and used to make him actually move the furniture as it gave her the best grasp of site, flow and functionality.

    I agree with the wife, but will make a few suggestions that may or may not work for your areas.

    Because the room is chopped up with doorways you may want to float the tan sofa in front of the fireplace. Place the glass console table behind the couch if it is tall enough. If it doesn't look odd, diagonally place the tan microfiber sofa to the right of the fireplace, and place a coffee table beside it. Place the ikea chair to the left of the fireplace. If the space looks very bare, place the coffee table in front of the couch.

    Alternatively, you can have the two blue sofas face each other in front of the fireplace with the coffee table in the middle. Place the glass console table to the left of the fireplace against the wall. Float the ikea chair to the right. Place one end table next to the ikea chair.

    Do you have a rug to put underneath the two blue sofas or in front of the tan couch?

    Either idea will look VERY bare to you. You may want to add a few more pieces, but resist over furnishing. The room looks very small to me, and less furniture should make it look bigger.

    If the area open to the dining room is big enough to be a small sitting area, you may want to table the ficus tree and put it behind a chaise, or off center a bit behind it. Put an end table towards the wall and stage the area as a "retreat".

  • marys1000
    15 years ago

    If you already haven't try this on the Home Decorating forum. Some of the people there are quite good. Les19 was one, don't know if she's still there.

  • lyfia
    15 years ago

    I'd say less is more in this instance. You want enough to show you can fit furniture and seat several people, but you don't want to cram all that furniture in there. Only thing that works for me to make sure it looks spacious enough is to actually move the furniture itself around. It may be lots of space to walk around, but again it may not look spacious.

  • htnspz
    15 years ago

    Big rule number 1: Do not place the sofa with the back facing the entry so you walk into the back of the sofa. It's extremely uninviting and one of the first things I learned in school. The only way around that is to put a console table on the back of the sofa and put some decorative objects on it, but I don't think that's your best case scenario.

    I would try to place the big sofa because it will show that a large sofa DOES fit and it will balance the weight of the tv and fireplace.

    In your case, My goal would be to place the big sofa opposite the fireplace, loveseat to it's left. Coffee table in the center. Ikea chair in the left corner with the ficus tree in the very corner. In the right corner, the smallest lounge chair hopefully with a small glass table to stage as a reading nook.

    And that would be all the furniture I would use.
    Remember:

    consider the first impression of every room. Do a walk through of every room. It should be uncluttered and neat, and have an open feeling.