Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
atw016

My living room- too many walkways

atw016
17 years ago

Does anyone else have this problem? I have a small living room with 3 walkways that are crucial for navigating to other parts of the house:

1. The front door

2. Doorway to the bedrooms

3. Archway into the Dining room that leads to the kitchen

To make matters worse, the room is only about 14.6 ft. X 15.4 ft. It's a logistical nighmare. I've found a small sofa at roomandboard.com that is 57inches. What do you think of this arrangement? Will it work? I'm very unsure and since I will be investing in a sofa, I really want the outcome to be good.

Thank you advance for any input!

Comments (9)

  • atw016
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I have a furniture layout plan, but don't know how to load it into the post. Wish I had an old web page...

  • gammy4
    17 years ago

    I have a similar problem in my home but a bit smaller livingroom. When you walk in the front door you can walk straight ahead to the kitchen about 14', just before the kitchen is the hall to the bedrooms and immediately down that hall is a small bedroom, on the other side of the livingroom wall.

    I've tried arranging my furniture every way I could and wound up putting the main couch (which is a full size futon) to the far side of the livingroom. In otherwords when you walk in the sofa is up against the wall to the left, furthest from the front door. This left the entry way wide open, it seemed to give it the best feel to the room and house.

    I think your idea for a 57" sofa is the way to go, if you downsize your furniture the room will automatically look bigger, also consider some mirrors at keypoints in the room.

    Good luck!

  • kkay_md
    17 years ago

    We had this kind of living room, and it was difficult to arrange. One thing that I did was have a soft upholstered bench as a coffee table. I figured that so much traffic had to go through the room, something upholstered would be less dangerous to shins. It also worked as extra seating when we had guests. I had no side tables in the room (I had a set of small stackable ones that I could bring up from the basement if necessary), and the lighting was all from floor lamps situated behind furniture (sofa and 2 wing-back chairs).

    I arranged the room so that traffic could go behind the sofa, and thereby disrupt conversations less. I never had a TV in that room--that element would have been a bridge too far in such a small space, and I wanted a more formal and quiet room, anyway.

  • atw016
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Ah HAH! Found a way.

    In this plan there are the following:

    upright piano
    fireplace with two ottomans pushed together in front (also right by the front door)
    a recliner
    a bookcase on the wall between the front door and the window
    a 57" sofa
    an oval or round coffee table
    a chair in the corner

    Is this too much? Supposedly this is to scale. It looks okay, but I'm afraid I am missing something. The walkways are about 2and 1/2 feet wide...

    Here is a link that might be useful:

  • kkay_md
    17 years ago

    Wow--it's spooky how similar your living room is to the way mine was, including the fireplace and the upright piano (we eventually remodeled--I had to have a foyer).

    I like the layout, but I think the 2-1/2 feet might be cramped--can you push the sofa in closer to the fireplace? You might be able to have small end tables (hard to tell) on either side of the sofa, rather than the coffee table in front of it, which I think could look (and feel) too crowded.

  • atw016
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Really? I was beginning to think mine was the only one. The problem with pushing the sofa closer to the fireplace is because the front door is in the corner it feels like you walk in the house and all the furniture gets up to greet you at the front door.

    Thank you for your input. So much to consider!

  • pianolady
    17 years ago

    Wow, your living room is even tighter than mine. I'd ditch the ottomans and the coffee table. We tried many things in our room before going to an angled arrangement where you could choose to walk in front or behind the sofa. Most people choose behind unless going to sit down. This will open up paths to all areas. I'd even ditch the 3rd chair in the corner if I had to.

    {{!gwi}}

  • weed30 St. Louis
    17 years ago

    I would not recommend buying a sofa if you haven't been able to sit on it. I am also looking for a sofa, and you would be surprised at how uncomfortable many of them are!

  • atw016
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Piano-lady, I had never thought of angling the sofa in that direction. It's a very good idea! Why did it never cross my mind?

    Also, Weed30 that is good advice about sitting on the sofa. That's a concern that I keep mulling over but I am so limited as to size that I lost track of this important piece of the puzzle.

Sponsored
MAC Design + Build
Average rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars18 Reviews
Loudon County Full-Service Design/Build Firm & Kitchen Remodeler