Living Room Furniture Tips for Buying
Types of Living Room
Furniture Here are the typical furnishings you’ll get to choose for a living room, so you can evaluate what will best address your home’s needs. In separate buying guides, we’ll provide expanded information about accent chairs, club chairs, coffee tables, sectionals, sofa tables & console tables, sofas & couches, and TV stands & media cabinets.
Buying Living Room Furniture:
Find your decor style: Most people know what they like and what they don't like. Between those two extremes, there are plenty of living room furniture choices. If you have no idea where to start, look in your closet and see what colors you choose to wear. A closet full of neutral colors with few embellishments means modern living room furniture might feel right to you. If you've always owned a leather jacket, a leather sofa is probably going to feel more your style than a fabric couch. If you'd rather stay home than leave the house without your designer handbag, definitely consider the chic elegance of contemporary living room furniture.
Measure the room and sketch it on paper. Hands-on people even stack boxes to get a feel for the dimensions of the furniture they are considering. (If you've just moved in, you'll have boxes to use for this.) Make a wish list of the furniture pieces you want and figure those items into your measurements. Remember to consider the traffic flow and allow space to comfortably walk around your furniture.
Create your seating area: Face the sofa toward the main focal point in the room, often a fireplace, but it could also be a great view out a window, or it can be your entertainment center. Once you've placed the sofa, position your loveseat and chairs near it to create a conversation area, usually at ninety degrees to the sofa; if the room is on the small side, you may want to just have chairs instead of a loveseat. If the chairs have low backs that won't block the view to your focal point, place them across from the sofa. Don't be afraid to have this whole arrangement in the middle of a room. Pushing all the furniture up against the walls may make the room seem bigger, but a cozy feeling is more comfortable, and you'll be able to hear the conversation with people sitting on other chairs in the room.