Is it an awkward-shaped room or a stylistic challenge that allows you to play with detailing, colour and textures? Sometimes, the best course of action is not to fight against the shape of the room, but to embrace it, perhaps even to emphasise the quirkiness of it.
1 Focus on the key features
An L-shaped room can afford you two or more key features. It could be an expanse of a wall around the corner into the nook in the room and the sweeping window into the garden or the large fireplace and so on.
Look for the positives in the room and work with these, taking care not to make them competing focal points.
2 Identify the ‘obstacles’
The power points in the ‘wrong’ place, a door that opens the ‘wrong’ way, the eave that drops into the corner… every room has them but for some reason, in shaped rooms like an L-shaped dining and living room, they can become more of an obstacle as they dictate what we can and can’t so in some instances.
Change what you can and work with what you can’t. Moving an electric socket, for example, may be too expensive but instead of a stand out white plastic plug face, change it for a more stylish option that melts from your vision.
3 Storage is key
Before you start shopping for your statement velvet sofa flanked by a matching small armchair and side table, you need to consider what storage options the L-shaped room afford you.
If ceiling height isn’t an issue, a large, tall oak bookcase with matching smaller units are a great start. If you are concerned this will hem in the space, opt for slimline storage units including a slimline console table with a small, slender sideboard that gives you versatile storage solutions.
Rather than trying to choose reclaimed wood furniture with the exact dimensions, choose items that frame the room – for example, a coffee table with storage that frames the sofa by being smaller than it or a sideboard that frames a wall by sitting within its centre.
4 Use rugs to zone the space
Fighting against the L-shaped room won’t yield results. Sometimes, defining the use of areas within the L-shape space is the best move in terms of not just style but maximising the use of the space too.
Clearly, different furniture items will contribute to this. For example, a stylish reclaimed wood dining table flanked by dining chairs and a dining bench says, ‘this is the place to eat’ and the sofa in front of the fire says, ‘this is the place to relax’.
Emphasise this note change with rugs. Choosing similar colours and patterns, opt for the correct size of rug for the spaces they will furnish and then step back, and watch the room be instantly transformed with colour and texture.
5 Adjust the lighting
Lighting brings ambience to a room. It helps to set the atmosphere. It brings comfort to a room or area – especially softer, golden lighting – just as it brings functionality – think bright, white light for food preparation areas. Just like rugs, use layers of light to add function and style to the L-shaped room.
A dark corner doesn’t have to stay dark. In fact, with a floor lamp, a comfy small armchair, and a small display unit, would it make a fantastic reading nook?