Following on from our last blog on Tips for planning out the kitchen diner in your new home, we will now have a look at how to plan your furniture layout in your new living room and bedroom.
The living room really is an important room for your household – a place to relax and wind down in the evenings and weekends. It needs to be comfortable with the correct amount of seating for your household and any extra guests you may have from time to time.
You need to consider if the living room furniture from your old house is the right style for your new room and if it will fit in the space correctly. If your new living room is more square you may need to rethink seating arrangements and add an extra armchair or two, maybe you can fit in a large reclaimed wood coffee table.
Take note of where the TV socket is, other sockets, windows, doors and radiators. Draw a to-scale floor plan and then cut out pieces of paper to represent the rustic furniture you want to fit in. Try a few different configurations to see what works best.
One key consideration for a living room is to note where the TV socket is when planing your seating configuration so you can allow the right amount of space between seating and the TV screen – this should ideally be around 2.5 metres but also depends on the size of your TV and the height it is at.
As for style, the industrial look is incredibly popular and looks great in modern homes – the steel frames look great with reclaimed wood. You may decide not to have a central coffee table and instead opt for an industrial side table or a nest of tables if space is too limited for a central coffee table.
The bedroom is generally a little easier to figure out – especially if it already has built-in wardrobes or a dressing room – not much other furniture will be needed. If you had a double bed before you may have enough space to upgrade to a beautiful wooden super king bed, you might only need a couple of bedroom side tables to finish the look. If you are moving a bed from your old home or plan on buying a new bed with a large wooden headboard it is best to check you will be able to get it up any awkwardly shaped staircases or narrow hallways – this particularly applies to older farmhouses and small cottages.
If the bedroom is smaller or darker and you need to add more storage space you could consider white furniture. A white-painted wardrobe will give the feel of more airiness and space rather than a large dark wood wardrobe. Pale coloured reclaimed wood furniture is also a great choice when creating a restful bedroom.