Furniture placement in square living/dining room (photos, design, window)

[TheWayISeeThings]

There is no directional legend on this floor plan so I am not sure what "south" is in this case, but I'm assuming the long window with the solid line through it is the slider you refer to. Floor plans usually use a different symbol for sliders. The one used here is for a window--but it seemed odd that you wouldn't have access to the deck/patio. Since its a large slider, you can probably get away with some furniture being placed in front of the unused portion of the slider, but you will need to leave most of it clear.

That's a tight space. If you try to fit all of those items in that one room, you will not have a clear path anywhere and will probably not have any path that is comfortably wide. You will always be wiggling your way from the entry to the sofa or from the sofa to the kitchen. Ask yourself how much wiggling you are willing to do. Perhaps you can setup a little dining table for 2 with the ability to pull up two extra chairs that are stored in a closet or using some pouff's or something creative as extra seating...such as a coffee table with nested ottomans or an end table that does double duty as a seat.

I was thinking of this basement that Candace Olson did where the family really needed flexible seating. Check out this portfolio: http://www.hgtv.com/specialty-rooms/...res/index.html

She is a master as organizing tight spaces so you may find some good inspiration on her HGTV site.

[Rowen]

Hi P. Swiss!

You're welcome for the layout - it is challanging lol.

How much space do you have for the dining area?

I just measured my kitchen table which could double as a dining room table and it measures 60"L x 36"W. It can seat six for company - it is a little bit tight but workable. Adding in about 3 feet for the chairs would make the table area about 66" L x 42"W. If you have 14' in the dining area using this size table as an example would work if you can center it. It's very difficult for me to ascertain if you have enough space between the kitchen and the table for this.

In the layout I have the L-shaped sofa against the right wall with a small sideboard to the left of the L under your window. Also center the piano on the interior wall and not right next to the door to what appears to be your bedroom. The piano would make a lovely focal point.

To be honest this is a tight arrangment of furniture. I would personally use a regular sized sofa and do away with the L and use an ottoman and the chair for extra seating (you can also bring in the DR chairs too). Let's see what TheWayISeeThings, Kshe and other posters can come up with. They have very good ideas too!

[p_swiss]

I agree it's quite challenging! Actually we fell in love with this apartment mostly due to the amazing view and surroundings... so it's still ok for us having a hard time decorating it, worth the challenge

Originally Posted by Rowen

In the layout I have the L-shaped sofa against the right wall with a small sideboard to the left of the L under your window.

I'm not sure this is feasible... the right window is a wall window, placing the sideboard in front would block the windows from opening!
I've also been struggling on this for 3 days now... I'm kind of convinced with the placement of the sofa, chair and TV. But we were just thinking of not making the dining area kind of "separate", in order to contribute to more space in the living area (mostly better walking paths) and the possibility to fit in the sideboard... could you give me your idea on the following sketch? The element on the right corner with WC would be the piano, and on the center of the interior wall is the small sideboard you mentioned, and a small square 4-seat table (for our own use) to be doubled as dining table for 6 if we have guests.



One idea would also be using two 2-seat and 3-seat sofas instead of the L-sofa and the chair (2-seat in front of the wall window in the right, and 3-seat the same place as the L-sofa now). What do you think of that?

And also, we could switch the piano and the square table in this new sketch (and thus again moving the sofa a bit farther from the window), any comments on which way would give a better layout?

[TheWayISeeThings]

I have an idea for you, that I think would be lovely, but I won't have time to sketch it out until Friday this week. But I'm thinking you can do a larger scale sofa and bump a rectangular dining table to the back of the sofa so. I'll find some examples to show you later.

[p_swiss]

Originally Posted by TheWayISeeThings

I have an idea for you, that I think would be lovely, but I won't have time to sketch it out until Friday this week. But I'm thinking you can do a larger scale sofa and bump a rectangular dining table to the back of the sofa so. I'll find some examples to show you later.

Cool! Can't wait to see your idea... Looking forward to it, thanks so much

[Rowen]

Originally Posted by TheWayISeeThings

I have an idea for you, that I think would be lovely, but I won't have time to sketch it out until Friday this week. But I'm thinking you can do a larger scale sofa and bump a rectangular dining table to the back of the sofa so. I'll find some examples to show you later.

I'm looking foward to it also! This is one of the toughest layouts with the long side window, sliders and furniture requirements I've ever seen.

P. Swiss TheWayISeeThings is a very good designer and will be able to help you. Sorry but I'm out of ideas.

Good luck!

[TheWayISeeThings]

Are you buying new furniture? If so, I will use some sizes at an approximate scale for the space. Please post the length and width of any furniture you are bringing with you. (e.g. the piano, which is the big unknown here...), but give me anything you plan to take with you into the space.

Also, what style do you like. Contemporary, casual, shabby chic styles tend to have deeper, more relaxed sofa's whereas traditional styles are more shallow and upright. So that will help me pick dimensions for any furniture will be purchasing and have not selected yet.

[p_swiss]

Originally Posted by TheWayISeeThings

Are you buying new furniture? If so, I will use some sizes at an approximate scale for the space. Please post the length and width of any furniture you are bringing with you. (e.g. the piano, which is the big unknown here...), but give me anything you plan to take with you into the space.

Also, what style do you like. Contemporary, casual, shabby chic styles tend to have deeper, more relaxed sofa's whereas traditional styles are more shallow and upright. So that will help me pick dimensions for any furniture will be purchasing and have not selected yet.

Almost all furniture is new, except the piano, with 60" length and 16" width (probably 25" considering the seat while playing), and our TV is a 46" one. So we are free to choose and buy the rest. I guess we'll go for a chic style. The depth of the sofas we've already seen and liked is about 40", and we have no problem of putting two 2 and 3 place sofas instead of an L-shaped one, if it would help for the decoration.

Thanks again so much

[TheWayISeeThings]

Here is my recommendation. To cope with a small space, think about items that can be re-purposed. This creates a flexible space that can be reconfigured to suite your needs at a given time.

I made a few assumptions here. If they are true, then your floor plan will work, if not, things may end up tighter or you cannot reuse the bar height chairs at your dining table.

1. I didn't have all the dimensions so I had to guess on those. I assumed the hallway off of the kitchen was 3.5' wide and that the powder room was 3' deep and that left a 3.5" wide corridor from the entrance.
2. I also assumed that the kitchen are had a breakfast bar and that the breakfast bar is at a 30" height (normal surface height, not bar height).
3. I assumed the slider opened from the EAST/LEFT side.

The floor plans:
The first two are show how you might place the furniture for every day and the last shows how you could reconfigure it for a dinner party. You will see a line that extends past the two chairs when the dining table is behind the sofa. That shows shows where the table would open to, if you were to extend the table to its full width. So you can seat 2 people at the table on a normal day, extend it to seat 4, or pull it away from the sofa to seat 6.




About the furniture:

• 2 upholstered occasional wing chairs that can be used for living room seating or in the dining room.
• 4 normal height madiline dining chairs that can be re-purposed as living room seating.
• A flip top console/dining table. This can be custom made or purchased.
• A 96" Wide by 40" deep sofa
• An ottoman as the sofa table (40x24)
• A 16x53 console for the television
• A 12-14" round occasional table

Fliptop Console/Dining Table:

The entire concept hinges on this idea. It gives you a flexible dining area. The table folds up to 18" x 64" and is 36" by 64" when extended. The table is placed behind your sofa as a sofa table and you will keep two of the dining chairs at the console and keep the other two at the breakfast bar. If you cannot find a style that you like, this sort of table would be simple enough to have made by a local craftsman.


Dining Chairs:

I made a big assumption here that you have seating along the kitchen and that the counters are 30" high, not 36" high. The first option is from Restoration Hardware and the second is the budget option from WayFair at $160 each.


Tufted Wing Chairs:

The first chair is the ideal chair. I love the current trend of using tall wing back chairs in the dining room. Dining seat heights should be between 18" & 19.5". The chair also has an upright seating angle which is necessary for dining. The first option is the luxury item at $2200 each -- and the second is the budget option for $500 each.

Media:
It was not possible to place the television in front of the sofa, so I would recommend you look for a console with a swing arm or a wall mount that allows you to swing it out so it faces the sofa.

Using an ottoman as a cocktail table gives you additional seating.

[p_swiss]

Many many thanks for your reply TheWayISeeThings! Brilliant ideas, you really put a lot of time on this, I appreciate that! I especially like the idea of the 3-seat sofa facing the window and the two arm chairs on side. And your suggestions for furniture are great! I now more or less know what to be looking for, will keep you guys updated with photos once we move in

Thank you all again for your helps!