{Tips & Tricks} Living Room Design

It’s a common tale...you've scoured the market for unbeatable prices and the perfect color for your new sofa. You took measurements, read all the blogs, and asked for advice from your mother, bff, and Facebook Moms group. You pulled the trigger and purchased but when it arrives and gets delivered, something doesn't look quite right, even though it all fits. I'm here to help with five essential guidelines for designing your dream living room.

1. RUG RATIO

Sofas should have two legs on the rug and have between 6-10” on either side from the edge of your furniture to the edge of the carpet. So if you have an 60” sofa the width of your rug should be approximately 72-80”.   Pro-tip: If you have an area rug you love that’s too small for your space, layer it over a perfectly-sized sisal or jute rug and the proportions will likely look just right.  

2. GET COZY

The number of people that your sofa can comfortably fit depends on two things: the length of your sofa and the number of seat cushions on your piece. Typically, you should allocate one cushion per person, or 25-27” of seating space. So if you would like a piece that can comfortably accommodate 3 people, opt for a piece that is between 75” and 81”.

Pro-tip: A bench cushion allows for more flexibility in seating, especially on pieces that will be family hangouts where the line is blurrier between "your" space and "mine". 

3. THE HEIGHT OF STYLE

The height of your coffee table should approximately match the height of your sofa and accent chair seats. Side tables should either match the height of the arm of the sofa, or be slightly lower.

4. SCREEN TIME

If you’re planning to mount a TV on the wall in front of your sofa, measure the distance between the seat of your sofa and the wall on which you’ll be mounting it and divide it by 3 to get the ideal size of TV. For example, if your sofa is 120” away from the wall, your suggested TV size is 40”.

5. RULE OF THREES

When you’re styling your space, arrange decor items in groups of 3 or, at most, 5. This creates balance and harmony without looking overly symmetrical.

Pro-tip: when buying accent decor for your space, always look for contrast: two light pieces paired with a darker piece, glossy items with matte, varying heights, etc.

Still looking for some guidance? Get in touch with me for personalized advice.

Warmly,