Arranging a home’s layout can be challenging and tricky. There is a long list of things you need to consider apart from deciding where to put your couch. Home design and arrangement involve balancing your budget, the pieces you have, your personal preferences, the proportions of the room, and in some cases, even your beliefs. Sure, you’ve got the vision in your head, but the arrangement’s functionality is more important.
Your home’s layout isn’t just a reflection of your personal style. It can also affect the very way you live and move. Without careful planning and thought, the wrong layout could affect your home’s flow and even your quality of life. Here are three helpful things to remember as you plan your home’s layout.
1. Determine each room’s purpose and focal point
Each part of your home has its own purpose, some more obvious than others. A kitchen is obviously for cooking, while a bedroom is where people tuck in once the day is done. But what about ambiguous spaces, like a spare room or a boxed-in area? That’s where focal points come into play.
When it comes to rooms with a clear purpose, it will be easy to figure out what the focal point is. It could be a kitchen island or a new stove, floor-to-ceiling windows, or a clawfoot tub — whatever it is, the layout of the room will push the focal point’s focus front and center. If you need a sitting space, buy sofas to fill your home.
If your living room has a gorgeous fireplace, arranging furniture in a way that will allow people to gather around it would be a smart way to plan the layout. If a room has no focal point, you have the opportunity to make a new one. For instance, you could bring in a large bookshelf and transform a spare room into a library or a study.
2. Consider how people move
The flow of traffic means how people move from one point of a room to another, and when you’re planning the layout of social space, this matters a lot. If you’re designing the layout of a living room or any other place in the house where people come together to socialize, you have to remember to make enough space for them to move around. Angle furniture in a way that allows people to enter and exit the room easily.
Picture this: you and your family are watching a movie in the living room. You feel like going to the bathroom, and it should be easy since it’s just down the hall. But with a poor layout, getting up and leaving the space could be cumbersome — the couch is placed too close to the coffee table, there’s a small ottoman in the way, and it all just feels too cramped. Keeping the flow of traffic in mind can make social spaces feel more open and inviting.
3. Pick a designated wall.
The designated wall in your bedroom will serve as the anchor of the room’s focal point: your comfy bed. This is especially important if you have a queen or king-sized bed. As a general rule, you must avoid putting pieces that are taller than the window.
Breaking this rule will make the room feel awkward and closed off because it obstructs the light and view from the window. It also cuts off the airflow, which may seem fine now, but when summer rolls in, you might find yourself having to move things around to let more air into your room. ;
Rules are meant to be broken, however. If you have more windows than you need, feel free to do what you want. Choose a side as your designated wall and dress up the windows with heavy curtains to create a semblance of a solid surface. Position your bed carefully to make it look like the design choices were intentional. That way, you can obstruct a view without making it look awkward.
A final word
A home’s layout can make or break the flow of your living spaces. Choosing a layout that opens up a room can make your place look inviting, and you can even make it look bigger without altering the initial construction of the place. Your goal is to make yourself and your guests feel comfortable. A home that has a good layout will contribute to that overall feeling of ease and relaxation.
