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Smaller Homes Design Dilemma Living Rooms

Living room front door entry

5 years ago

Help! I have just moved into a beautiful old terraced house with a cottage feel but it is very small and we are struggling to decide on a layout for the living room. Can anyone help me with this challenge?

We must accommodate the table and chairs as well as the leather sofa as they belong to the landlord, but the dimensions seem off and we just can’t seem to get it right. The table is too long under the window as we have it in the photos and it seems to jut out into the living space, but when we put it length ways you’re sat facing the wall and window and it isn’t very nice.

Also the switch for the light is on the opposite side of the room to the front door which is why we have the lamp near the front door; so we can see when we get in!

We like a lot of seating as we often have friends over, but the smaller sofa seems oddly placed. Also with the fireplace and TV right in the centre of the wall we are struggling to separate the living and dining area.

Please help! There are lots of beautiful features and we have some great decorating ideas but we just can’t get the furniture right!

Comments (5)

PRO
User
5 years ago
Can you swap the sofa and the table over so that the sofa is under the window. Then have the table lengthwise against the wall nearer the kitchen? You could always have a little side table with a lamp near the door if it will fit.

If you could post the dimensions of the room and the sizes of the objects you're trying to fit it, we could have a better go with it.
User
5 years ago
Is there any scope to move the dining table into the kitchen or asking the landlord to swap it for a small round table, or take it away altogether if you don't use it? Other than that I can only suggest trying the sofas opposite each other - one under the window, the other staying where it is - and moving the dining table to the entrance wall.
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Just getting my head around those plans, is the door at the top on the left hand wall your front door? If so then personally I would swap the dining table bit with the sofa bit, bringing the sofa down to the bottom right corner on the plans with a big rug under it and the footstool to make a more defined cosy area. I would then have the dining table and your storage at the top bit which acts a bit more like a corridor between your front room and the rest of the flat. Would do my head in if my partner kept walking through while I was settled on the sofa watching a film. It would also then give you the option of push the footstool and chair to one side to give a wide expanse of floor to play on with the little on. Quickly mocked this up on Paint so please excuse (lack of) quality!
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You've definitely got enough room for an entrance vestibule. It's not clear from the plan which way is 13ft and which is 11ft. Hopefully, the 13ft is across, so that would leave you 3 feet for the hall and 10 feet for the lounge. You would have to take note of the width of the front door as the hall wall needs to sit next to it, so that measurement would also be handy. If the measurement is the other way around and the room is only 11 ft across, then the hallway would have a greater impact, as it leaves only 8 ft for the lounge area. You also need to take not of the fireplace, and where you might wish to place furniture. The fieplace is in the middle and if you put in a hallway, it throws the balance off. You wouldn't want to place a sofa right at the end of the entrance vestibule. In that instance, you would need to make the doorway in to the lounge on the right as you go in, not in front of you. Does all of this make sense?
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Looking at the room dimensions and layout, it looks like the dining room is a converted garage and the front part of the living room was probably extended at the same time. Thus your challenge will be removing load bearing walls where feasible. You'll need to get a structural engineer involved but looking at the plans you've provided, I suspect it is as open as it can be without some seriously expensive steelwork and structural pillars. An alternative might be to move your kitchen into the dining room and to knock through into the existing kitchen to give you the space you need.
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Amy Sambrook
Original Author
5 years ago
The kitchen is super tiny. I guess we could ask the landlord and we could get a foldaway one - we do use it a lot. I don’t think we would be able to see the tv if the sofas were there.
Amy Sambrook
Original Author
5 years ago
I didnt like facing the wall sat at the dining table it was awful! I’ll get the dimensions x
PRO
User
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I think you'll be able to see just fine if you move the small sofa to under the window.

I'd try it. You already said that the small sofa is oddly placed and you don't like where the table is, so it's really the only choice you have.

I presume you mostly use the sofa opposite the t.v ? You don't say how many are in the house? I think it's just the two of you. I'm guessing that when you have friends over, then you're not really watching the T.V so much, so the sofa in front of the T.V is the one you use mostly?

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