If you planning to buy new furniture for your living room, then most probably you have already thought about the furniture layout in your mind or else you have probably thought of repeating the same old layout with only the new furniture pieces. In this article I will show you a simple method to create the most efficient livingroom furniture layout.

Before we begin there are a few points that need to be considered. A living room is always a transition space. This means that entrances to all other rooms are located in living room. Other bedrooms, dining room, kitchen etc. are accessed through living room, that’s why a sufficient “circulation space” for family members is a must.

So here is what you can do to create the most efficient layout for a living room.

1) Take a plane white paper. A4 size is also enough.
2) Draw a sketch plan of your living room on this paper. While drawing this plan it is important to show the following things in it.

*Entrance door
*Entrance doors to other rooms
*Window positions
*Minor column projections (if any)
*Swing of the doors (inside or outside the living room)
*Presence of staircase
*Fireplace (if any)

3) Take a pencil and draw lines starting from entrance door to all other doors and window positions. This is the natural travel lines for any person using the living room. If the room is empty without any livingroom furniture these are the lines any person would follow to reach other point in the living room.

4) Now start placing the furniture units like 3 seat sofa, single/double seat sofa, coffee table, end tables lampshades, bookshelves, TV unit, etc.. Depending upon your budget you can go for any number of these units.

While placing these units it will always be seen that the furniture obstructs the pencil travel lines drawn in the third step. But that’s OK for now. Now make as may combinations and arrangements of the furniture units as possible. Think out of the box while doing this. Try to do something different.

Remember if you try you will easily come up with at lest 10 layout for that same living room. You will be amazed at how many combinations are possible. Also imagine the furniture pieces you already have or can you replace that table in the bedroom with the one in the living room.

How about keeping it vertical rather that horizontal in the plan. Whatever you do keep one thing in mind. Always keep the human ovement “unobstructed”. People passing through the living room in other rooms must be able to pass without cutting vision if you are talking to other person in the living room.

That’s why those pencil lines have been drawn. After you have drawn the furniture pieces on the living room plan, modify the travel lines. Now these lines will be around the furniture, especially at corners. The travel lines will now take the shape of the furniture at the edges.

After this short exercise you will have probably 5 different layouts on paper with. Select the one in which you see the following points of interest.

*Travel line lengths are shortest.
*Travel lines do not pass trough the furniture.

Apart from the efficiency there is another factor called as visual balance while designing a furniture layout. Finally does it look good to YOU. Are you  comfortable with the final layout. The visual balance is achieved by making the most use of all walls of the living room with decorating elements such as paintings, color schemes, etc.

So if you follow a system from the beginning you will be definitely be able to create a beautiful living room in the shortest possible time. I hope this article has helped you to find more creative ways of doing this job more efficiently.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of http://www.livingroomdatabase.com/. Visit today to get more free tips on living room furniture to decorate a beautiful and charming living room of your wildest dreams.

A typical living room set consists of sofa mostly 3 seats,
a sofa with 2 seats (commonly called as “love seat”), a coffee
table and an end table(s).

It is up to the manufacturer of the living room set, to include or exclude a particular furniture element from the set he is selling. So before finalizing on a furniture set first study the actual space where the set is going to reside.

But how to study a living room for better placement of furniture for best visual experience? It all depends on volume of the furniture that the space will occupy. For example imagine a large wardrobe in your bedroom. The wardrobe seems to occupy a lot of space, but if you remove all the side faces and the shutters of the wardrobe and make it into an open shelf, the perception of the heaviness disappears and the wardrobe gives a light experience. But it is very important to remember that the actual floor are covered by the wardrobe always remains the same. To view a visual presentation of this, visit http://www.bedroom-design-and-decorating-ideas.com/furniture-set.htm

So the volume of the furniture, irrespective of it’s shape, matters a lot. For creating visual balance study all faces of the living room. Look for entrances, exits to other rooms. Draw a rough sketch plan of the living room and draw possible furniture placements.

After this select furniture pieces that best fit into the space without obstructing the circulation flow and most important create a “balance” of vision in the space. By balance of vision I mean that all the walls of the living room should look equally occupied. Where you find loop holes use small elements such a end tables with flower arrangements etc. This is the reason why they have been provided. Also a coffee simple table is used to create a focus in the living room.

Since all the people who sit on the sofas are going to face in the center of the room, a coffee table add a point of “concentration” in the living room.

Also if a particular wall looks unoccupied after placing a sofa
against it make use of “wall painting” to balance it. More better effect can be created by using artificial lighting on unoccupied walls. In the daytime creative use of sunlight and shadows can be made by studying light patterns.

So in decorating of any space a lot of things come into considerations. As mentioned above it’s not just placing furniture in a room and calling it a “design”. The possibilities are endless and if used wisely can easily transform your home into a wonderful and amazing place to live.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of http://www.livingroomdatabase.com Visit today to get more free tips on various aspects living room set decorate a beautiful and charming living room of your wildest dreams.

What exactly is a theme? To make things simple let’s put it this way. A theme is nothing but a group of design elements combined together and given a name.

Some of the common theme names we have heard are
1) Contemporary theme
2) Oriental theme
3) Country theme
etc..

So a theme includes elements of decorating that are responsible for a drastic change in any given interior space. What these elements can be? A theme might include colors, finishes, textures, specific shapes to be used, budget restrictions, or even a material of only by a particular manufacturer.

Such a group of design elements when combined together gives birth to a “theme”. It is perfectly possible to add, delete, modify, alter, replace any one or all the elements in this theme. It all depends on what you like/dislike.

For example If I say that a “contemporary design theme” does nor or should not include a specific color for ceiling in the living room, you have total right to modify the above statement and make your own depending upon what you like/dislike. So any design theme is always evolving and you can use “creativity” to give birth to new themes.

But what about the themes that are already existing?

1) Contemporary design theme:

In these type of designs much emphasis is given on “simplicity” and straight lines and forms. this type theme says that a square in it self is a beautiful and “balanced” entity hence most design elements in this theme are simple forms made of straight lines.

Also plain colors with their shades are used to create a “play” of light and shadows.

2) Oriental design theme:

In these type of design majority of surfaces are treated for “relief work” such as textured plasters with heavy decorating, wallpapers, with decorating prints of natural elements such as leaves, flowers, scenery. Surfaces are treated as a way of expression.

3) Country design theme:

In this theme more and more natural elements are used for creating furniture and other elements. that’s why more country houses have wooden furniture, wooden flooring, shutters, ceiling made of wood etc.

So wood is used as a major language of expression.

While selecting theme for your living room it is necessary to first analyze what you like most and the budget criteria. Once this has been defined finding design elements that fits your design theme is relatively easy. But one thing must be kept in mind that a living room is the face of your home. Once you decide or finalize the theme for your living room, it becomes almost necessary to use the same theme for rest of the room.

Of course this is not an absolute rule ,but keeping a common theme for your entire home helps to maintain a visual balance.

I hope this article was helpful to everyone.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya
Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of http://www.livingroomdatabase.com Visit today to get more free living room decorating tips to decorate a beautiful and charming living room of your wildest dreams.

Living room is a place in the home, which has got a very special importance as far as planning is concerned. If a schematic plan of the home is drawn it can be easily concluded that in almost every home plan the living room has got maximum area in unit squares.

This itself is an indication that the living room is a space that needs some good attention during the entire home decorating project. Let’s try to note down some essentials of a good and successful living room design.

1) Clear Circulation Space

In any home plan whether it is an apartment block or an independent bungalow a person either enters an “entrance lobby” or directly in the living room (if space is an issue). From this living room entrances open to all other spaces namely kitchen, bedrooms, staircases if any, patios, study rooms, family rooms etc..

That’s why while designing a furniture layout it must be kept in mind that the circulation is unobstructed. this can be easily achieved by creating a sample furniture layout on paper first and then the furniture arranged thereafter.

2) Visual Balance

Create a good visual balance between the used and unused spaces. By used space I mean the floor that has been occupied by the furniture pieces. It is not necessary to fill every corner of the living room with some furniture element. But as mentioned above a bare minimum circulation space is a must.

The most common furniture element in a living room a sofa. Creative use of different types of sofas can be made to create a visual balance. Sofas come in a variety of sizes and dimensions. To find out the most common furniture dimensions visit:
http://livingroomdatabase.com/living-room-sofa.htm

Since the main entrance of the entire home is only through the living room (most of the times) allow buffer space to carry the other heavy furniture pieces that are to be placed in the bedrooms such as double beds, wardrobes etc. All these object need to carried through the living room and installed in the bedroom. So think for your entire home, not just the living room.

3) Future Emergency Occupancy

Think about what will happen if you throw a party at your place. All your friends/relatives/colleagues will gather in the living room. So plan for this extra occupancy. What will you do in such situations for seating. Will you move your dining chairs in the living or will people stand or even sit on the ground. Whatever your decision plan for future.

4) Ventilation

If the living room is considerably large, than in most cases it also has a higher ceiling. This is very perfect for the proportions of the space. So think about ventilating this space naturally and artificially as well. If you are going to use fans then will these be hung from the ceiling or be wall mounted.

5) Warm and Welcoming Color Scheme

As a general rule always keep your living room charming using bright color scheme, that has a welcoming attitude. As mentioned above the living room is the first space you will see when you enter you home, so make it a point to use inspiring colors of your choice to add a touch of beauty.

Use of indoor flowering plants around the window bottom is also a great way to add some extra interest in the living room.

In this article I have tried to throw some light upon the living room design ideas, I hope this helps as a starting point for you to think more creatively to decorate your living room.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of http://www.livingroomdatabase.com. Visit today to get more free living room design tips to decorate a beautiful and charming living room of your wildest dreams.