The idea of arranging furniture doesn't sound difficult. In fact, it sounds like it should be one of the easiest things in the world. You have a room that's empty. You have furniture to fit the room. So you put the furniture in the room and… job done, surely? It can't be trickier than that, can it?
Sadly, it can. There's a big difference between putting furniture in a room and putting furniture in a room correctly. We're all used to seeing photographs of perfectly-arranged houses in magazines and on Instagram, but somehow, we can never get our homes to look quite the same. What's more, some of us are arranging furniture in a way that could genuinely impact the way our home is able to operate.
This is definitely a subject that's in need of further examination, so let's do just that. By examining the common mistakes people make when arranging their furniture, the best way forward for your home should become clear– because you'll know what not to do. Here are the most common mistakes, and alternative options that you can utilize.
When you arrange your furniture, you might have to deal with an unconventional room shape. Unless you are custom-buying furniture for that room, you're going to have to make some compromises if you want everything to fit.
It's at this point that the problems can arise. You're so busy trying to make the furniture fit, you forget the house has to be functional. You figure it doesn't really matter if your sofa is blocking a vent, or if you have to crawl under a table to reach a power socket. Here's the thing, though: you will care, because you'll start to interrupt your house's ability to operate, and potentially even compromise the efficacy of your heating system.
It's true: as the article 4 Things You Need to Do Before Using Your Heating System This Year makes clear, blocked vents can have a huge knock-on effect on your heating system, so you're going to want to ensure all furniture keeps well clear of all vents. With the power sockets, trust us, having to effectively go through an obstacle course just to plug something in will get tiresome, and could mean that you effectively render that socket out-of-use as it's too much effort to use it.
The best way to spoil the overall aesthetic of a room is to overload it. You need to leave space between furniture pieces, so that the finishing touches and decor pieces have the room to stand out. Too much furniture in one room can be overbearing, so stick to the minimum number of pieces that you need. Consult the article Less Is More: 15 Pieces of Furniture You May Not Really Need for further information on which pieces you might be able to cull.
Each room should have a focal point. This helps you arrange your furniture around this focal point, bringing the whole room together. Read through Design Ideas By Style Creating and Defining a Focal Point if you're not sure where to start with identifying your focal point. It will make a huge amount of difference.
By avoiding these mistakes, you can be sure that the furniture in every room of your house is arranged impeccably– enjoy!