Space Planning & Furniture Arrangement

Each space within your home serves an important purpose, and our rooms can act as blank canvases, for us to express ourselves, relax and rewind, entertain, work, eat or exercise. To ensure the use of these spaces reach their full potential, pre-planning of rooms is crucial. Let’s delve into space planning and give you guidance on how to plan your space effectively.

What is Space Planning?

Space planning is allocation, divisions and arrangement of space in our homes. When done well, space planning takes into account traffic patterns in and out of the room, as well as necessary space in between furniture pieces so that you can move around the room with ease.

The layout of the house is part of the project documentation, which displays the location of the main structures of the house, partitions, bathrooms, windows and doors.

What to ask yourself before creating your own space plan?

• What will I use this space for?
• How many people will be using this space and will it be for the same purpose?
• How do I want the space to feel? Open and airy? Cozy and welcoming?
• How much natural light is available?

We need to use space correctly if we want to feel at ease in our homes, and ensure it is easy to navigate around our house. Check out these guidelines below, to help you figure out the pre planning of your space.

• It is necessary to highlight the main element of the interior. In the living room, it can be a fireplace, a TV panel, or an unusual picture. For the bedroom, the bed and for the dining room, the table.
• What distance should be between pieces of furniture? It is necessary to leave 1.8 – 2.4 m of free space between furniture so as not to feel tightness. In an equipped room, a person should feel freedom and comfort.
• It is important to use the corners of the rooms wisely. In narrow spaces, you can put something that does not attract attention. For example, a compact rack, a small corner closed or open cabinet or a floor vase.
• An acceptable distance between the sofa, table, and chairs is 0.6 – 0.8 m. There should be a comfortable arm's length distance between your guests during tea drinking and chatting. 
• It is better to hang pictures above eye level. In a room with two windows, a mirror should be hung on a different wall. It will add light and expand the volume of the room.
• A small narrow room can look bigger and more spacious with light compact furniture. Avoid too many trinkets, souvenirs or photos on shelves in smaller spaces.

Incorrect furniture size to fit the room

It is necessary to maintain a balance: there should be enough items so that, on one hand, all the functions assigned to the room are covered, and on the other hand, to make it comfortable to use these functions.

Don’t overload your space. Consider moving something to another room, rather than stumbling over it every time you walk through the room.

Placing tables close to a wall

If you have a corner for a home mini-office, consider placing the table at some distance from the wall. This will create a more comfortable working condition, giving you a viewpoint of the entire room, rather than staring at the wall. This arrangement also gives a clearer effect of space zoning.

Placing Couches or sofas against walls

If you have a small living room, do not move the sofa against the wall: this introduces visual disharmony into the interior. Position the soft items so as to visually separate the recreation area from other sections of the room. At the same time, avoid extremes: for example, putting the sofa in the center can result in an obstacle. 

Keeping the center of the room completely empty

Furniture placed along the walls and an empty space in the center of the room is a solution that is justified, perhaps in the children's room. In the rest of the rooms, the emptiness in the middle of the room will look strange and uncomfortable.

An elegant coffee table, carpet, or pouf will help to group together objects that, when located along the wall, can look very fragmented. If you desperately need to keep the middle of your room clear, consider an impressive ceiling lamp: it will restore balance to the interior.

Missing accents

If all objects are approximately the same size, similar in color range, and made from the same materials, the situation automatically becomes boring and “flat”. 

Set the accents: let one or more items stand out in size, style or colour. A good solution would be to acquire (or create) a unique design element that attracts the eye and creates a visual center.

Make your home comfortable: beautiful - at first glance, can seem simple. But in reality, it can be more difficult than anticipated. Choose furniture according to style and shape, coordinate them with each other and make friends with the general style of the apartment.

To avoid annoying mistakes, think over the future interior of the house and be sure to use the furniture layout plan.