If there is anything I always suggest that my clients must do before purchasing any furniture for their home, it’s space planning. Especially if you live in a small space. When you space-plan your furniture layout first, you can rest assured that all your pieces will fit, which saves time and prevents a big headache later on.

Being an interior designer has a lot of fun processes when it comes to designing a space, but my favorite part of the job is when I get to sit down and brainstorm different furniture layouts. I love coming up with unique ways to maximize a small space.

Today, I want to show you different ways to lay out different furniture in both a small bedroom and a small living room. You'll be able to take these layouts and apply them to your own space, too.

Living Rooms

If you live in an apartment, your living room is probably your most used space. Your family gathers there, your friends hang out there, and you usually relax, watch TV, and/or work there. So, the living room has to work extra hard to make you and your guests happy.

I’m going to show you three different ways to lay out furniture in this small living room below. The front door is in the bottom corner, the kitchen is off to the left and is open to the living room, and the door at the top leads to the bedroom.

Living Room Layout 1

This layout is probably the most obvious because you're just placing furniture against the wall across from the wall, which seems to be the most natural thing to do for some people. The sofa goes against one wall and the media console goes against the wall across from it. I've added some small poufs to use for extra seating or as tabletops. I love that these can be easily moved around the room, or even to another room, as needed. To one side of the sofa is an end table with a lamp, and the butterfly chair is a cute way to stylishly seat a guest. You can also use a desk in place of the media console if you don’t require much storage, but need a surface to work from.

Pros

• There is a lot of room to move in and out of the space.
• Furniture has enough clearance between it.
• Seating is light-weight and easy to move around.
• There’s space to put extra storage (like a small bookcase) next to the media console.