How To Arrange Furniture In An Open Living Dining Room

In a traditional home, houses were constructed with more walls to close off many of the first-floor rooms from one another. While the closed-off sections often made the interiors feel smaller, they did offer a more natural way to set up the furniture. However, an open floor plan design, which has both the living room, dining room and often the kitchen connected, can make things a bit more challenging. You are now left to design a flow that feels organic and natural without clustering much of your furniture into one location. While it allows for more expressive interior design, those unfamiliar with floor plan design may not know what to do or how to go about arranging their dining room furniture in such an open space. Thankfully, with just a few tips and suggestions, you will have a better grasp on what to do and how to set up your joint living room and dining room space.

The Weight of Spacing

Probably the biggest problem people have with an open concept is they don’t understand proper spacing. Have you ever been in an open-concept house and, for whatever reason, felt one area of the space felt too crowded or even weighed down? If so, it’s because the space wasn’t weighed or scaled properly.

To avoid this problem, you must look at your open concept space and break it into three equal-sized sections. In photography, this is known as the “rule of thirds,” and it works exceptionally well in interior design. For example, let’s say your open space is 75 feet long. Break this down into three sections of 25 feet. One 25-foot section will be dedicated to the living room, one 25-foot section will be dedicated to the dining room, and the third will be a transitional space between the two. By considering this spacing, you will avoid putting too many pieces of furniture in one given area, which, at the same time, will improve the overall flow of the room.

Cluster Into Zones

The purpose of the previous “rule of thirds” is not only aesthetically pleasing, but it will help you avoid spacing your furniture out too much. By imagining invisible walls separating each third of the space, you can set up furniture clusters. Don’t move the living room furniture out of its individual cluster. The same goes for the dining room table and dining chairs. Don’t go and purchase a table that is too large to fill up more space. In fact, most families with extremely long tables never use all the space anyway.

Area Rugs

Area rugs can be an excellent tool to visually separate the spaces from one another. A larger area rug can be a perfect addition to place under a dining room table or in the center of your living room sectional. It also helps add some visual definition between all the spaces.

Generally speaking, you should avoid using different color palettes with different sections. Because it is an open concept, you should keep the same color design throughout. Having a gray living room with light blue accents and a dining room of tan and red will clash too much, so try to keep the interior color design the same.

Consider Traffic Flow

You want people to walk freely from one space to the other. So keep this in mind when selecting furniture and setting it up. The purpose of open floor space is to make it easy to move from one space to the next. In short, don’t box people into a living room space while giving them just a small exit point.

Choose Your New Furniture Today

Whether you just moved into a new home or are ready to update your current interior look, bringing new furniture into a house is an exciting process. It is a way to reinvent the interior and bring a new level of comfort to the space. It doesn’t matter if you know exactly the look you’re going for, or you just want to see what kind of options there are. At Furniture USA, you’ll discover a wide assortment of looks and designs for you to choose from. From wood coffee tables to leather sectionals, whatever you need for your kitchen and dining room space, you will find it here. So take your time, look over the collection, and, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out and contact the staff at Furniture USA today.