How to Lay Out a Small Living Room That Still Feels Generous

Space in a small room is created by circulation and sightlines, not by buying smaller furniture.

Start with the walking route, not the sofa

Draw the path people take from the door to the seats, and from the seats to the window and the kitchen. Keep it at least 750mm wide and keep it clear. Almost every cramped living room I have been asked to fix had furniture placed first and a walking route squeezed in afterwards.

One large piece beats three small ones

A single generous sofa reads as a considered room. Three small chairs read as a room that could not decide. Counter-intuitively, larger furniture in fewer pieces makes a small space feel bigger, because it reduces the number of visual edges your eye has to process.

Lift things off the floor

Legs on the sofa, a wall-mounted media unit, a floating shelf instead of a bookcase. Every square metre of visible floor makes the room read as larger, and that is true even when the actual usable space has not changed at all.

Light in three layers

One ceiling light is what makes a small room feel like a waiting area. Add a floor lamp near the seating and something low and warm — a table lamp or a wall light — and the same room will feel twice as comfortable after dark.