How To Arrange a Living Room With a Sectional
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Today I am showing you how to arrange a living room with a sectional and why it’s important to consider scale of not only the room but your furniture as well. With the right approach, you can transform your living room into a beautiful and comfy space.
Due to the abundance of windows in our large living room, placing furniture becomes a slight challenge. With the fireplace acting as the focal point, our goal was to arrange the sectional sofa in a way that faces the fireplace while allowing for TV viewing as well.
Living Room Ideas With Sectional and Fireplace
When designing our living room, we had three different layout options to consider in order to seamlessly integrate the fireplace and TV.
Layout Option 1: Sectional Against The Wall
Position the sectional against the far wall in front of a window. I had reservations about this choice because, not only would it appear awkward once accent chairs were included, but it would disrupt the overall balance of the room and make viewing the TV from the accent chairs quite challenging.
Layout Option 2: Floating U-Shaped Sectional
Position a U-shaped sectional in the center of the room facing the fireplace and tv. This would allow the room to feel balanced but would close off traffic flow from the kitchen. This option also posed a challenge for accent chair placement as well.
Layout Option 3: Floating L-Shaped Sectional
Placing an L-shaped sectional in the center of the room, facing both the fireplace and TV, quickly became our top choice. This configuration allowed a smooth traffic flow from the kitchen without obstructing the overall space. For additional seating, we added an accent chair on the right side of the fireplace, which complemented the sectional.
We did consider a chaise sectional but decided that would also make the living room feel closed off.
Tip for smaller living rooms: Arranging a living room with a sectional can be done in numerous ways depending on the size of the room. For a small living room, an L-shaped sofa can be placed against the wall to maximize open space, giving the illusion of a larger room. The key is to make certain that the sectional does not overwhelm the room.
Maximize Natural Light
A sectional is a significant component of your room’s layout and more often than not, the focal point of the room.
Whether you have a smaller living room or large, positioning your sectional correctly is key to maintaining a cohesive look.
By placing your sectional so it doesn’t block the windows, you can utilize the natural light, making your room feel larger and airier. You will notice our sectional is about 2 feet off the large windows allowing a walkway behind the sectional.
You can see the living room below before we added a new sectional (the one in the picture was moved to our finished basement) and a TV on the mantel.
How To Position a Sectional Couch In A Living Room
By creating a living room layout with the sectional roughly 7′ from the fireplace, we had enough room to place a sofa table behind the sectional.
Coffee Table
Adding the right accent furniture can make a huge difference in your living space. A stylish coffee table or a pair of side tables not only complements your sectional, but also provides functional utility.
Depending on your living room design, there are different ways to incorporate a coffee table. Instead of a traditional wood coffee table, we opted for an oversized leather ottoman that helped ground the oversized sectional.
Your coffee table size should be relevant to your sectional size. For example, a small coffee table would have looked lost paired with our sectional.
Our pieces of furniture are from Raymour and Flannigan, a local furniture store. I did purchase their affordable protection plan so if by chance I drop red wine on it (omg I would die!), they will come out and clean it or replace it. If you are going to invest in light colored furniture, consider the stain protection plan!
The protection plan on certain key furniture pieces is totally worth it in my opinion.
Accent Chair
Increasing the seating area by adding accent chairs around the fireplace not only provided ample seating, but was a great way to fill this empty spot while balancing the room.
Complimenting lamps and side tables are also great additions to a living room.
We do plan to add a side table at the end of the sectional where the basket is below but haven’t found one yet that says, “buy me!” ha.
Instead of a traditional sofa table, I opted for a server wine holder. I love the fact that it has closed storage and a wine holder.
Light colors and strategically placed throw pillows can make the sofa appear more inviting.
Normally, a server piece this size would be too big as a sofa table but the oversized sectional coordinates perfectly.
Area Rug
Be sure to also add a large area rug to help balance the large sectional. Our rug is an 8×12 but honestly, a 9×12 would probably make more sense.
The rug should ideally fit under the sectional at minimum half way.
Bookcase
To balance out the left part of the room, I added a warm toned 74″ high bookcase.
I felt like the room had a lot of black so I introduced a soft brown tones through the bookcase, table lamp, sisal basket and home decor accents.
My Sectional Favorites
If you don’t have a local Raymour and Flannigan Store near you, check out some of my favorite sectionals below for ideas:
- Convertible gray modular sectional from Amazon and is cost effective purchase
- Pearce 3 Piece Sectional from Pottery Barn and is mid-range purchase
- Beale Six Piece Sectional from Arhaus and is a splurge purchase
Open Concept Living Rooms: Room Divider
Arranging your sectionals thoughtfully can create a comfortable and inviting seating space and also act as a room divider.
For example, our living room is open to our kitchen and eating area so the back of the sectional acts as a divider between the two rooms.
A sofa table behind the sofa works best to balance a sectional that is floating in an open floor plan.
Just remember, for larger living rooms, sectional couches can be placed in the center, acting as the focal point of the room. If you have a large window, position the sectional in a way that takes advantage of the natural light to create a warm and welcoming family room. Remember, the best way to arrange your living room is the one that reflects your personal style and meets your family’s needs!
Meet Jessica
What started as a hobby, Jessica’s blog now has millions of people visit yearly and while many of the projects and posts look and sound perfect, life hasn’t always been easy. Read Jessica’s story and how overcoming death, divorce and dementia was one of her biggest life lessons to date.
Gorgeous, classy, and very inviting!
Thanks Lin! We love it 🙂
book case without any books?
I have a whole wall of built-in shelves and only four books on them. Who says shelves are just for books?
Everything looks awesome!
Thank you 🙂
The room is gorgeous! We’ve actually been considering the same sectional, so glad to see a good review of it. Is it the 3 piece or 4 piece? What size is the leather ottoman? Thanks, and again beautiful design!
Hi thank you! It’s a 3 piece.
Thank you 🙂
I’m so excited to see your blog on this sectional! We just purchased and hoping to get before Xmas. Our current sectional is from Arhaus and lasted 10 yrs. With 4 kids I didn’t want to spend the money again. Are you still happy with quality? I love how you decorated!
Ye we love it!
I’m wondering where you got the rug on the floor in this room !! I really need that for my family room !!!
Please let me know where you found that and if you know if it is still available!
Thank you !
Cecelia Clark
I got it from Home Sense or Home Goods? One of the two stores 🙂 You could probably get a similar look with this rug https://shopstyle.it/l/btHeG
What are the dimensions of the room? We have a similar layout but I’m hesitant to float our sectional because I’m afraid it will make the room look small.