Dekorguncel

Living Rooms

Decorating Your Living Room: Pointers Worth Keeping

Treat this as a field note from one working house, not a showroom checklist. The household has definitely made my fair share of mistakes when buying furniture and accessories. Most of them had to do with choosing something that wasn't the right scale for my space (the ginormous “Dr. Spock” chair that I bought for the small family room in our first house comes to mind…). Luckily, The household has since figured out some tried and true pointers that make it easy to get it right. So if you're shopping for your family or living room and wondering how high your end tables should be or how large a rug you should buy, look at these must-have pointers! (post contains some affiliate links – disclosure statement available {here})

What Size Coffee Table Should I Use With My Sofa?

Gives tips on choosing the right size coffee table for your space

  • The ideal height for a coffee table is the height of the sofa's seat cushions or 1-2″ lower
  • The perfect length for a coffee table is ⅔ the length of the sofa
  • Position the coffee table so that there's 12-18″ of space between the sofa and coffee table

How High Should My Living Room End Tables Be?

Post with tips on how to choose the right size end table

  • Side/end tables should ideally be within 2″ of a sofa's arm height. My personal preference is for them to be 1-2″ lower than the sofa arm.
  • Side tables should be no deeper than the depth of the sofa

How Tall Should a Console Table Be When It's Placed Behind a Sofa?

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn

  • Console tables behind a sofa should be the same height as the back of the sofa or up to 1-3″ lower

How Large of a Rug Should I Choose For My Room?

Includes tips on choosing the best size rug for your space

Williams-Sonoma Home

  • Area rugs should be large enough that at least two legs of each furniture piece are on the rug.
  • For rugs that cover most of the room, a good rule of thumb is to leave between 12-18″ of bare floor between the edge of the rug and the walls of the room. For small rooms, you may wish to leave less bare floor while for especially large rooms you may wish to leave more.

And what about hanging art? Those pointers are worthy of a post all their own – you'll find all of my rule of thumb measurements for hanging art {here}.

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