Furniture layout for an awkward open floor plan

12 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

The living/dining area of our apartment has a very open floor plan. From the very small entryway area, you can see all the way through the space to the bedroom entrance. An awkward pillar juts out into the space and can't be removed. Not visible in the floorplan is a fairly low beam (the bottom of which is just slightly higher than the height of an average door) which originates from the pillar and cuts across the space to the opposite wall. In this space we need to zone out a dining area and a sitting/TV area. Our primary dilemma is where to position the TV as that will inform further decisions on the furniture layout. Existing furniture we would like to keep and work with if possible are a 3-seater sofa (about 90" length), and a 4-foot round dining table with 4 chairs. We are open to the use of built-ins if the design calls for it. As we own the place, architectural modifications are also possible if really needed. The floorplan measurements are given in millimeters. It is accurate except that we combined the Main Bedroom and Bedroom 2 to form one large bedroom, and sealed off the previous Main Bedroom door. The result is that it is now a single long wall from the kitchen entrance to the Bedroom 2 entrance. Would love to hear some suggestions from the Houzz community. Thanks!

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Comments (5)

PRO
Dytecture
12 years ago
last modified: 12 years ago
Hi kataomoi, the plan looks spacious until you try put furniture inside !

I would maintain a circulation space between the bedrooms and kitchen, and also from the foyer to the kitchen on the right hand side. It's a bit tight but a TV unit can be placed outside Bedroom 3, with the 90" sofa facing it. You can have a console table on the right of the entry.
PRO
Mona Ives
12 years ago
I agree with the above. this IS tight. A suggestion would be to use a buffet instead of console if you can find a narrow one - it will give you more storage to use in the dining area.
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plague
12 years ago
Kataomoi - what is the houshold shelter for
kataomoi
Original Author
12 years ago
David - Thanks! Appreciate that you even drew out the plan. :) You are absolutely right, it's been difficult finding an optimum layout. In fact, our current layout is more or less the same as your plan. Would you have chosen different furniture - a smaller sofa or a different dining table perhaps? (Also, I'm curious: is there a good reason why the architect had the pillar like that?)

Mona - Do you mean having a buffet at the entry? I currently do have a sideboard, though it wouldn't fit at the entry - it's about 67" wide by 18" deep. It's currently placed in the middle of the long wall. There's actually still sufficient clearance between it and the 3-seater sofa in David's plan.

plague - The household shelter is a local (Singapore) building requirement. Its walls are reinforced and is meant to be a shelter in times of emergency. It can't be removed, and any renovations carried out cannot affect its integrity (there is a list of permitted and prohibited works). Normally it is just used as a pantry or storeroom.
kataomoi
Original Author
12 years ago
We've also considered some alternative layouts. Would love to hear views on their feasibility:

With reference to David's drawing plan above -
- swapping the 3-seater and the TV positions (TV "floats")
- 3-seater in front of the window, TV across it (TV "floats")
- TV on the pillar, facing the long wall
- TV on an angle in one of the corners (eitherthe wall corner or the corner formed by the pillar and the wall)
- swapping the living and dining areas

Furniture layout for an awkward open floor plan

Comments (5)

Dytecture

Mona Ives

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plague

kataomoi
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kataomoi
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Furniture layout for an awkward open floor plan

Comments (5)

Dytecture

Mona Ives

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plague

kataomoiOriginal Author

kataomoiOriginal Author

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EXPLORE HOUZZ

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kataomoi
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