Living Room Floor Plan
A living room floor plan is mostly about seating: who sits where, what they look at, and how everyone else gets past them. This page gives typical living room sizes, four seating layouts, the distances that make them comfortable and the mistakes that make a room feel cramped. The example is a 4 × 5 m (13 × 16 ft) room with a sofa, armchair, coffee table, rug, TV stand and bookshelf that you can open and rearrange.
A furnished living room
Drawn to scale. The links open this room with the same furniture, ready for you to add doors and windows and resize anything.
Typical living room sizes
| Metric (typical) | Imperial (typical) | Fits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compact | 3.0 × 3.6 m | 10 × 12 ft | Sofa, one chair, TV stand |
| Medium | 3.6 × 4.5 m to 4.0 × 5.0 m | 12 × 15 ft to 13 × 16 ft | Sofa, two chairs, coffee table, shelving |
| Large | 4.5 × 6.0 m | 15 × 20 ft | Two seating groups, or seating plus a reading or play corner |
What sets the size of a living room
Count the seats first. A three-seat sofa is around 2.1 m (7 ft) long and close to 1 m (3 ft) deep; add a chair or two, a coffee table and the walkway around them and you have the core of the room. The distance between the seats and what they face, a TV, a fireplace or a window, sets the other dimension.
In open-plan homes the living area has no walls of its own, so its size is the zone the furniture and its walkways occupy. Plan that zone first and let the kitchen and dining areas take the rest.
Seating layouts
Facing the TV
Sofa on one wall, TV opposite, chairs at the sides. The example plan uses this arrangement.
Conversation group
Sofa and chairs face each other across a coffee table, with the TV or fireplace to one side.
L-shaped corner
Two seating pieces at right angles in a corner keep the rest of the room open for a walkway.
Floating sofa
In an open-plan space, the back of the sofa marks the edge of the living area; leave a walkway behind it.
Doors, windows and the focal point
Mark every door first: each one creates a route across the room, and those routes decide which walls are left for the sofa. Living rooms often have two or three doors, to the hall, the kitchen and the garden, so join them with one walkway along an edge rather than several across the middle.
Pick one focal point, a TV, a fireplace or a view, and face the main seats towards it. A TV opposite a large window shows reflections in daytime; a TV beside the window, or seating with its back to it, avoids that.
Spacing to plan for
About 35–45 cm (14–18 in) between the sofa and the coffee table is a commonly used distance: close enough to reach a cup, wide enough for legs. Main walkways through a living room are usually planned at 75–90 cm (30–36 in), and a route behind a floating sofa needs the same.
For conversation, seats that face each other work well within roughly 2.5–3 m (8–10 ft). For TV viewing, a frequently quoted rule of thumb puts the seats about 1.5–2 times the screen diagonal away. In the example the coffee table is 45 cm (18 in) from the sofa and the sofa is about 3.5 m (11′ 6″) from the TV stand.
Living room furniture in the library
Default library sizes. Resize a piece to the model you own or want to buy.
Sofa
210 × 90 cm (6′ 11″ × 2′ 11″). A three-seater; shorten it for a loveseat or lengthen it for a corner run.
Armchair
85 × 85 cm (2′ 9″ × 2′ 9″). Angle it towards the sofa with the rotation field in the properties panel.
Coffee table
110 × 60 cm (3′ 7″ × 2′). Keep it roughly two-thirds of the sofa’s length.
TV stand
160 × 45 cm (5′ 3″ × 1′ 6″). Center it on the main seat rather than on the wall.
Bookshelf
90 × 35 cm (2′ 11″ × 1′ 2″). Tall, so check it against windows in the 3D view.
Rug
200 × 140 cm (6′ 7″ × 4′ 7″). Large enough for at least the front legs of every seat to stand on it.
Storage and the rest of the home
You often walk through the living room to reach other rooms, so plan its links to the hall, kitchen and dining area as carefully as its size. Next to the kitchen, a dining table between the two makes a natural buffer; next to the bedrooms, a hallway or a storage wall keeps the noise down.
Storage here is usually low units under the TV and shelving on a wall without windows. Plan their depth, 35–45 cm (14–18 in) for shelves, into the room size rather than squeezing them in afterwards.
Common living room mistakes
All the furniture against the walls
In a large room it leaves seats too far apart to talk. Pull the group in around a rug and keep the walkway outside it.
A route through the seating
If the way to the kitchen or garden runs between the sofa and the TV, people walk through every conversation.
A sofa that is too big
Measure the doorway and the wall before you buy; draw the sofa at its real size and check the walkway behind or beside it.
Ignoring radiators and sockets
A sofa in front of a radiator or a TV far from a socket is a common afterthought. Note them on the plan with text labels.
Plan your living room in the editor
Start from the example
Open the furnished room, or draw your own with R and type the wall lengths.
Place doors and windows first
They decide where the walkway runs and which wall can take the sofa or TV.
Try two arrangements
Duplicate the project from the start screen and rearrange the copy, then compare the two.
Sit in it
Use walk mode in 3D to look at the room from the sofa and from the door.
Living room templates, guides and tools
- Open-plan apartment templateLiving area and kitchen in one space, with a bedroom and bathroom.
- Furnished 2-bedroom sampleA finished apartment with a furnished living room and balcony.
- Open floor plan ideasZoning a living area that shares a room with the kitchen and dining table.
- Furniture spacing and layout tipsSeating distances and walkways in more depth, room by room.
- Furniture layout plannerCheck that chosen pieces fit with a walkway gap before you draw.
Frequently asked questions
How big should a living room be?
Many living rooms are between 3.6 × 4.5 m (12 × 15 ft) and 4.5 × 6 m (15 × 20 ft). Around 3 × 3.6 m (10 × 12 ft) still fits a sofa, a chair and a TV.
How far should the sofa be from the TV?
It depends on the screen size and your eyes; a rule of thumb often quoted is 1.5–2 times the screen diagonal. Draw both at their real sizes and look from the sofa in walk mode to judge it.
How much space should be between a sofa and a coffee table?
About 35–45 cm (14–18 in) is common: close enough to reach, with room for legs.
Where should the sofa go in a living room with several doors?
On the wall no route has to cross, usually facing the focal point. Draw the doors first, link them with one walkway, and place the sofa outside it.
Can I plan an open-plan living and kitchen space?
Yes. Draw one room for the whole space, or separate the zones with walls and wide openings. The open-plan apartment template is a ready example.