Independent homes
Living room Furniture Planning for Independent homes
Specify the occupied size, operating clearance and route into the building before choosing furniture by catalogue dimensions.
Explore the ideas
Compare the options
- Set the brief
- Use templates at the size of the actual furniture. Include seated users, open drawers and reclined positions where relevant.
- Compare
- Decide which items need to move independently and which benefit from built-in anchoring.
- Before buying
- Confirm that the largest pieces can turn at the entrance, lift lobby and corridor, or specify assembly in place.
Worked example
A deep sectional looks suitable online but may block the only route to a garden door.
Tape its full footprint, including reclined seats, and verify it can enter through the doorway before ordering.
How to test it
Overlay the furniture in its stored and in-use positions, then check both against the measured plan.
Apply it to this space
- Layout
- Create a conversation group near the entry and a quieter edge toward the garden or family zone.
- Detail
- Use durable upholstery and more than one lighting circuit for gatherings and daily use.
- Trade-off
- A single flexible room saves area but offers less acoustic separation.
- Check views from entry and seating
- Test evening light at each activity zone
The Elixir portfolio
Details worth a closer look
