5 Awkward Living Room Layout Ideas That Make the Most of Your Space, According to Designers

Interior designer and content creator Anne Sage loves a good puzzle — at least as far as living room layout ideas are concerned. But while she enjoys figuring out how to make a tricky layout work, she knows that not everyone shares her excitement. 

“I feel a ton of empathy when I see tricky living rooms, because I know they can pose a frustrating challenge,” Sage sages. “Whenever I do a design consultation where the client has been struggling with layout, I tell them ‘I can totally understand why you’re having a tough time with this space — it’s a real head-scratcher!’” 

While a square box of a living room is an obstacle in its own right, the difficulty levels only increase when the game involves more complex shapes and barriers. Perhaps you have a living room set on an angle that’s directly beside a kitchen. Maybe you’re dealing with a living room that doubles as an office and guest suite. If you’re interested in aesthetics, it’s not enough to plop a sofa down in front of a television or roll out an area rug. You might even need a little professional help.

“It’s kind of exciting to see a really awkward layout because this is where we thrive: fitting together the puzzle pieces of constraints and ideals and working within some pretty intense existing situations,” says Rachel Robinson, architect and founding partner of Dunham Robinson. “Eventually, we will come up with a truly custom space.”

Even if you can’t hire a professional to help you complete your own room puzzle, you can still get their advice on how to tackle it. Below, Sage and Robinson share their tips for five awkward living room layouts, so that you can find the right spot for every last piece. 

Before you go through the process of pushing and pulling furniture into place, come up with a plan of attack. Robinson says that the first step is to determine how you want to use the room. “Get really realistic and granular about your lifestyle and what you really want,” Robinson says. “Sometimes people think the living room has to be formal or a very social room, but a lot of us just want to decompress at the end of the day.” Next, you’ll create the best layout to serve that purpose. 

Sage recommends paying attention to scale, so things will fit comfortably. The best way to test scale and layout, Sage notes, is to mock it up with painter’s tape. “Tape the plan you have in mind on the floor and then walk around it to ensure you have enough room, including the flow of traffic,” she says. “Depth in particular can be a tricky measurement to gauge mentally — there’s no substitute for experiencing it physically.”

You might have to do a few rounds of trial and error before you land on a test layout that feels right, and that’s totally fine. “Play with moving things around and living with different combinations,” Sage adds. If your space is especially awkward, don’t be afraid to get even more creative. “Multiple seating groups in one room can be a great way to resolve awkward shapes and sizes while still getting tremendous functionality,” Robinson says. 

Read on for Sage and Robinson’s advice for five awkward living room setups. 

In a living room that’s long and narrow, Robinson’s advice is short and sweet: Divide it up. “Instead of one long living room, make two vibrant and semi-separate spaces,” she says. “Make one end a cozy TV spot or game table, and the other end a conversational arrangement with sofas facing each other for entertaining.” 

Sage adds that you can have two area rugs anchor each nook, which is what she did in her own living room. Her setup features back-to-back sofas, which could save you space in a living room that’s maybe long and narrow but overall on the smaller side.

To get started, Sage would source a rug that would define the boundaries of this living room within the space. This is a great opportunity to use painter’s tape to get the proportions right. “In this case, embrace floating furniture. Center the seating arrangement over the rug and think of the backs of the sofa and chairs as your ‘walls.’” She adds, “I would probably put the TV over the fireplace, even though that’s something I generally avoid.”

In this scenario, Sage would also think of the back of a sofa as a makeshift wall, dividing the living area off from the rest of the open layout. “The TV can be on the far wall, facing the sofa, or ideally it can be on the wall perpendicular to the sofa so that it doesn’t feel like the focal point when viewed from the kitchen and dining areas,” she says. 

Robinson sees having the dining area right next to the living space as a good thing. “Consider using lightweight, easily movable [dining] chairs that can be relocated to the living area if you have a large group,” she adds. 

In a living area that has a corner fireplace, Robinson recommends low-slung furniture — that way, everyone has a potential view of the blaze. Sage echoes the sentiment of not blocking the view, but doesn’t think the fireplace should be the main event, either. 

“The biggest mistake in this case is if someone were to make the fireplace the focal point of the seating arrangement,” Sage says. “It never works and just creates an off-kilter effect. I prefer to arrange the living room square to the flat walls, with the corner fireplace as an accent, outside of the seating area.”

While it’s tough to come up with a definitive response without knowing just how awkward this living room’s shape could be, Robinson has this advice. “Set up the largest and most important zone first — whatever that might be for you — then think about unconventional uses for the remaining sliver of the room,” she says. “Could it be the perfect place for a pet bed, your piano, or even just a really nice-looking storage element that takes some pressure off of another overcrowded room?” When you have that answer in mind, put that puzzle piece in.