Living Room Furniture Guide

Make Yourself at Home

Whether you are on your own or living with your family, the living room is usually where you, your family, and your guests, will spend a lot of time. This is perhaps the most important space in your home as some of life's best moments tend to happen here.

As it is the first room your guests usually walk into, it needs to reflect your personality and be a place of comfort. You should design it in such a way that you are happy to entertain your guests there and you can just enjoy being in the space.

This means choosing furniture that can withstand the wear and tear of everyday life and uplift you as soon as you walk in to your home. Durability is important as the furniture in this room will be used every day, and it is not a space that changes too frequently. Are you designing a living room from scratch or looking for a specific purchase to update your room? Regardless of what your motivation to shop for living room furniture may be, our guide has it all.

Let us help you through your journey of planning and choosing the right furniture for your living room.

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Planning Your Living Room

Window Shopping

Now that you're here, find a comfy seat, maybe a snack and a beverage and enjoy some time browsing through some of the pieces you might want to consider adding to your room, just to get some ideas before you lay out your full room strategy.

Remember to come back here afterwards for the next steps!

Bring out that tape measure or a yardstick! Take your time and accurately measure the length and width of your living room.Remember to take note of how much wall-clearance you'll need behind a piece of furniture.

Now, check your measurements with the dimensions of the furniture you're interested in. You can find the exact dimensions of specific pieces of furniture on our website by checking the specifications towards the bottom of the product pages.

Here's a quick reference guide for average furniture sizes:

Furniture Type Average Length Average Width/Depth
Sofas/Couches 6-8 feet 32-40 inches
Loveseat 4-6 feet 28-30 inches
5-seat Sectional 95 x 95 inches/98 x 98 inches 36- 40 inches
Three-seat sofa 84 inches 35 inches
Armchair 35 inches 35 inches
Coffee Table 48 inches 35 inches

It's important to choose furniture keeping the size of your room in mind. A big piece of furniture might not be the most ideal for a small living room.

Measure any hallways, doorways, corners, stairs, or any other areas through which the furniture will be carried through, to prevent potential delivery mishaps. You do not want to buy furniture only to end up discovering that you cannot get it delivered into your house.

It is generally a good idea to leave extra room in front of your sofas to accommodate for an ottoman or a coffee table.

We have a fantastic room planner to bring your imagination to life in just a few minutes! You can easily visualize how you want your living room to look, place furniture, create conversation nooks, place rugs to give it that zing, and before you know it, you'll have a great idea of which furniture to buy.

When playing with the room planner, keep in mind your living room's natural architecture. There may be some in-built design elements that may dictate or guide your furniture choices. For example, a rustic fireplace usually points towards a natural cottage décor than abstract contemporary furniture.

So, now that you have used our professional-level software to get a great idea about the design and layout of your living room, and which pieces of furniture you want to buy, here's what to do next!

Bust out masking tape , and use accurate measurements to plot out your living room. Marking the layout on your floor gives you a perfect visual confirmation of how the furniture will sit in your living room. Fair warning: it might bring on an urge to come shop with us on an immediate basis!

Expert Design Help from NFM

The Design Gallery at Nebraska Furniture Mart offers an eclectic selection of elegant home furnishings.

You'll also find our team of creative interior designers that are ready to help you transform any room in your home into the perfect expression of your style. It's an interactive process where you tell us what look you want, and we help make your (custom) vision a reality!