Small terraced house living room

Toots0293

I’m not sure if this is the right place for this question, but I’m a FTB hopefully in the final stages of buying a terraced house. The layout of the house is pretty standard (front living room, middle room and kitchen) so I plan to use the middle room as a dining room for an open plan kitchen / diner. The front room is pretty small and I’m finding it hard to figure out where to put a sofa due to the position of the bay window and fireplace (the room isn’t very wide). 

Has anyone else had dealt with a small living room in a terraced house and what did you do? 

Thank you! 

Doozergirl

Do you have a floorplan? 

Toots0293

Doozergirl said:

Do you have a floorplan? 

Hi! Yes I do! The current owners have a window seat which is really cute, but the width of the room is pretty small in real life.. 

Doozergirl

I see what they've done.   The porch isn't original so it prevents furniture from going on the right hand wall.  By the time you've made it through the door opening, you need the space to get into the dining room.  

Either you lose the porch, which gives you room for a sofa that you can walk around, or you have the sofa 'freestanding' with its back to what is essentially a corridor running from porch to 

If it was mine, I'd lose the porch.  My front door isn't open so much that I'm prepared to sacrifice what looks like one square metre on the floor plan, but actually sacrifices four in reality of where furniture can go.  

When we had a similar house, we had a big loveseat chair between the two doors and a decent two seater on the far wall (looks like someone has chopped it back a bit). TV by the window and plenty of built in storage either side of the fireplace. 

The window seat is a nice addition.  

FreeBear

Although I have a reasonable sized lounge, I put a large two seater sofa in the bay. The TV, and other "stuff" either side of the chimney breast, and one armchair opposite the fire.

If your front door opens into the front room, my arrangement may not work.

GaleSF63

I had a similar layout (but no porch) in my first house, also a small room, and had my sofa parallel to but away from the wall so I could walk straight through to the back room, and it never felt like a problem - it was a 2-seater sofa. 

I know it's not what you are asking, but I would advise you to stick to white or a very pale colour on the back wall. I decided to change mine for an antique gold colour, (other walls were still white) and it was if the room was immediately 3 feet narrower. The difference was incredible.  It was back to white within the week!

Rosa_Damascena

Toots0293 said:

I’m not sure if this is the right place for this question, but I’m a FTB hopefully in the final stages of buying a terraced house. The layout of the house is pretty standard (front living room, middle room and kitchen) so I plan to use the middle room as a dining room for an open plan kitchen / diner. The front room is pretty small and I’m finding it hard to figure out where to put a sofa due to the position of the bay window and fireplace (the room isn’t very wide). 

Has anyone else had dealt with a small living room in a terraced house and what did you do? 

Thank you! 

Minimise your furniture burden and keep saving. Its good that you're getting on the property ladder even if it feels like a stretch atm, investing early means you'll be able to afford to upgrade sooner as you'll benefit from the capital gain.

MalMonroe

Could you just have a couple of matching comfy chairs instead of a sofa? Would they fit any better? Something to think about.

Also, many congratulations on becoming a homeowner!   

Toots0293

Doozergirl said:

I see what they've done.   The porch isn't original so it prevents furniture from going on the right hand wall.  By the time you've made it through the door opening, you need the space to get into the dining room.  

Either you lose the porch, which gives you room for a sofa that you can walk around, or you have the sofa 'freestanding' with its back to what is essentially a corridor running from porch to 

If it was mine, I'd lose the porch.  My front door isn't open so much that I'm prepared to sacrifice what looks like one square metre on the floor plan, but actually sacrifices four in reality of where furniture can go.  

When we had a similar house, we had a big loveseat chair between the two doors and a decent two seater on the far wall (looks like someone has chopped it back a bit). TV by the window and plenty of built in storage either side of the fireplace. 

The window seat is a nice addition.  

You obviously can’t see on the floor plan, but the porch and all across is actually an extension. The current owners have some kind of chair/small sofa in there on the wall directly in front of the porch but I think this looks odd as you seem to step straight into the side of it.. 

Freestanding could be an option, or on the back wall.. the current wallpaper is extremely busy and there is lots of furniture so it’s hard to get a real feel for the space! 

Thank you for your help  

Toots0293

FreeBear said:

Although I have a reasonable sized lounge, I put a large two seater sofa in the bay. The TV, and other "stuff" either side of the chimney breast, and one armchair opposite the fire.

If your front door opens into the front room, my arrangement may not work.

I can picture your arrangement, thank you! Another house on the same street has a small 2 seater in their bay window, but it seems bigger than mine (but as I’ve said above, the decor might be causing it to look smaller than it is). Thank you  

Toots0293

GaleSF63 said:

I had a similar layout (but no porch) in my first house, also a small room, and had my sofa parallel to but away from the wall so I could walk straight through to the back room, and it never felt like a problem - it was a 2-seater sofa. 

I know it's not what you are asking, but I would advise you to stick to white or a very pale colour on the back wall. I decided to change mine for an antique gold colour, (other walls were still white) and it was if the room was immediately 3 feet narrower. The difference was incredible.  It was back to white within the week!

Yes this is what I’m thinking of doing! I would like to walk straight through to the other room, but I guess it depends how wide the space is. I’m going to measure next week so that will be a big help. Thank you

And yes! I’m painting the walls white. The current owners have an extremely bright and extremely busy wallpaper which I don’t think helps with the space at all! I’m hoping with plain walls it will feel transformed