Do you wish you could seat just a few more people in your tiny living room? We have some good news: it’s possible! With a little creative thinking and some clever seating options, you can have all the extra seating for a living room you need without sacrificing a functional flow for your small space.
Check out our comprehensive guide to learn what kind of furniture works best in a small space, how to create seating in small living rooms, and space-saving hacks to minimize crowding.
1. Add an Ottoman or Several
Ottomans can be true lifesavers when you must maximize seating in a small living room. As one of your home’s most versatile furniture pieces, an ottoman can serve double duty, no matter where you put it. Here are a few small seating area ideas for multipurpose ottomans:
Use it as a coffee table alternative.
You want a place to set your drink, but you can’t justify taking up valuable seating space with a traditional coffee table. Place a stylish tray on top of a cushy ottoman to create a hard surface perfect for a drink or candle. Move your tray out of the way when you need extra seating.
Use it as a side table.
End tables take up space, and they’re not exactly meant to be seats, but a flat-topped stool can easily be an end table or a place to sit for a cozy conversation.
Try an ottoman for extra floor seating.
If you’re tight on space, consider fabric ottomans or floor poufs that can be stored under your coffee table or TV console table and pulled out whenever you need another place to sit.
Add some extra storage for clutter.
If you have a basket of blankets in a corner or a small bookshelf taking up valuable space, bring in a storage ottoman instead. Keep your belongings organized and out of sight, and add another spot for a friend to sit—all with one small piece of furniture.
2. Think About Scale: Small Chairs for a Small Living Room
When choosing furniture for a small space, one thing can make or break the open feel of your room: scale. Properly sized furniture is vital to maximizing small area seating without making it feel crowded.
An oversized couch is excellent for one person to sprawl out and enjoy, but you’ll likely find yourself bumping into it regularly or resenting how much space it takes up. Choose a compact couch or loveseat with slim or no arms so you get maximum seating space from your main living room furniture. The same applies to accent furniture. Choose low-profile accent chairs that don’t command more space than they have to.
3. Try a Little Couch Trickery
The right couch is genuinely an anchor piece in any living room—big or small. And sometimes, the best way to maximize seating in a small living room is with some couch trickery. No one likes to sit on the awkward crack between couch cushions, right? When you see three cushions, you think, “Only three people can sit there.”
Here’s a hack: get rid of the cracks. Choose a couch with one continuous seat cushion, so no one has to fall between the cushions. This can also make your couch appear bigger and “trick” your guests into cramming more people on it. Win-win!
4. Use Shape to Your Advantage
When it comes to creating an optimal chair arrangement in living room spaces, use curved furniture shapes. Rounded furniture is easy to tuck into a corner, whereas straight edges on accent chairs or tables can lead to wasted space and limited arrangement options. Better yet, find a chair tailor-made for tight corners for comfortable, compact seating.
5. Experiment With Different Layouts
Just because you’ve always had the couch in one place, it doesn’t have to stay there! You may find that rearranging your living room furniture gives you a new perspective and fresh ideas on maximizing the space.
Moving your existing furniture pieces by a few inches can create space for a new stool or small bench—giving you a side table for everyday use and another seat when needed. You may need to embrace a “trial-and-error” mindset when it comes to finding your perfect couch, table, and chair arrangement in the living room, but here are a few general guidelines to get you started:
- Keep larger pieces and those with straight edges pushed up against the walls so they don’t get in the way.
- Don’t be afraid to “float” it in the middle of the room for smaller or round pieces! This can help define a separate seating area; round shapes are easier to walk around than bulky straight furniture.
- Turn your furniture toward the center of the room to encourage conversation. This intentional tweak can make your living room feel cozy and inviting rather than cramped and claustrophobic.
6. Choose Quality Over Quantity
Less truly can be more when maximizing seating in a small living room. Don’t believe us? Think about it this way: a few beautiful, high-quality seating pieces will make much more of an impact than several cheap, poorly made benches or chairs strewn throughout the room.
Thoughtful pieces are the cornerstone of living room small space design.
One large piece of durable living room furniture can provide more seating and be more comfortable than several small, flimsy pieces. Small seating options can quickly crowd the room and undermine an otherwise perfect chair arrangement.
Instead of turning to big-box stores for too-small temporary solutions that won’t hold up and may end up in a landfill, purchase a few high-quality living room furniture pieces that you and your guests will enjoy sitting on for years to come.
7. Look at the Bigger Picture of Your Home
All your living room seating doesn’t have to live there all the time. If you can’t squeeze one more inch out of your tiny living room, turn to nearby spaces in your home.
Take advantage of your bedroom space.
Is your living room close to your bedroom? Consider adding a small accent chair in the bedroom corner — a lightweight one that can easily be moved to the living room when you have friends over. Adding furniture to other spaces, like your bedroom, can be especially helpful if your living room has an unusual layout.
Look into very small living and dining room ideas.
Do you have a dining room close by? Upgrade your dining room table with plush linen dining chairs, and suddenly, you have even more seating options for your small living room within a few steps. When the guests go home, you return your extra seats to their respective positions, and your perfect living room flow is restored in minutes.
If people tend to gravitate towards sitting in your dining room instead of the living room, embrace it! Sometimes, the dining room table is just as lovely for entertaining and allows your guests to see and talk to each other. Take the lead by inviting your guests to join you in the dining room.
8. Choose a Different Space to Be Your Living Room
Just because a blueprint might say “dining room,” it doesn’t mean you can’t make that space into your dream living room! Break out of your small living room entirely by thinking outside your home’s original layout.
Swap out your dining room table for a small one that fits in the kitchen, then use the larger dining room space as your living room. Office spaces or bonus rooms can make excellent living rooms, too, but don’t be afraid to use a large bedroom or other non-traditional space as your living room. It’s YOUR home, and you should use it to serve YOUR lifestyle! And hey, you can always use your previous formal living room for a better purpose.
It’s Your Turn to Maximize Seating in a Small Living Room
Ready for maximum seating on a minimal budget? Explore accent chairs, stools, ottomans, and more at CORT Furniture Outlet! You’ll discover an ever-changing inventory of living room seating options that are perfect for small spaces. Shop online or visit us in-store and take home your one-of-a-kind purchase today!
