Tricks for arranging furniture, in any room.

Placing furniture can be a real pain in the back. I know this first hand, I like to experiment on my own home. In my home we use spaces in such vastly different ways depending on the season, giving my house the once over at the beginning of the indoor and outdoor seasons seems natural. Our annual Christmas tree, particularly the one we cut down ourselves, has been known to inspire creative solutions.

The most important thing to consider before you get started is the room’s function and focal point. Once you’ve given your room a job title (reading and entertaining area) and chosen the main attraction (fireplace or view of the garden) you can get started on the layout that will best suit and highlight your space.

Draw your floor plan and make some paper furniture templates out of graph paper. Like playing with paper dolls, you can start rearranging your house without lifting a thing. Once you’re happy with the design, call in the muscle to help. Start by measuring and drawing your room wall by wall. Each square on your graph paper represents 6 square inches, include openings for doors and windows, note which way the door swings if applicable. Make notes on the outside of the diagram (exit to dinning room or all important electrical and cable locations) On another piece of graph paper cut out templates of your furniture, remember to keep the same scale as the room (6 sq”= 1 square on your graph paper.) Label each paper and place an arrow showing the front of the piece. I like using sticky tack on the backs of my furniture templates, otherwise one wrong move and your creative genius is gone.

If you’re just not happy with your present arrangement or you feel you want a change, flipping furniture from one room to another or changing your focal point in the room can give you a whole new look. Try the paper templates; sometimes all you need is a new perspective.

House Beautiful website offers a photo gallery http://www.housebeautiful.com/pictures/ for inspiration. Better Homes and Gardens (www.bhg.com) and HGTV (www.hgtv.com) offer more tips on furniture arranging. Have a personal style question or interior design conundrum? Have a great local style resource? Please send them to me . . . we want to hear from you! Send e-mail questions, comments, insults or complaints to jakdesigns@live.com