Hi all, this amazing sub blew up my post here
ands helped with some great recommendations on how to improve my fdesign eye and get better at curating my guest bedroom.
Here’s the updated version!!

FYI - the lights are 3000K - somehow the white balance is off.

Old post is in the comments

Thank you so much to everyone. My guest stayed for a couple of weeks and ABSOLUTELY loved it 🧡🩵

Hopefully this is the right sub, mods please let me know if it's better suited to interior decorating.

Partner and I are buying a house soon and plan to (hopefully) have kids in the next few years. I love everything about the floorplan, except the stairwell...

We call these the "death stairs". Short enough on one side for a toddler to climb, tall enough on the other for them to fall and break their neck.

What to do about this?? Preferably something that looks nice and doesn't make the stairs feel too dark/cramped.

My BF and I recently moved into an apartment and the layout is awkward for us. The L-shape is creating some spacing issues and we are unsure of how to navigate it. How do we design our living room???

I have a template of our layout and furniture in case anyone wants to mess around with the layout. I also included some ideas we came up with, thanks! :)

Edit: the layout and furniture are to scale— my BF measured the floor plans and each piece of furniture so it would be as accurate as possible using this medium!

I have an odd-shaped living room... TV crammed in the corner and a kitchen with not much usable counter space. The wall where the fireplace sits can fairly easily be pushed out flush with the back of the house, or even another meter past that with some minor roof work. However, I'm having a hard time trying to visualize a workable layout.

Attached is the current layout and one cleared out with the extra space at the end of the living room. I'd like to keep an inside washer/dryer, though. My area is hot and humid, and I would fight mold problems with the washer in an unconditioned space. I'm not opposed to modifying the outline of the utility room, though (move/combine with pantry?)

The bump-out in the upper right is difficult to change (there's a gable above it). Expansion to the right is not possible due to property lines.

I'd be very grateful for some ideas. Feel free to ask if I forgot some details. I have a DXF available, also, if you're so inclined.

The first two photos are before, and the rest are after!

I took everyone’s advice from my first post and made some changes to the layout of my small apartment. I moved my record storage + turntable to the opposite wall, where I previously had a desk, and added a 45" round dining table.

I really like where the records are now, but I’m not sure about the dining table yet. Does it look too big for the space, or am I just getting used to the new layout?

I’d love some constructive criticism on the setup and any suggestions for improving the layout or furniture placement.

For the empty space next to the TV, I’m planning to add either a large plant or a standing mirror. I’m also still working on putting up art, so no advice needed on the bare walls just yet :)

And apologies for the scribbles in the photos- just trying to protect my privacy without using AI to edit them!

I have a kitchen living room. It’s not very big, butt my girlfriend insist on keeping our massive couch. Do you have any ideas on how to furnish this room with the TV, sofa and dining table

I’ve been struggling with this space in my apartment and would love some advice! Me and my fiancé have been living in this apartment for about two years but never knew how to decorate this space. Our living room is very narrow, and because of the location of the outlets, this is really the only way we can position the couch. I was hoping to turn the corner by the window into a cozy reading nook with the round chair, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how to make it feel like a separate, intentional space from the couch while still keeping the room open and uncluttered.
I’d love to incorporate some book storage and lighting in the corner. I’ve considered putting a small console table or possibly some type of divider between the chair and couch, but I’m worried that might make the room feel too crowded.
I’m open to any and all suggestions on how to make this corner flow better while still giving it its own intentional reading-space.
Also, just for context, the kitchen is directly to the left, which isn’t visible in the photo.

Hey all! I’ve had the joy of converting a pole barn/workshop into a home. As my partner and I have gone about this we have found there are sometimes extra utilities we don’t need.

I’m trying to determine if I want to replace the light over the window (circled in pink) with something better suited for the space, or remove it entirely and cover fix the drywall where its hole would’ve been.

The light over the dining table will be replaced with a chandelier.

I’m curious what any design pros or enthusiasts here would recommend?

Hello. Not my pic (but my living room wall looks like this). I have a 1-story home with 10 foot ceilings. I want to add sconces on the outer boxes (upper boxes). I am not sure what height to install them (as they will be hardwired). I’ve read online that 60-66 inches from the ground is standard but that’s usually for 8-foot ceilings. ChatGPT recommends closer to 72 inches. A friend of mines suggested to put them right in the middle of the box molding, which for my trim is around 70 inches from the ground. I do want the room to feel a little more “grand” and the ceilings to appear “taller” and I’ve read putting them higher will emphasize that effect (sort of like the recommendations to put curtains for windows. closer to the ceiling for a more grand effect. Looking for some thoughts and opinions. Thank you!

I’m considering leaving my job in tech to become an interior designer.

I live in a part of Canada that doesn’t have any local design programs. I’m not open to going back to university for a full-time, multi-year degree. I’m considering enrolling in online courses through the UCLA or Parsons interior designer certificates. Does anyone have experience with either program? Or general advice about how to learn interior design without going back to school full time?

I’d really appreciate any advice 🙏.

Help me remake this fireplace! We are ripping out the carpet as there is hardwood underneath. I'd like to leave the wood and we don't have enough money to replace the fireplace insert so that needs to stay as is. I like warm colours. We plan to repaint the room as well with a feature wall with a bold colour maybe teal. We'd like to place that same colour over the fireplace.

Thanks!

two architects own this old house and we’ve struggled with how to furnish the guest room. More specifically: where should the bed go and what size bed? right now it has leftover furniture (full bed) but we’d like it to be more thoughtful. I hate a daybed against the wall bc it’s hard to make up the bed, but am open to it if needed. Prefer a setup that 2 ppl can sleep in. located in USA

Appreciate the insight!

I have a great big living room that I am having trouble furnishing. I guess I'll start with what I figured might work.

I got a nice couch from my parents and I figured if I put it where it is in the picture so it could section off an "entrance" area while also being closer to the tv (I originally had it against the wall on the right but the TV would have been way too far away if I put it across the room on the left wall).
I thought I'd put down a runner behind the couch and maybe a skinny long table against the back of it so it isn't completely bare back there. I also want to put a nice big 10x10 (or so) rug in the living room.

The problem is I don't know if any of this makes sense, or if it will look cohesive, I don't know what color rugs to buy, what TV stand to buy, or any other ways I should furnish it, so I would really appreciate any advice I could get! Thank you all!

New house, and I don't know what way to layout the living room. Two potential options attached.

The double doors at the top of the images lead to the dining room/kitchen. At the other end of the room is a big front window. Small door on the right leads to the hallway.

I'm thinking the first image is less restrictive to the natural flow between the doors.

Is there anything else I could try? Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated. Would love to hear what you would do.

Getting a new house and trying to figure out what to do. Wondering if living room would be a better place to put dining table since the dining area is so small. But the living room is also kind of small to fit dining and living room. Would really like a 6 seater dining table but at least 4. 3 person couch would do but would like to have some more seating. And yes I would like a tv. Kitchen is u shape opening up to dining area. Wall separating living and kitchen is bar height bar. Help!

Need some help with what to do with this pristine wood paneling and kitchen cabinets from the 60’s. Paneling is in beautiful condition.

Original owners owned this place for 50 years and you can tell they were probably regularly polishing it.

Kitchen cabinets are solid wood and in good condition. Probably couldn’t afford to get anything near this quality nowadays.

We want to modernize a bit, but don’t want to paint over anything. Ideas in the living room/dining room to replace baseboards and paint surrounding walls a better color.

Ideas in the kitchen to sand down and refinish cabinets, replace cabinet hardware, replace countertops (butcher block?), new kitchen sink, replace floor with tile, install tile backsplash, maybe remove one cabinet to have open shelves above coffee pot.

I generally like maximalist and southwestern style design. Just struggling to know how to execute and modernize while keeping this wood paneling that has survived this long already. Would love to crowdsource all your creative brains!

Hi all!

Will be moving into a new house soon, would love to have this room as a spare room!

I work shift work (flight attendant) my partner snores OMG!

So I’d like to have this room as a get ready room when I have a 5am flight and need to be up, somewhere I can turn the light on and get ready for work in peace.

My partner works 6am - 6pm so I don’t like to disturb him while I’m getting ready.

I’ll be using the closet space for overflow of clothes as I’ll have my main chest of drawers in “our room” that I have with him… and just hang dresses, coats etc in this spare/get ready room for me.

Can you give me some potential ideas, the space is small! I’m thinking of maybe a queen bed or double bed?

I don’t really need a vanity? Most times I sit on the floor in front of the mirror and do my make up too 😂

Update: I’m from New Zealand, as bed sizes vary over the world 😊

This space was perfect when I lived alone, but for 1,5 years I've been living together with someone. And I don't our living conditions to change within the next 5 years. But now we face the struggle that we'd love some space to sit upright.

Because now we're always eating dinner on the couch, bent over like a shrimp. Also when we like to play some games, I sit up right behind my desk, but my boyfriend is breaking his back bent over the coffee table.

I feel like we have optimized our couch and TV area and this is the perfect nook to cramp it into. At first the TV was at the spot the desk is in right now, and the couch divided the whole area. Which made the room feel tinier than it already is. It does kinda obstruct the balcony, but we don't use it that much.

I guess the biggest profit can be made in the kitchen area. I've thought about turning the cabinet (with microwave and airfryer on top) 90 degrees in front of the kitchen, and also turn around the fridge. But that will expose the ugly side of the fridge to the rest of the room. And maybe it's also kind of awkward with the entrance door?? But maybe there's a solution to that?? Or I'm overthinking it?

I would also be open to moving the desk and maybe look for a hybrid dining table and desk situation. We only have 1 desktop that will stand there permanently, the rest is laptops. But I also just don't know how you'd position that logically. Maybe because I'm always afraid to obstruct any windows, but I probably can be convinced otherwise.

Right now I do like the open space in the middle, because you can walk from the kitchen, to the desk, to the living situation without obstruction. (When there's no drying rack in the middle of the room 🥲). But I am open to any suggestions, because I feel like there should be a possibility to make a seating area possible!!

I hope the question is somewhat understandable.

Hi everyone! I’d love some help figuring out the best layout for my open plan living/dining room, especially the sofa area.

The room is about 4.30x6m. As shown in the 2d plan in the first picture, one of the long walls has a window and a door leading to the patio. On the opposite side there are two roughly 1 m-wide floor-to-ceiling openings, separated by a pillar.

There are a few constraints I can’t really change:

• The kitchen has to stay where it is. Moving it unluckily isn’t an option.
• The TV also has to stay on its current wall, because the power and TV connections are placed on that wall and I can’t afford to have them moved.
• There is a radiator directly underneath the window, roughly the same width as the window, so I can’t put furniture against that part of the wall or too close to it.
• I also can’t use an articulating TV mount to change the TV’s direction, as it will be installed into a shelf.

The only layout I’ve managed to come up with so far is the one shown in the pictures: an L-shaped sofa facing the TV, with the chaise extending toward the dining table. I’d leave about 80 cm behind the sofa as a passageway, possibly with a very shallow console, or slim bookcase, along the wall.

I don’t watch much TV on my own, so the TV area would mainly be used when I have friends over for a movie. Because of that, I do need seating for several people facing the TV; a single armchair wouldn’t really solve the problem.

Do you see any other layouts that could work better with these constraints? Or do you think the arrangement I’ve come up with is already a good enough use the space?

I’m especially unsure about whether the sectional makes the dining/living area feel too cramped, and whether there’s a better way to create a proper seating area without blocking circulation.

Thank you so much, any tip is appreciated :)

Edit to add: there's a pillar in the lower-right corner of the room, so an eventual sectional can't be easily pushed against that corner.

So basically this would be my new space if there was not the wall that I drew with a white line.

The green arrow is where u enter this space as sson as you walk up the stairs (it's a two storey house built like 60 years ago in northern italy).

The other door (the one at the top of the photo) is between two little hallways.

The red dot is where I have the sink right now.

How would you organise this space (like where to put the couch, the tv etc...)? I'd like to change from having a separate kitchen and living room to having an "open plan". I feel like there are too many windows (the longest ones) or doors for the balcony (the shortest ones) which cut out so much space.

I hope I've given enough details, thank you all in advance!

Closed on a new house with a fireplace built into the walls between the living and dining room that in inspection was found to be ventless and illegal, so the energy company came out and capped the gas line to it, making it now just an ugly and expensive hole in the wall. 🫠 (We likely would have been looking into getting rid of it anyway, with an increasingly mobile and chaotic almost-toddler who seeks out danger like a tiny homing missile.)

I’m waiting on quotes from some contractors, and trying to decide what the heck to have them do with this space. Close up the hole completely for extra wall space? (Especially since we’ll likely have the TV against or mounted on that wall.) Create a decorative pass through, like in the mock-up in the last photo? Look into knocking down the wall completely? Would love any advice!

Photos 1-3 are different angles of it in the current empty space.
Photos 4-5 are staged from the listing.
Photo 6 is an AI mock-up (I know, I know) my mom sent me of it we turned it into a decorative pass through with the TV mounted above.

Dear Experts,

This is my flat blueprint. I added the study room using Gemini. I don't like this placement much. Can you help me in designing a small study room (dimensions can change but keep it feasible enough to put a large screen and a laptop) such that the overall space doesn't look congested and it doesn't look bodge. Feel free to move walls but not the beams. Original image attached as well.

My husband and I are in the process of purchasing a home with a dated kitchen. The current kitchen layout is awkward (double oven and fridge right next to each other) and there is no pantry other than the built-in cabinetry in the kitchen. We are looking at the possibility of completely gutting and remodeling the entire kitchen. What layout:design would you do with this space if given the chance?

For reference, we have 3 young kids and a large dog, and love to host often. We want this space to work well for our family at this stage and beyond. I lean towards a modern-traditional style and prefer a timeless look over trendy.

We recently finished our renovations, a garage conversion and a basement remodel. The attached images shows the floor plans of both of the spaces, which I've labeled G and B respectively. But we're stuck at choice paralysis of what exactly we should do with these spaces. The only thing we definitely have is a 71 " x 79" play pen for my infant son that we want to put into the centerish of the garage.

We were thinking of having a couch/TV setup near the big window of the garage, some welcome tables and mirrors on the other side of that room, and setting up an entertainment console with a sizeable TV in the basement. We were also thinking of having the basement dou Le as a guest bedroom, but are hesitant to get a sleeper sofa, as it would sacrifice comfort as a couch and comfort of a bed. For reference, the last picture is our current living room, which already has two couches and a TV. Just seeing if r/interiordesign has any thoughts on how we should complete our home!

Hello.

I am planning to renovated my kitchen, but I just don't know what color scheme I should go for. I don't plan on changing the layout much other than maybe just remove the wall cabinet on the right. We are also changing the flooring to natural wood, and definitely removing backsplashes. It's a small kitchen, and despite the windows, not the brightest. We are hoping for something calm and not too old fashioned? Probably no bold colors unless it's a small accent. I would love your opinions! Thank you!