Our living room got a massive facelift back in 2018 when I transformed the space for the One Room Challenge. I was so excited to have new paint on the walls. And a bay window we installed. Plus we painted our yellow brick fireplace, white. Well, it has been a few years and some things have totally changed in the space. Not only did you change up all the seating in the living room, but we used the rectangular shape to create a larger living space for us to use. I am breaking down how we created our living room layout so you can do the same!

Floor Planning

The original floor plan of the living room had 1 sofa and two chairs. Which worked great for a few years. But as the kids got older, we needed more seating. So we got another couch from some friends who were moving. We placed on couch in the bay window, and the other couch stayed near the entryway. This seating arrangement worked fine. Until we ended up turning our living room into the main place we watch movies. Then it wasn’t working.

To figure out what would work, I started moving furniture around. I know some people can draw things out, but I need to see them visually. So I pushed our two couches together to see what the flow of the room would look like. Once I saw the big sectional would work, I found find end tables, coffee tables and other seating options that would work around the sectional.

When you are planning out your layout for your living room, start with the big pieces of furniture. Figure out where they should go. Then find things to go around the furniture. I wasn’t worried about the color scheme or anything until I knew we could have a large sectional in the space. Then I got to play around with colors.

Furniture

So we decided to invest in an L-shaped sectional couch. The one we found is from Crate and Barrel. It is the Lounge Petite 3-piece sectional in view grey. I love the shape of the sectional for our rectangular living room layout. The back side of the sectional acts as a room divide between our entryway and the living space. 

I love when you can use furniture to create sections within your space.

The benefit of updating an old design is that you can sometimes rework items you already had in the room to make it feel updated. For this space, we ended up swapping out the curtains with the curtains in our bedroom. 

We had an ikat pattern print that is just lovely. But with the more bright colors I decided to go with, we needed a more neutral curtain. So we were able to swap out the curtains to make both spaces feel new and fresh.

I was also able to keep the rug we had purchased because it was the perfect color and size for the room. 

We ended up getting a new coffee table and poufs to act as seating in front of the fireplace. 

Our patterned chairs made their way back to the bay window. See, when I first designed the room, they were supposed to go there. But when we needed more seating, they ended up in front of the fireplace. And it wasn’t the best when we wanted to have the fireplace on. So with the chairs back in the bay window, we are able to use our fireplace more!

Adding Pops Of Color

One of my favorite things to do is add in pops of color. And I do that with pillow covers. Since I have pillows, I can easily buy and store pillow covers to change out the look of a room simply by swapping out the covers! Since our walls are a deep purple color, I am treating it as a neutral. So I wanted something bold for the space. Which is why we did pinks, yellows, and greens. 

I found these green leafy pillows from Society6. Then I added some of my pink pillows I purchased from Amazon. I had the yellow pillows, which are similar to these. 

Adding the color to the couch really makes the room pop!

I store all my extra pillow covers in an air-tight bin in our basement. This makes it easy to change things up whenever I feel like redecorating.

As for the rest of the space, I have added pops of color by using colorful vases to hold our plants, along with using books to add as decor. 

All the paint colors I used for the room are included here.

Rectangular Living Room Layout

Since we last updated the living room, a few things have changed. We added the tv with the console that was behind the couch. Then we added an entryway table in its place. We got a new sectional along with a coffee table. The curtains were swapped out but all the end tables remain the same.

As for the fireplace, we kept it white with the dark grey mantel. I wanted to keep the large mirror on the mantel but we swap out the wreaths seasonally. And I also change up the mantel decor every few months. I find it just keeps things interesting to look at.

So if you are planning to decorate your living room and it is a similar shape, I recommend playing around with the large pieces of furniture first. Then adding your own style once you get that layout. 

Shop The Rectangular Living Room Layout

These are the products we have used in our living room or are similar to what we currently have since I am a big believer on using what you have to decorate. I always start with shopping my home first. You can read more on how I do that here. Once I have shopped my home, I find it helpful to fill in things that I may need to make the space feel more cohesive.