Seating group: keep seats within 8 ft and float them off the wall

Seats 11 ft apart make a room feel cold.

Pushing every piece against the walls is the most common living room mistake. A common design guideline: keep the main seats within about 8 ft (2.4 m) of each other, so people can talk without raising their voices. Float the sofa if the room allows it, and leave 36″ (91 cm) behind it if that's a walkway. Long room? Don't stretch one group across it: make a talk zone, then use the leftover end for a table, desk or reading corner. Keep the coffee table 14–18″ from the sofa.