6 Living Room Layout Mistakes That Will Instantly Make Your Space Feel Smaller

The way you arrange your living room is just as important as the furniture you choose. A sofa in the wrong spot or too many chairs crammed around a coffee table can change the entire energy of the space; even a generously-sized room can feel cramped and chaotic if the layout is off.

There are a handful of classic missteps that can make this happen, no matter the square footage. The good news? They're easy to fix—if you know how.

An Oversized Sofa in the Middle

Yes, a big, cushy sofa is the dream, but it only works if you have the space for it.

An oversized piece doesn’t just chop the room in half; it can also block natural focal points, like a fireplace or windows. “Putting it right in the center just exacerbates the problem,” says Rossella Marzocchella, a design expert with Decor & Decor.

Instead: Work with your room’s proportions. “Choose a sofa that suits both the size of the room and your lifestyle, leaving space for side tables and clear traffic flow,” says Krystal Reinhard, principal designer and founder of Old Soul Design Studio.

Sometimes it’s not the furniture itself, but how it interrupts circulation—blocked walkways and choppy pass-throughs can make even a large room feel cramped.

Reserve bulky sectionals for casual basements or media rooms; in living rooms, two sofas and a pair of chairs create a more flexible, balanced arrangement.

Too Many Chairs

Trying to make your living room more sociable by crowding it with chairs is a big mistake.

"Too many chairs, especially if they vary in style or size, create a sense of visual clutter, interrupt the balance of the room, and make it hard to walk around without bumping into something,” says Marzocchella.

Instead: Limit to two accent chairs opposite or angled to the sofa. Add poufs or benches if you need overflow seating, which can tuck away when not in use. Every piece should earn its keep, either by being useful, versatile, or contributing to the flow of the space.

A Rug That's Too Small

Choosing the appropriate rug for a room is actually much harder than it seems.

“The typical misstep is picking one that's just a little bit too small and hanging it underneath a coffee table like a coaster," says Marzocchela. "This causes a disconnected look, and it makes a seating area feel incomplete and cramped.”

Instead: Use a rug as the anchor for your furniture layout. Ideally, the front legs of your chairs and sofa should rest on it, creating a unified, cohesive arrangement.

Low and Flat Seating

When every major piece of furniture lives at knee height, the entire room starts to feel compressed. “It tends to lower the ceiling visually and deaden a room’s energy by making it feel flat,” adds Marzocchella.

Instead: Think about adding vertical movement that draws the eye upward and creates balance. A tall bookshelf filled with objects you love, an oversized mirror that reflects light, or a cluster of hanging plants instantly breaks the monotony of low lines.

Curtains mounted well above the window frame can elongate a wall and shift the perception of height, while floor-to-ceiling treatments always add drama and polish. Even in rooms without soaring ceilings, these tricks make proportions feel taller, more gracious, and more intentional.

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Furniture Against the Walls

It’s a common instinct: shove every piece of furniture against the walls to make more space. However, this often creates the opposite effect.

“By leaving a big, empty void in the center of the room, you create an odd sense of disconnect and lose all definition, and the space can end up feeling like a waiting room,” says Marzocchella.

Instead: A better approach is to allow breathing room between your furniture and the walls. Even a few inches can make a huge visual difference. Pulling the sofa slightly forward or angling chairs instead of pressing them flush to the wall helps define zones and encourages conversation.

Poorly-Fitting Drapes

Window treatments can make or break a living room’s proportions. “Drapes that are too tall or too short will almost always make your living room feel small,” says Courtnay Tartt Elias, founder of interior design firm Creative Tonic.

Instead: “It's essential to mount drapes either at the ceiling or the crown molding to take the eye up,” Elias says. “The drapes should be long enough to brush or break on the floor.”

She also recommends painting trim and walls the same color—a simple trick that blurs visual boundaries and makes the entire room feel a bit bigger.