Rapid Living Room Design for a Grand Rapids Couple—see what I did there?

Lauren Figueroa
23 hours ago
6 min read

Last week I headed to Grand Rapids for a Design in a Day session focused on a living room space. My clients had recently recently moved into this new home and had already done quite a bit of work on the house.

Previous to moving in, the house had many, many awkward built-ins, lots of wallpaper that needed to be removed, and a few other quirky elements that the couple had already begun to tackle.

Living room design with beige sofa, brown leather chair, two white chairs, a wooden coffee table, rugs, and cushions. Text reads "ALTERNATE RUG #1 *Lauren’s pick 😊".

They had painted walls, removed a handful of unusual builtins, and had the floors refinished throughout the house.

They were questioning whether or not this should be the room that would have the TV in it (there is an living area on the main floor where it could potentially live, which is what we decided on) and they were struggling to come up with a furniture layout that made sense.

Our goal in this session was to address the built-ins, think through layout, and come up with a furniture plan for the space.

Let's jump in!

The Living Space Before

As you can see, we were working with a really great blank slate! The room focuses around a beautiful fireplace, and has bay windows on both sides of the room.

It also functions as the main entryway for the house and is connected to both the garage and kitchen—so needless to say, it had a LOT of entry points—making it clear why it was so tricky to space plan!

Toning Down the Built-Ins

The first thing I wanted to address was the built-in situation.

If you'll notice, the built-ins around the bay window that turn in toward the fireplace are a little extensive. It was very unlikely that these clients would utilize the little built-in desk to the left of the bay window, and it was way more open shelving than they needed. Well I am generally always pro built in shelving, they do need to make sense for the space!

Cozy living room with lit fireplace, stockings, and poinsettia. Neutral sofas face a window with outside view. Warm, festive atmosphere.

My thought was to tone the built-ins way down by removing the shelving and desk unit all the way around the bay window, and then create a more contained built-in that feels more intentional only to the left of the fireplace. This would also help us return the footprint of the room to more of a rectangle, which is always easier to work with when it comes to layout

Living room built-in concept with shelves, two pillows, and blue/greige color options. Text: "Brenton Road House." Mood: elegant.

See how much more intentional this feels?

This new design would also give us the opportunity to remove the little separator wall between the front door and the bay window, which would do a lot in opening up the entryway and making the space feel larger.

The Layout

For the furniture layout, I really liked the existing café table and placement with the pendant light hanging above. This made a lot of sense to me, especially because this room is right off the kitchen and has great light, so I could see the desire to work in the space, play a game, or eat a meal here.

For the main seating area, I decided on one long sofa facing the fireplace, though offset from the fireplace, a single angled chair beside the fireplace, and two matching swivel chairs in the front bay window. This created a nice opportunity for an entry console behind the sofa, creating a nice walkway.

Living room layout with sofa, coffee table, armchair, and accent chairs. Includes cafe table, cabinet, and rug. Labels indicate furniture placement.

When working with an asymmetrical furniture, layout, I'll often utilize a round coffee table instead of rectangular or square because it allows us to cheat a little bit and not need to center up or lineup, angles, and straight lines.

I also added a small cabinet to the left of the back door entry that would have a mirror above with a small table lamp. There wasn't a lot of opportunity for lamp lighting in this space, so it's always nice to bring some in wherever you can.

Design Inspiration

My clients had selected inspiration with lots of classic lines, neutral tones, blues, greys, textures, and wood tones. They wanted to honor the style of the house which felt a bit more traditional, and well they liked a charming, collected style. They also wanted the space to be very cozy and welcoming.

They hope to grow their family eventually and wanted to consider that in their furniture selection, and they also have two large dogs who are an important part of the family and needed to be considered with fabric selection.

Cozy living room with beige sofas, layered textures, blue accents, vases with flowers. Features bookshelves, a fireplace, and a bay window nook.

Furniture Design Plan

For their main sofa, I chose a piece with a curved sock arm in a mid-lighter fabric tone to brighten up the space. My clients were excited about a leather element, so I chose a chair with the same silhouette as the sofa in a dark leather to sit beside the fireplace.

The swivel chairs had a rolled arm and skirt, and to bring in some warm, we used a wood toned coffee table with some textual elements and a lightwood console behind the sofa, which would also act as an entry table.

Living room layout with beige sofa, leather chair, two round tables, brown coffee table, pillows, and throws. Text reads "BRETTON ROAD | LIVING ROOM".

To bring in some richness, I utilized a dark blue stone, solid side table, a marble pedestal table beside the leather chair, and a brassy side table beside the sofa. It's always nice to add in some different material elements, especially when you are working with a neutral color palette.

To bring in some color, we chose pillows with blue, rus and greige elements to them in various textures. finally, for our base, we chose a neutral area rug, but with lots of texture and variation.

I realized while putting together their pricing that I had inadvertently chosen in extremely expensive area rug…OOPS...so I gave them a few additional options in various price points which I've shown below.

Tell me which you prefer in the comments!

Stylish living room design with beige sofa, leather and cream chairs, wooden coffee table, patterned pillows, throws, and text: "ALTERNATE RUG #1 *Lauren’s pick 😊".

Living room design with beige sofa, brown leather chair, white armchairs, wood tables, patterned pillows, a plant, and "ALTERNATE RUG #2" text.

Living room design with beige sofa, brown leather chair, white chairs, wooden table, round coffee table, throw pillows, and plants. Text: Alternate Rug #3.

I knew I wanted to utilize their existing café table because it fit the vibe and the size was perfect, so for the café area I chose a slightly more modern and smaller scale chair in a black tone, and added in a small black oak cabinet to the right of the bay window that would house a table lamp and the accented by a large mirror on the wall.

Cafe area with wooden table and two black chairs, pendant light above. Dark dresser with blue lamp, large mirror behind. Text: Bretton Road Cafe Area.

All of the above pieces were compiled within a custom design plan with links to all the individual items and pricing for all pieces. Clients walk away with all this information, and they also have the option to source everything directly through me for effeciency—everything they need to execute their living room plan!

A Realistic Living Room Budget Breakdown

It might seem crazy (industry wise) to share the real live numbers of a design plan, but so often I find that folks have an unrealistic expectation of what they'll be able to accomplish for their perceived budget—because most folks haven't purchased an entire space full of furniture in one go.

When I talk about individual items—a "good" sofa can range between $3k to $5K—folks aren't surprised, but when you add it all together, it usually comes as a shock that you can expect to spend between $30K - $50K on a single room of *new* furniture depending on the size of the space and quality of pieces within it.

Below you can see how the original budget of this room breaks down. As I mentioned, I had chosen a particularly expensive rug on accident, so I'll also show you how it shakes out with my alternate rug selection in place.

Price sheet titled "Breton Living Room" lists furniture items, rates, quantity, and totals, with a subtotal of $37,893 excluding tax.

Living room budget breakdown with a more cost-effective rug selection (mind you, a 12 x 15 rug will always come with a big price tag, but they won't all be $15k LOL):

Breton Living Room price sheet listing furniture items, rates, quantities, and totals. Subtotal is $29,183.00. Black text on white.

Let me know if you find it helpful to see the breakdown of items and where some of the pricing lands on particular things! And as always, if you see something here you must have, please message me and we can order it for you :)

The Wrap Up

All in all, this space came together beautifully! And the best part? We were able to create this entire design, which my clients could then execute on their own timing, all in a single 5-hour session.

I find that setting aside this focused, limited amount of time helps my clients to get really clear on their desires and come to our session very prepared. It also lends to quicker decision making, along with coming up with some very creative solutions.

My clients left this session with a fully customized design plan.

This included the style boards for each room to showcase how the pieces will work together, along with PDFs of the layouts so they know how to set everything up when items arrive, as well as links to all the the individual items in their plan with the option to source them directly through Lauren Figueroa Interior Design.

Is "Designed in a Day" the Right Service for You?

Woman with curly hair and hoop earrings looks at the camera in soft lighting. She wears a light beige sweater and appears calm.

Designed in a Day has hands down become my most popular service, and it's easy to see why!

It's cost and time effective, and it's super flexible as far as the kinds of projects we can tackle, the range of budgets it fits, and the kinds of styles and functionality needs that clients have.

If you'd like to find out more, you can click here to view the service, and then complete our project intake form here and I'll reach out to schedule a discovery call to discuss your project.

Can't wait to help you create a space that works for you!!

TELL ME ABOUT YOU PROJECT