r/InteriorDesign

I have a little home office (we rent) so I can’t put HUGE nails or anchors in the walls. But I want to make a really nice cozy writing retreat where I can lock myself away from the rest of the house. But the problem is every wall is interrupted. The entrance, a window, a closet, and a 2 way bathroom (with this room being one way to get into the bathroom lol)

I have no idea where to put the desk at. Maybe a wooden desk? Everything is white! I am allowed to paint (weird but ok) some hanging nails for frames should be ok. But the walls are not drywall I think it’s plaster. It’s a very old home.

Right now I have these white cubicle square things and am open to getting rid of it. Can’t move the radiator. Don’t like using AI as it warps the space and makes the room so much bigger than what it is. Idk what wall to put the desk on. I use my laptop mainly.

Currently the closet is holding my husbands work shirts until we put together a wardrobe for his suits. I plan to have that store my yarn as I do crochet but don’t want this room focused on that other wise it will be a little bit of everything and too chaotic.

And would you put a desk with a hutch? Hutchless desk? Open to ideas! Thanks so much 😭

This is my first time getting my own little space in a while!

Please help! 🙏

This is my first house, and I have multiple beautiful archways throughout the home with these rounded edges. I want to paint the rooms different colors, but I’m completely clueless about how to transition the wall colors around the rounded archways.

Basically, right now my living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, and two bedrooms are all the same bland white because I’ve been too nervous to do anything else lol.

I LOVE the archways, but I also can’t spend hundreds of dollars adding custom curved borders to every arch.
Is there a cheaper option?? Maybe a painting hack or an easy way to create sharper edges around the arches??

Hi all!

Can I please have your expert advice on this living room + kitchen, which is interesting but awkward..

Cons:

• It's awkward because of the 1m x 0.2m load bearing wall. It can't be knocked down so I need to work around it, incorporate it into the layout, or extend it.
• The plumbing can't be changed, so the kitchen has to stay in the top right corner as indicated

Pros:

• Interesting nook/bay window corner that's cozy.
• Amazing views through the glass balcony door and the nook.
• Tons of natural light
• Amazing sunsets, as it's facing west

Some notes:

• Big on movies and gaming. The sofa + TV is where we spend most of our time. A big sofa would be nice, big TV is a must
• 5.1 sound system means I need to find position for rear speakers. They're not free standing speakers (but they could be if I upgrade)
• New full or half height walls can be built for separation
• A kitchen bar would be nice, but we can compromise
• The most ideal place for the sofa would be next to the balcony door because of the views, however that means I have to compromise with the TV position

How would you solve this?

Thank you!

Please help with figuring out our dining room. We’ve gone for a mid century modern vibe, the sideboard and drinks cabinet are mid century pieces. We currently have shelves high above the dining table on the long wall with vases, draping plants and a few photos and a hanging lamp over the dining table from the ceiling with orange lighting and artwork sporadicly across the walls (below I’ve explained the dining room differences from the layout photo)

We want it to be cosy and social while not being super cluttered and mid century modern vibes. We are considering changing it around/removing something to put in a small sofa/sofa bed. Any ideas or suggestions welcome!

*the sideboard goes across the whole wall, the drinks cabinet is not that wide and the dining table is rotated and pushed against the window (almost)

We are two adults and one child, moving into a two bedroom home. I work from home and need some sort of semi private desk area, mainly separate from where baby is playing with his nanny. Husband would also love a place to put his desk but given he doesn’t work from home, this isn’t a necessity. Dining table has three size options, 40, 65, or 90 inch wide. There is also a permanent kitchen island type thing at the end of the kitchen.

I have two living areas and am having a hard time deciding how to split the dining, couch/tv and play areas. I’ve attached the floor plan and three layout options.

Main concerns:
* kitchen lacks storage, so adding extra storage on the other side of the entryway wall would be ideal
* tv seems too close to couch no matter where I put it
* standalone furniture (bookcases, shelving) needs to be against a wall to be secured and prevent tipping over
* where to put a litter box 😭

Any advice?

Hi everyone! This is the first home I’m furnishing entirely by myself, and I’m having a hard time deciding which direction to take with the interior design.

I’m currently torn between two styles: one that incorporates wood finishes, like in the kitchen pictured here, and another that is more minimal and neutral, without wood, using mostly beige/greige, black, and stone-like finishes.

I like the warmth and character that wood adds, but I’m worried it might make the space feel too warm, busy, or eventually dated.

On the other hand, the no-wood option feels cleaner and more modern to me, but I’m afraid the overall result could end up looking a bit cold or impersonal.

Since this is my first time making all these decisions, I’m probably overthinking it hahahha.

Which direction would you choose: with wood or without wood?

Thanks guys!

Hey all! I have this gas fireplace in the living room that I don’t see myself or my partner using (and so our kitty doesn’t burn herself) but we’re not sure what to do with the space. I brought up getting some custom piece of furniture (like pic 4) with shelving to block it off, and framing the map in the first pic to cover the old tv holes + outlet. The white bookshelf situation is temporary and just to store our current items + to get a feel for how it’d all look.

I like the height of the bookshelf, but love the idea of having a mantel. My partner’s concerned about leaving dead space where critters and/or dust may find themselves. We love a diy project and own the place, so we’re able to make any changes we want hehe. Any input is appreciated!! Cat tax included as well :p

(All pics in .5 to get everything in.) This room is giving me so much trouble. I’m open to replacing pretty much all the furniture. The room itself is open, but the kitchen is the wall behind it and I just can’t seem to get a layout that includes a couch, tv stand, and a small dining table. The room itself excluding the “hallway” made by the kitchen, is 13ft across, and from the edge of the doorways on either side it is 11ft 8inches deep towards the windows. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I was thinking of a smaller couch more room centered with a table behind it as well so I moved the couch up in the 3rd pic. I also removed part of the sectional. I think the main issue is that the couch is just too big. Hoping to find some advice from the gifted minds here.

The previous owner of our home did a lot of DIY projects, including these stairs. Yes that is a half newel post at the end of the railing. My question is about the other railing on the wall. Should it even exist all the way down? What is the standard for stair railings? The current railing is kind of a hodge podge of pieces, they don't even connect in the corner and they're missing any sort of finished end. It definitely seems like they just used whatever they found second hand or leftover. Thank you for any help, and any visuals would be greatly appreciated!

Stuck living with my parents for the meantime, but I'd like to maximize my space as best I can. The first image is my current setup; the silver box between the desk & bed is a mini-fridge, which I'm likely going to move to the garage anyway. Light brown/black rectangle is a 4x3 IKEA Kallax (changes from light brown to black in the images, my bad). Dark brown with the TV & soundbar on top is a low dresser.

The entryway is cramped because of the closet being directly in front of it, and the south wall is almost entirely a sliding glass door. The west half of the sliding glass door is fixed and doesn't move. The best view out the sliding glass door is towards the southeast.

Personally leaning towards either #2 or #6. Having the view behind my monitors would be nice, and I like the idea of the Kallax acting as a room divider in #6.

I'm also open to more radical ideas, like using different furniture to better make use of the space.

I want zoning in this studio so do you think partition wall (A) or curtains (B) suit best? Or maybe something completely different?

Update: Thanks for all the comments! I’m not going to reply to them because there are so many, but I really appreciate all the input.

We won’t switch any of the plumbing because we just don’t have the time or money to redo it.

I intend to keep all of the elements. I’ve lived with smaller bathrooms before and never felt like I needed a bigger one. This was actually originally one huge bathroom, which we split into a kids’ bathroom and an ensuite, so if we wanted a lot of empty space, we’d have just kept the one bathroom.

The knee wall is very low, so only the machines can go there.

The new plan is a shorter asymmetrical tub that rounds quite a bit at the far end, and a narrower sink. That gives me at about 65 cm (25.5”) of clearance at the narrowest point - perhaps even more, I’ll need to see the curve in person.

Apart from a bigger passage and space for undressing, another bonus is that this new tub will be installed after the tiling is done. So if we decide to switch to a shower once the kids are older, we can do that relatively easily without having to completely demo the bathroom.

For now, I think we’ll install everything except the countertop/shelf under the sink and see how it works in practice, especially how much clearance we actually want for opening the washer and dryer. Maybe to get some space to put things down we’ll just do a mirror with a shelf instead, and that way the washer and dryer can go as far away from the toilet as possible.

Thanks again for all the input! I’m really glad I posted here before ordering the bathtub. 😄

—-

We’re building a house and I’m struggling with the layout of the kids’ bathroom.

The room was already quite narrow, but the builder ran the ventilation ducts on the bathroom side of the wall instead of the hallway side. That created a bulky duct box inside the bathroom and made the usable width even smaller.

The plumbing for the bathtub was installed before this change, and we’d planned for an 80 cm (31.5") wide tub. Now I’m worried that’s too wide, because we’ve lost more than 15 cm (6") of width to the duct box.

Across from the tub (on the duct box side) is where the sink and countertop will go. If we keep the 80 cm wide tub and a 45 cm (17.7") deep countertop with a sink, then the clear passage between tub and countertop is only about 46 cm (18.1").

The tub height is 60 cm (24"), and I’m considering a drop-in sink where the rim sits only about 2 cm (0.8") above the countertop. The top of the countertop would be around 88 cm (35") from the floor. There would be no vanity, just the countertop and a shallow open shelf underneath to store towels etc., which would also help hide the piping.

The idea is to keep the sink and countertop as visually light as possible, and as far up from the tub as the space allows, so the narrow passage between them would feel more open and spacious.

I’ve attached my 3D model and an AI render for context (the render makes the walkway look wider than it will actually be, and the actual tub has a square edge). I’d really prefer not to change the bathtub model unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Is this going to feel too cramped, or might it just work?

Hi everyone!

I have been struggling to figure out a good layout for my flat and was wondering you guys and gals could help :). The main room dimensions are 505x525cm, and I show how the furniture is laid out right now.

Light blue: TV and TV console
Teal: closet (next to bed), and a sideboard (by window), and a drawer set by the door.
Blue: sofa (220x78)
Gray: bed (160x200)

Still need to buy the dining table and would appreciate placement/size advice also!

I provide my schematic plus a blank one in case you wanna draw also haha.

Hello Reddit,

I’m struggling to come up with ideas for improving the layout of my living room and bedroom/office and would really appreciate some advice.

My bedroom currently doubles as my home office (unfortunately) since I work from home two days a week. I also casually play video games, so my desk and computer are in the bedroom.

I don’t use my TV very often, so I currently have it on a mobile TV stand rather than making it the focal point of the living room. I also don’t want a traditional media wall, as I really like the feeling of having an open, uncluttered layout.

I’m mainly looking for ideas on how I could better arrange the furniture and make both spaces feel more cohesive and functional without sacrificing that open feeling.

Any suggestions, layout ideas, or examples of what you would do with the space would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I’m furnishing my living/dining room and I’d really appreciate some input from people with interior design experience.

I’ve attached a floor plan with three layouts I’ve been considering (A, B and C). I’m absolutely open to completely different solutions as well.

The main pieces I would like to use are:

- armchair

- sofa (ideally the 2-seater + chaise longue configuration, alternatively a large 2-seater + separate ottoman)

- Tulip-like dining table

The main room is roughly 5.07 m wide, and the sofa/dining area is approximately 3.58 m deep in the direction shown on the drawing.

My main problem is storage around the dining area.

I would really like to add a sideboard/cabinet behind the dining table for plates, glasses, serving pieces, etc. However, once I add a cabinet there, the space between the dining table/chairs and the sofa becomes quite tight.

With the chaise-longue sofa, I also can’t move the sofa much further forward because the chaise would start overlapping/blocking the window area.

The 2-seater + ottoman version gives me more flexibility: I could move the sofa forward and gain more room around the dining table. But then I create another problem: a long, narrow strip of space behind the sofa, accessible mainly from one short end. I’m struggling to see how that space could actually be used without turning it into an awkward dead zone.

So I’m trying to solve three things at the same time:
- keep comfortable circulation around the dining table, especially when chairs are pulled out.
- add meaningful storage for dining-related items.
- avoid wasting the area behind the sofa.

I’m particularly interested in hearing what you would do if you were designing the room from scratch, rather than simply choosing between A, B and C.

Would you prioritize the chaise-longue layout and find another solution for storage, or would you choose the more flexible sofa + ottoman configuration?

And if the sofa is pulled forward, is there a smart way to make a narrow strip behind it genuinely useful, or is that usually a sign that the layout itself is wrong?

Any suggestions, sketches or alternative layouts would be very welcome.

Thanks!

About to put in an offer on this house, but worried about the three living spaces! How can we use them without just copy-pasting the same furniture and purpose? Moving from a two bedroom, one den apartment to this house is daunting

If we’re going to go with the larger sq ft, I want to know we can actually do something with it, not just fill it for the furniture’s sake!

Details:

• 2 adults (40f, 46m)
• 1 pre-teen part-time
• Possibly 1 baby in the next 18 months (I’m in my Anne Hathaway era, don’t judge me)
• Kitchen is currently eat-in but we plan to reno it early so the kitchen table will need to live somewhere
• Pre-teen loooves to play Xbox til all hours
• Partner often wants to watch movies at the same time
• We have two TVs
• I WFH and am usually on calls with executives 2-6 hours daily. Zoom is pretty good at tuning out noise, though.
• Current office furniture includes standing desk, ergonomic office chair, walking pad
• We have a stupidly large number of books
• We dream of a gym space at home

I am contemplating adding a powder room (aka half bath aka toilet + sink) to my owned unit, located in Canada (relevant building code). Only structural changes require building approval.

A bonus would be if I can also locate an all-in-one washer/dryer in the same space!

My gut tells me that the best location would be in the isolated bedroom, as it shares a wall with the bathroom. However, I would prefer it in the pantry, as this is otherwise a waste of space.. Another option for a stand-alone toilet might be the closet backing on the washroom?

I appreciate your input as to a) whether this would be considered a structural change or b) most practical placement option?

#1 is flush to the ground and square, #2 is rectangular with a ledge in from and up off the ground

Current pros-

- Vertical shelving available

- Under-the-bed nook (not being utilized atm)

- Wouldn't need to buy new bedframe or shelving

Cons of bunk bed-

- Impossible to move around for rearranging the space

- Kids sized, and I'm not a kid anymore; bed is tight to sleep in and desk isn't large enough for me to use

- Not sure if it's fitting my vibes anymore

Thoughts are greatly appreciated since this seems to be my greatest hurdle for redoing my room! I'm ready for change and hate the plain, colorless look.

Other input for laying out the space is welcome (I'm really wanting more usable surface area for things like plants, books, etc - maybe pulling the dresser out from under the bed once the mini-fridge is taken away?)