How To Arrange Furniture In A Long Narrow Living Room With Fireplace

Having a long, narrow living room is always a source of much stress for interior designers. It can also be pretty annoying for homeowners trying to decorate their living rooms. 

This is made even more difficult with the addition of a fireplace on one of the walls of your long narrow living room. It can make you feel as though you don’t have many (if any) options when it comes to furniture and decoration. 

However, this does not need to be the case. In this article, we are going to tell you exactly how to arrange your furniture in your long, narrow living room with a fireplace. In no time at all, you will have a living room that is the envy of all your friends….and Instagram followers… 

Measure your dimensions first 

It is super important that you know exactly what space you have to work with. Measure the room, wall to wall first, and then from the end of the fireplace hearth to the walls. This will make sure you know exactly what you can fit into the room. You want to avoid there being tight gaps between furniture and the fireplace. 

You should also double-check the measurements of every piece of furniture you want to bring into your narrow living room. There is no room for error here, and it is always better to overestimate the size of the furniture and underestimate the size of the room if you are stuck.  There’s nothing worse than realizing your sofa doesn’t fit in the room (or takes up all the space). 

Make the fireplace the focal point

Make your fireplace the star attraction by facing all of your furniture towards it. Of course, if you have a tv you want to use in that room, this may be a little more difficult. But if you don’t you can use the fireplace as the focal point by decorating it beautifully and making it look cozy and inviting. 

It’ll be even better if the fireplace is in use, as all the family can sit around it together and warm up. If the fireplace is purely decorative, you may even be able to palace your TV on the wall above it, to tie it all together. Just make sure you get a professional to install the tv on the wall! 

Many people choose to spruce up an unused fireplace with twinkly fairy lights, stacks of logs, and candles. This can make it feel like a real fire and creates a gorgeous focus in the room. Just ensure you follow our advice about angling your furniture later on in the article to ensure the setup doesn’t look too clinical! 

Create separate areas

The benefit of having a long, narrow room rather than a short and wide room is that you can easily separate the room into different areas. If the fireplace is on one part of the room, you could make a cozy little reading nook on one side of your room, and then turn the other side into some informal dining. 

Separate areas can make the room feel much bigger whilst still making use of the fireplace. If the fireplace is in the center of the room, you can create your nook around that, and then use the other areas on either side for a gaming setup and some dining.

You may also want to consider the role the fireplace is going to play in your long, narrow living room. If it is there for decorative reasons, you can make it a focal point as we mentioned in the previous points, and create separate zones around it. 

If you do not envision using the fireplace for decorative purposes, but instead for heat, you can bring the attention away from it, and make something else the focal point. 

Turn furniture away from it and use the mantel for ornament or book storage instead, whilst keeping the hearth in use for the fire itself. You can then create two or three separate zones to maximize space in your long room. 

The world is your oyster with this and it will depend on the needs of you and those you live with! Let your imagination run wild.

Place your sofa on a long wall 

Utilize your longest wall for your sofa. With any luck, this will be adjacent to your fireplace so that you can enjoy the fire whilst lounging on your sofa. This will allow you to work around the sofa, arranging furniture and decorations to compliment this. 

Make use of angles (as we explore in the final section), and play around with different sizes. For example, you could choose a short 2 seater sofa, and then two different armchairs or even a chaise lounge to angle around the fireplace. 

With the sofa firmly set against the long wall, you will also be maximizing space in front of the sofa. If you were to put it in the middle of the room, there would not be much room behind or in front of the sofa, and it may even be too close to the fireplace. 

Angles are your friend 

Lastly, do not underestimate the power of angled furniture. We have mentioned this several times already, but it is vital to remember that angles will help to ensure the room doesn’t feel too clinical.

In a long, narrow room, it can feel quite rectangular. This is especially true if you have a fireplace in the center of the room as the focal point. Keeping your furniture straight can often feel far too uniform. 

Instead, place your sofa, armchairs, and even your coffee table on angles. This will enhance the room, and make that cozy fireplace the star attraction. Make sure there is still enough room for foot traffic by keeping some space free.

Symmetry is not your friend here. Instead, you should play about with sizes and aim to have everything point towards your focal point in slightly different angles.