Buckingham Interiors has over 20 years of experience when it comes to selling furniture so we understand the challenges that you can face when you start planning a scheme refurbishment, and requirements to engage with residents.

One of the first things to consider when planning a new room layout is how many people are going to use it?

The answer to this will dictate how many seats and tables you will need – and don’t forget to include visitors as well as residents.

Think about how many residents use a room together on a daily basis and if special occasions where many more people need to use the room are infrequent, you could consider hiring in extra furniture for those events or if you have enough storage, you could consider buying extra stackable chairs so they can be brought out when needed. A room filled with furniture that is rarely used can look unwelcoming and over crowded.

How large are your place settings? If your residents enjoy full formal meals, lay out your full place setting with crockery and cutlery, measure it and then you can confidently decide what size dining tables you will need.

What is the size of your typical resident grouping? Do they like to sit in small groups or large? You can also arrange the new room to encourage different sized groups in the future, but don’t make too large a leap. If residents like to sit in very small groups, arranging the furniture to accommodate a few more can encourage change but if aim for too large groups, residents could end up trying to move furniture themselves at the detriment to the overall layout.

There are a few easy tips to help you to arrange your furniture:

• Leave at 15 to 18 inch gap between coffee tables and seating.

• Make sure there is easy access to the whole room, residents don’t want to feel as though they have to walk a full lap of the room to get in or out.

• If you want to place furniture at an angle, bear in mind it will take up more room

• Think about a symmetrical layout as this can work very well in lounges.

• It may sound obvious but in terms of design, smaller rooms look better with smaller furniture items to prevent them from looking too full.

For more help in planning your scheme refurbishment contact us