Your living room is an important part of your home. Unless your home is very large, it’ll probably be the room that you spend most of your waking hours in. If you were to have people over, they would likely be in the living room.
That’s why this room will also have your largest and most important furniture. You’ll want to invest in it to impress your friends and guests, and you’ll want to keep it comfortable for when you just want to relax.
But, does your living room need to be your biggest room? Or can you use a smaller room to make a statement as a standout living room? We’re here to answer that question.
In This Article We'll Discuss
How Big Should a Living Room Be in an Apartment?
Apartments tend to have a small number of total square feet. So, it makes sense that an apartment’s living room will probably be small. If you have limited square footage, you don’t want to devote it all to living room space.
There are two ways to look at the question, however.
The first is by square footage. This is the traditional way to look at any living space. An apartment is likely to have a small living room that’s about 12 feet by 18 feet.
But, with limited living space comes opportunities to think differently about your space. You don’t have much to waste, so you want to make the best of it. In that case, you should try to fit your living room to your furniture.
That might mean moving your small desk into the living room to maximize bedroom space, while going small with the living room couch. If you don’t plan to have a lot of guests over, it might make sense to not invest valuable square footage into hosting them.
How Big Should a Living Room Be in a Studio?
Studio apartments are designed for either single people or couples, so they tend to be among the smallest living spaces available. That means they have the lowest square footage values, which also means the smallest living rooms.
The housing industry recommends that nine percent of your living space be dedicated to living room space. Studio apartments have between 300-600 square feet. That means a living room of approximately 27-54 square feet.
Broken down, that would mean a living room of 6 x 4.5 feet to 9 x 6 feet. That might sound small, but if you live by yourself and don’t have guests, how much living room space do you need?
How Big Should a Living Room Be in a House?
The average house has approximately 2,400 square feet of space. Again, the industry standard is that nine percent of your living space is devoted to a living room, which means the average living room size would be 216 square feet. That’s a little more than a 10 x 20 room.
That’s the average. We also encourage people to tailor the size to fit their actual needs. If you host a lot of large parties, you’ll need more. If you prefer quiet, cozy nights in with your partner, you can get away with less.
If you don’t need a large living room, but your home’s layout has more space than you need for it, feel free to get creative with that space. We recommend using it to explore your hobbies.
How Big Should a Living Room Be in a Townhouse?
Townhouses trade two-dimensional area for vertical stacking. So, on average, they tend to have smaller square footage footprints than homes that are allowed to sprawl out over a yard. On average, the rooms will also be a bit smaller.
The average townhouse will have between 750-2,000 square feet of space. With the industry standard of nine percent devoted to a living room, that translates into 67.5-180 square feet for living room space.
In reality, you’ll need to adjust your room size expectations to meet the realities of your floorplan. Since townhouses have multiple floors, you might find industry standards overly generous in space requirements.
Do Different Decor Styles Require Different Living Room Sizes?
One factor you’ll want to consider when it comes to figuring out your living room size needs is how you plan to decorate the room. If your room decor needs space to breathe for it to work properly, you’ll need more living room space.
While there is no hard-and-fast rule about what furniture will need more space, in general, more modern decor styles will need more space. More traditional furniture, coming from an age when homes and rooms were smaller, will need less.
Traditional furniture styles might appear lost or small if you put them in a room that’s too big.
Something else to keep in mind is the physical size of your furniture. You’ll need space around large furniture pieces so they don’t appear trapped or confined.
Conclusion
There is no right or wrong answer for how large a living room needs to be. It will always depend on your needs, the size of your furniture, and what you plan to do with the space. That applies across the board— from apartments to houses.
When you start furnishing your living space, you may find that your living room needs are very modest. In that case, if your living room is very large, it can suit several different purposes. For example, you can add a space for a hobby or even an artist’s studio.
We hope you found this article valuable. If you did – or have your own insights – we’d love to hear them in a comment. Feel free to share this article on your social media networks. Reimagining your living space is fun, and fun things are worth sharing.