(I would NEVER! Or Would I?)

They say that rules are meant to be broken…

Well, that is what this post is all about.

My goal here was to play devil’s advocate to my own aesthetic biases and I wanted to explore alternative ways to design room layouts.

As a designer of small, tricky, and awkward spaces, I rely on the tried-and-true “rules” for making spaces feel comfortable and functional.

Never block a doorway with furniture.
Never put overstuffed furniture in small or awkwardly shaped rooms.
Never angle furniture in smaller or tricky rooms.

In my experience, these rules have kept my clients happy, and my designs beautiful and functional.

But I wanted to see what others were doing to play against these rules.

Were they successful?

Could there be ways to arrange challenging rooms by breaking these rules?

Well, I not only found solid examples of designers breaking these rules, I found INCREDIBLE and creative designers making a case for why these 6 “rules” might need a serious rethinking…

Let’s break some small, tricky, or awkward room decorating rules!

1. The Case for Angled Furniture in Small Rooms.

Typically, you wouldn’t angle furniture in challenging rooms because it tends to cut off flow and often makes for pathway obstructions.

Furniture that’s angled often takes up more space and causes issues like wasted space or dead areas.

But I must say that I changed my mind a bit when I saw this post from Tweak Your Space.

Why it works:

The rug defines where the furniture should go by providing the footprint for the furniture.

If you look closely, the rug is squared off in the room in both layouts.

This is important because it outlines and defines a shape for where the furniture should be.

It also follows the squared lines of the walls keeping the sightlines in the room defined.

The furniture is angled and balanced.

The sofas are mirrored across, and the chair is angled into the corner at the same angle as the sofa.

On closer inspection, the entire furniture group is a classic perpendicular and symmetrical arrangement, just turned into the corners of the room. Brilliant!

That attention to symmetry and balance – having all the furniture angled as a group, is why this works.

It would seem very awkward if only one or two pieces were angled.

In the after photo, the art is the focal point of the room and is much more highlighted as such. It becomes much more prominent and focused.

2. The Case for Floating Seating in Narrow Rooms.

Narrow rooms are notoriously tricky to layout.

You must make sure the furniture is not so deep that it pops off the wall too far.
You must keep in mind that there’s usually a long wall that could have awkward empty spots if you don’t plan the composition of furniture correctly.
And, USUALLY, furniture will be too wide to float across the center because of the narrowness of the room. Therefore, longer pieces are usually relegated to the ends of the room to save space.

That’s why I thought that this design from JRL Interiors was an excellent solution for floating furniture across the width of a narrow room.

Why it works:

The long, narrow room is divided into 3 zones:

A library zone with a built-in unit, two comfortable chairs with a shared round ottoman, and a small round table.

Zone two is a pair of floating sofas across from each other, with a shared cocktail ottoman in between to act as a coffee table and an ottoman. Two sofa table consoles are behind each sofa because end tables would crowd the pathways. The TV fireplace is perpendicular to the sofas. This is a comfortable conversation layout.

The last zone is the study or work zone with a secretary desk and two occasional chairs, one that can be used for the secretary desk during work times. There are two to ensure balance.

Breaking a long, narrow room into zones helps to create purposeful and multi-functional areas.

The floating sofas work because of their smaller size, studio size or loveseat.

That means they are 72” to 80” wide and if a loveseat, probably in the 62” to 70” range.
They have modest arms, not overstuffed and the sofa tables allow people sitting on the sofas to have a place to put down a beverage or book, etc.
The two occasional chairs beside the secretary, or the chairs in the library zone, can move near the sofas for extra seating on occasion.

Watch the Video:

3. The Case for Large, Enclosed Furniture in a Bedroom.

Big, bulky, and closed up furniture in smaller bedrooms can make it feel confined.

My advice has always been:

Keep the scale of furniture smaller, keep case goods to a minimum and incorporate storage pieces that have a combination of open and closed areas to help make the room feel less confined.

Keep unnecessary furniture out in favor of clear pathways and less visual clutter.

And NEVER line up your dressers and case good storage on one single wall because it will look like a discount furniture store.

Well, I think I’ll have to eat my hat on this one…

I found this awesome post from Home Design Inspired and they’ve broken my coveted never line up your storage rule and… they did it better than I have ever seen!

Why it works:

This bedroom, like many smaller bedrooms, has limited space for dressers or other storage.

I’m imagining a closet on one side of the room, with sliding doors.

Even with a closet, there isn’t much storage for clothes.

The before with the big, bulky dressers is visually heavy.

The angled armoire in the corner is awkward and heavy and looks out of place because it’s the only thing angled in the room and it’s the only tall piece too.

This time the angled armoire does create wasted, dead space in the corner.

Now, the “after” is MUCH better because all the pieces are white, which visually makes the room feel lighter.
The shelves above the chest of drawers add height and balance to the two wardrobe cabinets.
Plus, the frosted glass door on the wardrobe and chest of drawers adds some reflection to the space making it both brighter and obscured.

That means no need to keep everything totally neat behind the glass doors.

Even with the storage lined up on the short wall, it feels a lot more spacious and easier to navigate.

Now that’s the way to make larger furniture in a small bedroom work.

4. The Case for Dark Walls in Smaller Rooms

I love dark rooms.

I think, done right, they add sophistication and elegance.

Done wrong, and they can make a smaller room feel even smaller and overwhelmed.

When I came across this post from Pufik Design Inspirations, I knew immediately that I need to include it in this post.

It is LITERALLY the perfect execution of a dark elegant wall color in a smaller room. And the fact that this room has lots of architectural details just adds to the appeal.

Why it works:

This is a London, Victorian house with oodles of character and charm.

The reason this color works so well is because it is replicated in a monochromatic way in the room.
The wall color is the same as the upholstery color and the same as the window treatments.
Even the radiator is the same color.

That repetition of color and hue makes the room feel unfussy and cohesive.

Add to this the high contrast of the remaining décor, the lamp, art, and white trim colors, and the result is a calm, beautiful and cozy room that envelopes.

The ceilings are tall, so the trim and the ceiling color is the same and that also allows for the rich original details to really shine.

Nothing unnecessary is present.

No extra unnecessary furnishings.
That simplicity adds to the perfection of space.

Even the wood tones are similar.

The medium wood tone on the floor is picked up in the color of the round end table.

Total perfection!

5. The Case for Furniture Being Placed in Doorways.

This is one of my biggest peeves. Furniture that blocks the doorway is a big no-no IMO.

If you have a piece of furniture that blocks your pathways near doorways it makes for a very uncomfortable and potentially dangerous hazard.

That said, sometimes blocking furniture can’t be helped.

That was the case for this room design I did earlier this year.

This room has multiple doorways, a narrow layout, and the need for multiple functions. So, the best option for making all the requirements works was to place a media console in the pathway near the entry door…

Did I break my biggest rule? Yep!

Why it works:

The challenge was finding a console that would be the right size and shape to anchor the TV and not totally obstruct the main pathway into the room from the entry door.

A console with squared edges would be tricky to navigate around.
But a console that had a half round or demilune shape would work great.

This one was long enough to anchor the TV on the wall above and shallow enough to walk by without having to dramatically adjust the walking path into the room.

So, you can easily open the main door and have multiple steps into the room before encountering the rounded media console.

The console doesn’t obstruct the swing of the door, which is very important for a comfortable and functional room.

Sometimes you must think about how the shape of furniture will work for a smaller or tricky room. If you can eliminate hard right angles, you’ll often find rounded furniture works best.

It might take a little more planning, but the results will be worth it!

6. The Case for Large Scale Upholstery in Smaller, or Awkward Shaped Rooms.

Overstuffed upholstery is usually the enemy of small and awkward shaped rooms.
It’s often tough to get it to fit properly. Sometimes it will block walkways or cut off the visual flow in a space.

On the flip side, overstuffed furniture can be super comfortable, even though it may lack certain aesthetic refinement.

When I found this post from Setting for Four Interiors, I changed my tune…

This room has a very tricky layout: square shape living room, with a entry foyer right off the top, an angled fireplace, and a huge kitchen island that takes up a good chunk of space.

Why it Works:

The sectional here is modular, which means that each piece is separate. The pieces can be configured in different ways, which helps with layout options.

In other words, you’re not limited to one fixed way to configure the sectional.

The other obvious choice is that the designer chose armless end pieces for the sectional, which cuts down on the overall footprint of the sectional.

If that isn’t your aesthetic, go for slim arms, not rolled or wide, instead.

The before picture shows the sectional positioned on the long wall.

This makes viewing the TV, which is above the fireplace, very awkward.

Also, the armless chair, which is floating in the walkway, is tough to navigate around.

The chair also feels very out of place in this position because it’s the wrong scale.

When they flipped the sectional around in the after picture, you can see how it creates an invisible wall lining up with the entry wall and extending the visual line through the room.

The addition of the media console and new position for the TV bring the room together nicely.
Now, the chair has a scale appropriate position, and the small drink table helps to create the perfect functional secondary seating option.

Well, I said I’d never break these 6 decorating rules, but I think these 5 other amazing designers deserve a ton of credit. They not only showed that you can think outside of the tried-and-true parameters of small and awkward space design, but you can also do it with great success!

Now it’s your turn…

I’d love to know if you have a challenging room where one of these 6 rule breakers could work.

Tell me all about it in the comments below.

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Michael is Principal designer and blogger at Michael Helwig Interiors in beautiful Buffalo, New York. Since 2011, he’s a space planning expert, offering online interior e-design services for folks living in small homes, or for those with awkward and tricky layouts. He’s a frequent expert contributor to many National media publications and news outlets on topics related to decorating, interior design, diy projects, and more. Michael happily shares his experience to help folks avoid expensive mistakes and decorating disappointments. You can follow him on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook @interiorsmh.