L-Shaped Living Room Ideas: 6 Design Tips for Awkward Spaces

L-shaped living rooms are a homeowner’s nightmare. There’s no straightforward, one-size-fits-all design plan. Even an internet search for L-shaped living room ideas doesn’t provide much useful information. 

However, if you’re one of the many people stuck with an L-shaped living room, keep your hopes up. These tips will help you design a gorgeous and functional space perfectly suited to your needs. 

1. Determine the Space’s Use 

Before buying furniture or wall art, you should sit down and decide how you want the room to function. Most people choose to visually split the space in two and use half as a dining room and half as a living room. Your needs will determine the best use of the area you have. 

Do you like to entertain? Do you have a large family? Is your favorite pastime snuggling up and watching movies? These questions will help you frame your goals for design. 

For example, if you host people frequently for dinners, you might want to use part of the room as a large dining room. However, a full table and chairs may not make sense if you live alone and eat on the couch. 

2. Measure Everything 

In a typical square or rectangular living room, you have more options and wiggle room for furniture placement and final design. An L-shaped living room, while more unique, has a much lower margin for error. 

You can’t walk through a furniture store and purchase pieces you love on a whim. You must measure and re-measure everything before bringing it home. 

Play around with your scale diagram and add the furniture you love to that, moving it around to see if it will fit and make sense in the space. The last thing you want to do is get something that won’t fit or find you’ve accidentally blocked off a door or window with your design. 

3. Pay Attention to the Flow

When testing out your L-shaped living room ideas, pay attention to the flow between the rooms and ensure there are direct pathways in, out and through. The L-shaped style tends to leave narrow walkways, so you’ll need to work out how to place your furniture to maximize the space and leave plenty of room to move around. 

To test out your ideas, make a scale drawing of the living room on graph paper and make paper cutouts of furniture you’re considering for the space. Move everything around the room until you have an orientation you’re happy with.

4. Use an L-Shaped Sectional

You don’t put a round peg in a square hole — along the same vein, an L-shaped sectional is the best type of couch to accentuate your L-shaped room. The corners will play off each other and make the space more cohesive. 

If things start to feel a bit too angular for your liking, use lamps with a circular style and an accent chair with a rounded back.

5. Divide the Space Into Zones

Your L-shaped sectional can also serve double duty as a space divider. Creating separate zones adds visual interest to your unique space. Most people choose to split the room into a living and dining area, but your needs may differ. 

You can physically split the zones with furniture like a sectional, decorative screen or a bookshelf. Alternatively, use area rugs to highlight separate spaces. 

6. Streamline the Design

Now that you’ve decided on your L-shaped living room ideas — what functions it will serve and how you’ll separate the zones — you can add your furniture and decorate. You may be tempted to design each area differently to keep them visually distinct. However, this makes an L-shaped room look messy and unplanned. 

While you want some separation between the room’s different zones, the design should be cohesive to pull the whole room together. You should use the same color palette and style. If your space feels a bit small, select a light wall color to make it look bigger.

L-Shaped Living Rooms Ideas to Keep You on Track 

These L-shaped living room ideas will help you design a space as unique as you are. Keeping the decor the same and discovering where your needs and priorities lie will set you on the path to creating a functional and beautiful room. This setup may take longer than others to get right, but the outcome will be worth it.