Additional Seating Solutions for Small Living Rooms
Small living rooms are great when you only have one or two people to entertain or snuggle up with for the evening. But what happens when a couple of friends pop over to watch Bake Off unannounced? With the festive season fast approaching (less than 100 sleeps to go –eek!) where do those extra family members perch to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and a classic Christmas film?
Here are some chic and affordable solutions to get more bums on seats this season, without compromising on space or style.
Fold-Up Seating
Fold-up seating is of course an obvious solution. With chairs that fold up to be only 3 or 4 inches wide, they can be easily stored behind the sofa and whipped out whenever they are needed. This one from Habitat is a particular favourite, thanks to its bright colour and modern, minimal design.
Footstools
Footstools are actually an essential piece of furniture that often get overlooked. A stylish ottoman can not only be a great storage solution, but can also be used as an extra place to sit when not being used as a comfy footrest. This selection of footstools from Arlo & Jacob has something to suit any interior style and showcases various different upholsteries so you can choose the finish that best complements your space.
Beanbags
Beanbags are not just for the kids’ rooms! With a large variety of shapes, sizes and colours to choose from, they can be a fantastic seating solution that can be easily transported from one room to another. Not just available in the cotton or canvas you remember from childhood, they now come rendered in luxe shapes and fabrics. This beanbag is particularly cosy and the plush grey furry style will introduce a touch of texture.
Oversized Cushions
Perhaps best suited to the more agile amongst your friendship group, large cushions, or ‘floor cushions’ as they are sometimes known, are a great way of fitting more people comfortably into a small living space. There’s also something quite nostalgic about having to sit on the floor to enjoy a film or a good old chinwag. Choose a large, overstuffed cushion that will complement your sofa when it’s not in use as a seat – one in a tonal colour or charming stripes can then be thrown onto the sofa without a care and used as a comfy headrest when reading or watching TV.
With so many seating options for small living spaces, it’s time to stop worrying about where people will sit at impromptu gatherings and get planning some more cosy get-togethers instead. As the nights draw in towards autumn there’s no better way to socialise than in your very own living room.]]
What is your top tip for making more room in your home for seating?
*This is a collaborative post.
Great ideas! My all time favourite is a Bean Bag. It gives me so much comfort and my kids love it too! I do use foot stools when my friends come for a chit-chat party in my home.
some really great ideas
some very good idea’s
Love all of the ideas! My favorite is for sure my cozy recliner!
These are some gorgeous suggestions and who doesn’t love the comfort of a beanbag!
Exactly they are great aren’t they – perfect to sit back and relax on.
My living room is so small that we can barely fit our sectional! These will definitely come in handy to make it a little more comfortable!
Ours is the same it is tiny, we just have enough room for a two seater and chair so we are always after more seating.
I like the idea of oversized cushions. Maybe even floor cushions so people can be encouraged to sit on the floor and have a good time.
They are really comfortable aren’t they and something you can hopefully find a place to pop away.
The one with the foot stool looked so cozy. The cool theme of the living room makes me feel like sitting on them for hours
It is a really nice addition to any room allows you to put your feet up which is always good to 😉
We like the oversized cushions and have some of them already which we hide under the sofa when not in use. We’d love the have a nice chair with a footstool too, we just don’t have the room x
That’s a great idea to be able to hide them away under the sofa when they aren’t in use.
I could do with a fold up table and chairs for our new living room. It’s fairly big, but if I put a proper dining table and chairs in then it’s going to take up the space where the kids have been playing, and where I’ve been taking my blog pics. Off to have a look at Habitat’s website now 🙂
Louise x
Good luck with finding the perfect product for your living room!
I would love to get some big bean bags for our family room. They look so comfortable.
They really are cosy to curl up on, you can get some you can use in different shapes as well depending on how you want to sit on them.
Fold-up seating sounds like a winner to me, and we’d have enough storage space in the garage for them when not is use, which is nice.
It is such a great idea, I love that you can just pop it away as well.
We have a small house, so seating is tricky. The kids love using beanbags. They are easy to move around and comfortable too!
It really can be when you don’t have much room, we find it hard with 2 of us and dog 😉
Great ideas, I’m always looking for more setting options. I’m sharing this with my friend who does pop up party.
It really is a great thing especially if you entertain a lot at home.
Oooh I have almost the same fold-up seats. We used to live in a small house and we bought those seats, and even though we already moved to a bigger house, those seats are still very useful. They are easy to store!
They are such lovely fold up seats, I remember having some plastic ones years ago but wood is so much nicer.
These are great ideas. I like the foot stool suggestion best.
They are so useful and can be used for so many different things as well – some even include storage.
awesome ideas! we used to live in a small apartment and definitely had several foldup chairs for whenever guests came over. it was great to stow them away when we didn’t need them.
Most definitely it can make the difference and not take up too much room!
Wow. This is a great ideas an perfect for our living room we rwallybhad a small space.
I hope they help you make some more seating in the room you have.
Ooh I love beanbags, I never thought of using them out of the kids bedrooms though! That’s a great idea!
You can get some really nice ones as well to use in living rooms.
We have a few beanbag chairs the kids love. We bring them out when we have extra company. These are great ways to add extra seating.
They are so comfy as well, gives a nice option that’s easy to store I think.
We have a really small living room so extra chairs are almost always needed. We really love beanbags and have some oversized cushions too.
Ours is tiny as well, we have a 2 seater sofa and a chair so someone always ends up on the floor when people come around.
I like a house with a big space. This is a very cool tip. I like it minimalistic and less space consuming.
I would love to have more space our bungalow is really tiny we have to be clever about what we buy to make sure we have room.
Fold up seating and also footstools are great ideas for extra eating 🙂 x
Foot stools are great as they have a good use anytime really.
These are all great seating solutions for small living rooms. I am a big fan of footstools myself, they look cute and can serve another purpose!!
I think that is definitely the plus about them, they are so versatile to use.
I was actually thinking about getting one of those poofs for my bedroom. The only problem is my cat destroys everything he can get his paws on.
Aw no that wouldn’t be good – if you could find one for a good price though it might be a try.
i live in a condo so this article really helps! im a big fan of bean bag! plus they are easy to pack if you need to move to a bigger place 🙂
It is hard when you live in a small space isn’t it – we do struggle I have to admit.
I love mix matching chairs with tables.
It is nice to be able to bring different feels into the home.
I love the idea of beanbags or footstools. Those are both very creative suggestions for a small living room.
When I moved into my first flat alone I had a bean bag only it was fun.
These are some brilliant tips! We have a small living room but a lot of cushions and beanbags!
Cushions and beanbags can save everything I think.
These are some brilliant tips for saving room, we have fold away chairs as we don’t have too much room in the flat
I am so glad you like them, fold away anything can be great for making extra space.
Our living room only has couches, chairs and a coffee table. A couple of good footstools would be really nice.
It sounds like you have a lovely set out, but you can never go wrong with a footstool.
I think floor cushions are adorable. I probably couldn’t use one, but they’re very aesthetically pleasing.
They are definitely aesthetically pleasing, and I have to agree I don’t think I could use one anymore.
This is such a great idea! We have huge couches in our living room but amazingly there’s never enough space for when we have a party. I’ll have to try a few of your tips!
It is so bad when everyone comes around and you suddenly realise not everyone has somewhere to sit.
What great easy ideas for making guests comfortable in a smaller home. Fold up tables and chairs are a great investment, as even when you move to a larger home you’ll always find the need for more tables and chairs for parties, gatherings and unexpected guests.
Most definitely you can always pop them away in a shed or loft as well and just get them out when needed.
These seating solutions are just perfect! Bean bag chairs are amazing and the best solution to me!
I love the ones you can use indoors and out as well perfect whatever the season.
I still love bean bag chairs. Always will
They are the childhood item that can list forever you just change the look 😉
Some quite awesome ideas. I personally like stack able and/or foldable chairs which are light weight too. Easy to move around and no need to cover the space when extra sitting option is not needed.
Yes that is a good point, when they are light weight it makes all the difference to how you can shift them around.
This something I really need to consider. We could definitely use more seats in our home for when people come over.
Glad it has given you some ideas to think on 🙂
I used to have an ottoman and it worked really well for additional seating, thankfully I rarely have that many people over to my flat x
They are great aren’t they – my parents have lots of different bits people can use as a seat around.
I Love all these extra seating ideas! I really like the beanbag idea! I am going to have to keep these in mind next time we have a party since living room seating is kind of limited in my home.
Beanbags are a great idea, you can pop them away as well when your finished with them or leave them around for people to relax on anytime.
I’ve tried the beans bag solution. I think I need to find a better brand as that didn’t work to well for me. But, I am open to options 🙂
There are definitely different qualities of beanbags so worth shopping around.
We use footstools in our house to add extra seating. It is like having extra couches and I love that!
Footstools are great I really need to get myself one I think.
What a perfect post! Our living room is on the small side as well and we have a lot of furniture in there. Maybe with our little one coming, it’s time to revamp!
It is hard when you don’t have a lot of space isn’t it – trying to work out where everything should go.
The small table and chair are perfect to bring in when more seating and table room is needed. Plus it can be used inside or outside.
They are great aren’t they and the fact they fold up means they are easy to store as well.
We have pushed our coffee table against the wall and used that for extra seating, my kids use it for that on a daily basis anyway.
That sounds like a really great way to bring in some extra space.
We have these ottomans that double as extra seating. The can hold up to 250 lbs. so they’re quite sturdy.
Now they are some sturdy ottomans, definitely useful for extra storage.
Footstools definitely are a great option for small spaces. I love anything that can also be used as storage. Great tips!
They are great aren’t they such a multifunctional item.
Bean bags are great! My kids love them but I do too! Thanks for giving me the thumbs up on that one ha! 🙂
They are definitely fan aren’t they – I used to love settling down on one.
You forgot beer crates! 😀 This is what we have had to resort to in the past (admittedly student days!). Not as stylish as any of your solutions though! 😀
I have to admit I’ve never done beer crates, that said I don’t drink beer so that maybe why haha!
These are some great ideas. We usually bring a fold up table in with extra chairs. I should pick up some bean bag chairs too!
Definitely nothing wrong with having a few extra seating ideas around the place.
We have this problem, we live in a converted two up two down victorian cottage, has been extended in the back, but our living room is one of the original rooms and is very small. We have a corner sofa now which does add extra room and we are looking at getting another chair and then cushions. Great ideas here though which I am now mulling over x
I hope they help you bring in some new ideas on how to make some room in your home.
I use footstools for extra seating whenever I have a crowd over for a party. I also love the fold up seating in the first photo and those chairs would come in handy, plus they are really pretty.
They are really nice aren’t they – it is amazing how many nice pieces you can get these days.
These are really good ideas. We have a couple of bean bag chairs in our living room for the kids.
I used to love a good bean bag when I was a kid, always so comfortable.
Some great ideas
Not sure the bean bags would suit my dad’s tastes -id love them
You can have different styles of different people 😉