Struggling with awkward living room spaces? Discover smart living room decorating ideas for long, narrow, and awkward layouts to create a cozy, functional home.
If you’re struggling with awkward living room spaces—whether you’re decorating a long living room, a narrow living room, or a space that just never feels quite right—you are not alone.
Awkward layouts happen in both large and small homes, and they can make even the most beautiful living room decor feel unfinished. That’s why I’m sharing 38 practical, real-life living room decorating ideas to help you fill empty or challenging areas while creating a warm, collected space that invites you to slow down and truly live.
Somehow, nearly every home I’ve lived in has come with its own version of awkward living room design—oversized rooms that feel hollow, narrow living rooms that resist furniture placement, long spaces that feel more like hallways than gathering spots, and open-concept great rooms where the living room, kitchen, and dining area all flow together.
Over the years, I’ve learned that successful living room decorating isn’t about forcing furniture to fit—it’s about layering intention, balance, and function into even the most awkward corners.
So if you’re staring at an empty corner or a long wall wondering what on earth goes there, let me reassure you: it’s not you. Awkward living room spaces create creative roadblocks for everyone.
Together, we’ll walk through tried-and-true decorating formulas that help transform awkward living room layouts into beautiful, functional living room decor that feels cohesive, cozy, and unmistakably like home.
Thrifting With the Gals
Before we dive into the awkward spaces in my own home and I start showing you some solutions we’ve used over the years, let me take a quick moment to introduce you to some of my blogging friends from Thrifting with the Gals! Each month, I join with these talented and creative friends to share a variety of thrifted home decor related topics, ranging from our latest thrifting adventures to DIY ideas to styling tips, seasonal decorating, and more! You are going to love their monthly thrifting posts and I hope you’ll subscribe to each one of their blogs, also, so that you never miss any of their beautiful decorating ideas!
Since we all come from different parts of the country, it makes it especially fun and interesting to see the thrifted finds each one is coming up with through the year! At the end of this blog post, you can catch a sneak peek of what each one is sharing this month along with a clickable link to visit their thrifting blog post.
Rachel from The Pond’s Farmhouse
Ann from Dabbling and Decorating
Lora from Create and Ponder
and myself! (subscribe HERE!)
38 Decor Ideas to Fill Awkward Spaces in a Living Room
We are going to take a deep dive into creating different zones to fill awkward spaces in a living room, along with furniture layout ideas for both large spaces, an open floor plan, a small living room space, room dividers, and odd corners. First, though, here is a list of some specific ways that we have created distinct areas in our long room and addressed problem area spots to make our home feel cozy and inviting.
Here are 38 ways that I recommend to fill awkward spaces in a living room:
Many of these are decorating options that I have used in my own home over the years!
- Create separate areas with functional space for specific ways of living
- Use area rugs to anchor a living space, no matter the room size
- Consider larger scale items to fill the space
- Float your furniture away from the walls
- Utilize modular furniture to give different options for furniture arrangement
- Add accent chairs for more seating areas as well as visual interest with pattern and color
- Install a bookshelf for storage and display space
- Create a home office nook
- Create a reading nook or cozy space with a chair and small accent table
- Add a floor lamp for dark corners
- Tall plants bring any space to life
- Place furniture in the center of the room for a small conversation area to divide a room or fill an awkward corner
- Hang architectural salvage for visual interest
- Use a console table as a room divider
- Use a small table for games as a room divider
- Fill a corner with a stack of baskets for aesthetics and also for extra storage
- Utilize additional storage as pretty accent furniture
- Use a bar cart as a room divider or to fill an awkward corner
- Hang a gallery wall
- Add a small bench
- Add a small side table, end table, or accent table
- Use wall hangings
- Create a play area for kids
- Display unique vintage items to give character to a living room
- Add a faux tree in the corner of the living room
- Create a music corner to fill an awkward space
- Add extra seating: stools, poufs, ottomans, floor cushions
- Use an easel to display a favorite piece of artwork and fill a corner
- Hang or lean a tall mirror on the wall
- Use a plant stand for indoor plants or herb garden
- Lean or hang a personal touch against the wall: old oars, skis, surfboard, guitar
- Vintage or vintage style ladder – leaning against a wall or hanging
- Hang shallow shelf ledges for photographs and artwork
- Create an art corner for kids (or a new hobby for you!)
- Add a comfortable chair in a small corner designated for morning coffee and prayer
- Add cozy layers with smaller pieces and decorative elements like throw pillows and cozy blankets
- Repeat color, texture, and pattern throughout the rest of the room
- Add creative lighting: sconces or hanging lanterns
- Edited to add more than 38 solutions: Add a swivel chair for a creative room divider
- Tuck a small bench or stools under a large coffee table for extra seating without impeding the best traffic flow of the living area
- Hang a pretty clock on the wall
Fill Awkward Spaces in a Living Room by Creating Designated Zones
When trying to arrange furniture and decorative items to fill awkward spaces in a living room, a great place to start is by carefully thinking through the function and use of the room in question. The best way to avoid having to fill awkward spaces in a living room is by creating different areas for specific ways that you may use empty areas or dead spaces in a large room.
While small space design definitely requires creative ideas to fill awkward spaces in a living room, a larger room can also be just as challenging, especially if it has long walls or narrow living space.
A large room can be the perfect place to create designated zones for different uses. You can maximize the way you use these empty areas by figuring out the ways that your family currently uses the spaces and what you would like to use the areas for.
For example, you may create a large seating area, anchored with a rug, centered to an entertainment center focal point such as a TV or fireplace. In the empty room corners, you may add a game table or even a small bistro-size table for card games. In another empty corner, a bookshelf and comfortable chair could make a great reading nook or cozy spot for morning coffee while also helping you to fill awkward spaces in a living room!
This is a great balance of larger furniture pieces, using the available space in functional ways, and creating a long living room layout that can work in real life.
Fill Awkward Spaces in a Living Room by Using Larger Scale Items to Fill the Space
How do you fill a large open space in a living room?
Larger living rooms also present the challenge of how to fill up enough of the empty floor space without feeling cluttered. In addition to creating separate areas for living room activities, you may consider using larger scale furniture and decorative items to help the large space feel complete while you also fill awkward spaces in a living room.
For example, rather than a regular sofa and love seat, you could try an extra long sectional couch to help fill awkward spaces in a living room. In addition to actually covering more square footage in the large room, the sectional carries more visual weight without having a cluttered appearance. It is better to have a few large pieces of furniture rather than more pieces of smaller furniture. More pieces, even though smaller, can sometimes make a room feel a bit cluttered.
One of my favorite ways to fill awkward spaces in a living room where there is empty floor space is with an oversized coffee table. In our back living room, which is actually a smaller room, we used to have an oversized, almost 6 foot coffee table.
Actually, it was an antique library table. We cut the legs down to coffee table height and it became one of our favorite spaces to play family games or hang out with friends. Often, when we entertained a larger group of people, friends could be found sitting around this table on floor cushions.
Even though this coffee table was oversized for the space, it functioned perfectly for us and allowed the living room area to have a distinct function and designation. It also worked to fill awkward spaces in a living room that is an unusual size but had a distinct function.
We only recently swapped this large coffee table out when we built the center fireplace wall and changed around the layout of the room to fit our changing needs as a family!
Pro Tip: You get to break the “design rules” to make your home function best for YOU!
Fill Awkward Spaces in a Living Room by Floating Your Furniture
To be able to create designated zones to fill awkward spaces in a living room, you may need to consider floating furniture pieces away from the walls. An example of this is our main living room which functions as a family room for us. It is another of the long, narrow rooms in our home.
To make this living room and narrow space function well for us, we need a walkway to and from the game room on one end. On the other end, we need a walkway or hallway type of space to lead to the dining room and bedroom wing. So, our sectional sofa and a comfy swivel chair are floated in the middle of the room.
The swivel chair can turn to allow conversation if someone is in the kitchen, turn to face the slider doors to the pool, swivel to face the TV, or turn back to enjoy conversation with whomever is sitting on the sectional. If you have limited space for seating, awkward living room layout ideas that float furniture can end up being your best friend!
What I love about this is that it allows a large open space around our dining room, family room, and kitchen for guests to mingle when we are entertaining Floating the furniture also left a large blank wall on the other end, where we added two vintage locker units for extra space to store books, photo albums, music, and media items. Nestled in front of the large windows, between the lockers, two accent chairs with a side table and table lamp fit perfectly.
This makes a cozy conversation area while the chairs can also be easily turned in for overflow on movie nights!
The other benefit to floating your furniture is that you can place it in the best proximity for conversation. If all of the furniture is hugging the walls in a large living room, it may cause an uncomfortable distance for conversation between family and friends.
The third thing I love about floating furniture to fill awkward spaces in a living room is that the furniture can serve as a visual room divider. For example, in an open concept layout, a couch with a pretty sofa table could visually divide the living room from the dining room. If you have a small room with an open concept between the living room and dining room, the sofa table makes a great option for a buffet for the dining room when needed.
Floating the living room furniture is an easy way to gain multiple functions for one piece of furniture, as this simple and easy layout can serve multiple purposes with a pretty writing desk acting as a sofa table, working desk space, or a dining table buffet!
What is the 2/3 rule for living rooms?
Basically, this “rule” is a guidance for how much furniture and decor you should actually fill your living room space with. The 2/3 guidance suggests that you should fill about a 2:3 ratio of your living room with furniture and decor, leaving a 1:3 ratio of empty.
While the two thirds proportion is a good rule of thumb, remember that this is just a guidance to help you fill awkward spaces in a living room. Depending on the size and needs of any individual space, you may have a little more or less of a 2:3 ratio depending on how the room fits your needs.
Fill Awkward Spaces in a Living Room by Using Unique Vintage Decorative Items
How do you fill odd space in a living room?
Wall decor can often be a great option to fill awkward spaces in a living room. Empty wall space is fine, of course, but if you have a really large bare wall, it may be the thing that is making your living room feel awkward or incomplete.
If you have a large empty wall that is central to the room and part of a sitting area, consider turning it into a pretty accent wall. You could use wallpaper, paint, or wall trim to elevate the design and help you fill awkward spaces in a living room. For the large wall in our family room, I love creating a seasonal gallery wall!
If your bare wall is smaller and kind of off by itself (remember, we are talking about awkward spaces here!), consider where the wall is closest to in proximity and how it can possibly function. If it is near the front door, a pretty mirror might be perfect for a quick check on the way out the door! Or, if you have a blank space near the mudroom, how about a digital organizer like my Skylight Calendar to help keep the family schedule, calendar, and chores organized?
Not every spaces has to be overly functional. Sometimes it is fun to just have a space to decorate just for the sake of looking pretty! You may consider a unique vintage item, such as a basket or architectural salvage piece, to hang on the wall.
A blank or awkward space in a living room might also be a great chance to add some kind of conversation piece, such as vintage item.. A stack of vintage baskets can provide extra storage space while a pretty antique ladder is perfect to display pretty and cozy throw blankets. A small vintage cabinet is perfect to fill a corner and display a favorite collection or try using something non-conventional in a functional way.
For example, we added this antique postal sorter as a small study desk space!
Pro Tip: A single large item can fill the space in a simple, uncluttered way.
Fill Awkward Spaces by Repeating Color, Texture, and Pattern Throughout the Rest of the Room
How to fill an empty space in a living room?
No matter the size or interior design style of your space, one of the very best ways to fill awkward spaces in a living room (or any other room, for that matter) is to repeat color, texture, and pattern throughout the entire room. Repetition is the key to make your living room look curated and intentional.
While there are many and varied interior design rules about how many colors you can use in a room or exactly how you are supposed to mix patterns in a space, I am not much for decorating “rules,” even when it comes to trying to fill awkward spaces in a living room. Whether I am decorating big rooms or small room areas, my formula generally starts with just gathering items that I love.
After all, I think that is what makes a room feel part of a curated home rather than a pretty house.
Then, I like to choose a general decor style, such a coastal cottage or “Coastal Grandmother”.
Pro Tip: Resist the urge to get too bogged down with naming a decor style, however. While interior designers may use a general decor style as a starting point, a well-curated home will evolve over the years, showing layers of history. You will create the most personal, cozy home by adding what you love rather than what necessarily fits a certain decorating style.
Next, I usually choose about 3 colors to repeat throughout the room. In my summer living room, I mixed light blue with an earthy tan and shades of white. While there are not 3 exact colors, the mix of shades fall within the color idea and coordinate together easily.
For texture, I again repeated 3 textures: the light wood tone, white coral, and woven textures throughout the space. These textures organically blend with my shades of earth tones and white while also adding visual interest.
Pro Tip: Decorative pillows, pillow covers, artwork, rugs, old books, and items from nature are my favorite ways to bring color, texture, and pattern into the most important rooms of our home, one of which is the living room!
How to Decorate an Awkward Corner in Your Living Room
It’s true. Most of us probably struggle, at least sometimes, with how to decorate empty living room corners. Since living room corners aren’t really the focal point of the entire room, nor are they usually a large wall space, it can be tricky to decorate empty living room corners in a way that is both pretty and functional for your home.
The good news is that there are actually a lot of fun corner decor ideas, depending on your living room layout, where you can turn these specifically awkward corners into very useful and beautiful spaces in your home!
If you have an empty corner of your living room that needs some creative inspiration, hopefully at least one of these ideas can help turn that empty corner space into a welcoming and cozy part of your home.
Many of the ideas for filling a living room space can also apply to create pretty and purposeful use for the unused spaces in the corners of your room. Plus, if you are anything like me, you want every inch of space to function in the best possible way for your family and home.
Ideas to Fill an Awkward Corner of a Living Room
- Comfortable chair
- Add a tall tree
- Incorporate plants with an interesting pedestal
- Lean a ladder
- Add a bookshelf
- Bring in extra storage with a cabinet
- Stack baskets
- Use a round accent table
- Add creative lighting like floor lamps or table lamps
- Hang something from the ceiling
Unless you’ve got the perfect house, you probably have at least one awkward space in your home. I definitely have several! Even though I love our home, it presents decorating challenges but that can be part of the fun (right????)
I hope this post helps you think creatively about how to fill awkward spaces in a living room. Over the past year, we’ve done a lot of work in our home, looking at some of our awkward or unused spaces and reevaluating how we can reclaim square footage of our home in meaningful, functional ways that still feel cozy.
What awkward spaces do you have in your home and how have you addressed them? I’d love to hear in the comments!
To browse some of my favorite home decorating ideas, accents, and accessories, I invite you to visit my storefront HERE! I add to my curations almost daily, as I find things I love and think you may also enjoy!
Thrifting With the Gals
I started out talking about today’s Thrifting WIth the Gals feature. Now be sure to check out these amazing posts from my blogging friends below. Aren’t their previews amazing? You’ll love their content as much as I do!
Rachel from The Pond’s Farmhouse
Ann from Dabbling and Decorating
Lora from Create and Ponder
You may also enjoy these home decor related blog posts:
- 10 Unique Vintage Home Decor Ideas for Your Home
- 23 Easy Ideas to Decorate Empty Living Room Corners
- 60+ Thrifted Home Decor Ideas to Decorate on a Low Budget
- Coffee Table Ideas for Small Spaces + How to Decorate
- How to Decorate a Coffee Table in 4 Easy, Budget-Friendly Steps
- Step By Step Guide for Easy Console Table Decor Ideas
- How to Decorate a Kitchen Shelf: Tips for Open Shelving
- Simple Ideas for Easy Kitchen Countertop Organization
- How to Decorate a Bathroom Countertop: Functional Ideas
