Furniture arrangement should consider light needed for new design

A new furniture arrangement can give homeowners - or apartment dwellers living in tight quarters - the additional space that they crave.

But to save wear and tear on their backs, they should consider creating a paper design before the heavy lifting begins. Making small cutouts of their furniture to scale and moving them around can provide an idea of different configurations.

All the architectural features of a room - a fireplace, archway to another room, windows and doors – should be noted first. They may serve as a focal point, such as grouped seating around a fireplace or a window seat under a large window.

Another concern is traffic. "Do you use the room as a pathway to another room? Is the room a destination room? In other words, is the room one that people go to or go through?" asks BudgetDecorating.com. "If they go through, you need an easily navigable pathway from one room to another."

The amount of light that's needed in the new arrangement also needs to be considered, particularly if the homeowner wants to maximize natural light streaming into the room. Solar screen shades are energy-efficient and limit glare onto TV and computers when drawn, but still allow some light to filter through.