If you have spotted furnitures from the stores or catalogues that you'd like to put in your living room, take note of the measurement. Make cut out miniature templates of these furnitures using the correct dimension. Play around with the templates on the floor plan to find the best position to place the 'furniture'. The cut out templates allow ample space for trial and error. If you're using a computer program, just enter the dimension for a particular kind of furniture (for example, a cupboard). Drag the 'furniture' on your floor plan, and start moving it around to suit your taste and style.

Bear in mind that you need to allow some space around a particular piece of furniture, for it to work.

for sofas and armchairs, include the leg room required for stretching out.

for desks and dining tables, include the space required for chairs. Remember that you need extra space for pulling out the chairs, and then using it for sitting down.

for cupboards and storage furnitures, reserve a space for opening doors, drawers or sliding shelves.

Try to use different colours and fabric swatches on the floor plan. This will help you decide on how to best arrange your furnitures later on. It will also alert you on whether there's a need to re-position your electrical sockets and telephone terminals, whether you need wirings on a particular section of your living room, and so on. By drawing up a floor plan, you'll be able to organise everything that you need in your living room, well in advance.