The best chair is often decided by daily use rather than the original arrangement.

Rooms get arranged once and then corrected slowly by living in them. The chair that everybody wants is rarely the one the layout intended; it wins because of the light at four o’clock, or the distance to the kettle, or the way the back happens to fit. Use is a better designer than intention, and it works by accumulation rather than by plan.

Watch where people actually sit, stand and put things down in your home. Then move the furniture to agree with them instead of the other way round. A layout that matches how the place is used stops feeling like a place you are visiting.