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Worked room · 16 × 20 ft

Hosting living room

Sixteen by twenty. Party and family collide at the door.

A good room asked to host and to be the family den. Guests arrive into the television. Kids' things live on the only sofa.

What Room Lab concluded

Buy nothing yet

strongFunction 76

Function is what is wrong. Clear the primary walk — no money yet.

Why
Function is the primary friction at 76. Function scores 76. Multi-job capacity, storage vs. use, work/rest zoning. Reset at 64 is real, but it is not the thing a body hits first. Deep sofa narrows the primary walk to 23" — 13" under the minimum. Addresses congestion and storage pile with a measured cause behind it. It costs nothing, takes about 30 minutes, and is undone in a minute.
Caveat
Unnamed: how often hosting happens; whether dining on the east can take overflow seats.
Next
Remove anything that is not furniture from the walk, then look hard at Deep sofa, which is what narrows it. Bags, mail, laundry, the chair that became a hook. Measure: Tape the walk. It measures 23" now and must hold 36" with the door open.

This holds until: The “Clear the primary walk” step is complete and a second reading shows what changed.

Driven by Function score (76). Strong — every condition scored, ranked, and clear of a tie.

Free moves first

  1. Clear the primary walk

    Remove anything that is not furniture from the walk, then look hard at Deep sofa, which is what narrows it. Bags, mail, laundry, the chair that became a hook.

    How to tell it worked: A body walks it without turning the shoulders.

  2. Empty the pile onto a table

    One surface. Sort: leave the room / stay in the room / leave the house. Do not buy storage yet.

    How to tell it worked: The walk does not grow a new pile in 48 hours.

  3. Give the seats something to look at

    Move whatever stands between the seat and what the room is arranged around, or turn the seat. Both are free, both take a minute, and one of them is almost always enough.

    How to tell it worked: Every seat that is used has a clear line to something worth looking at.

Then one reversible test at a time

  • One reversible split

    Place a folding screen, a tension curtain, or a planted trough on the line between the two jobs. Live with it for seven days. Do not also move the bed in the same week.

    Measure: Can you do job A without seeing job B? Time the walk around the split — it must not pinch 36 inches.

  • Move the largest piece once

    Shift the sofa, island, or bed off the crossing. Live with painter's tape marking the old footprint. Do not buy a new piece this week.

    Measure: Primary path ≥ 36". Conversation or work still functions.

  • Planted edge as a wall

    Three sides. Two can be plants in pots. One chair with a back against the third.

    Measure: You stay for twenty minutes. The body feels a room.

Not worth buying yet

  • Another rug before the walk is clear. Rugs do not fix circulation. They hide it.
  • Hardwired statement fixture. Fixtures wait for a passed light test.
  • Decorative storage cubes for the pile. A lid is not a sort. Empty the pile first.