Comparing furniture arrangements side by side

Use saved alternatives to compare two or more layouts for the same room on size, conflicts, distances and your own cost estimates before deciding.

It is hard to judge a layout on its own. Put two next to each other and the better one is usually obvious. The Room Planner lets you save any arrangement as a named alternative and compare them side by side.

How to do it

Build your first arrangement in the Room Planner.
Open “Alternatives and comparison” and choose “Save as alternative”. Give it a name that describes the idea, such as “Sofa on window wall”.
Change the room. Move, swap or resize furniture for your second idea. Your first is stored and will not change.
Save the second idea as another alternative.
Choose “Compare”. Each arrangement is shown with its plan, room size, floor area, furniture count and any supported geometric conflicts.
Optionally add your own cost estimates. Type an amount and a three-letter currency code for each arrangement. Amounts in different currencies stay on separate lines.
Restore the one you prefer. Before an alternative is restored, the current arrangement is saved automatically as a new alternative, so nothing is lost.

Same room, same furniture, two ideas. Judging them together is easier than judging either alone.

What to look at when comparing

Conflicts. An arrangement with detected conflicts needs fixing before it is a real option.
The walking route. Trace how you get from the door to each seat and to the window. Does either arrangement make you squeeze past something?
Tight distances. Restore each alternative in turn, select the largest item, and read its distances to the walls.
What you would need to buy. If one option needs a new, smaller table, note the cost against it.
Daylight and views. The plan does not show these. Stand in the room and imagine each option.

Worked example

In a 360 × 420 cm living room, Option A puts a 215 cm sofa on the long side wall facing a TV unit. Selecting the coffee table shows 48 cm to the sofa and 120 cm to the TV unit. Option B puts the sofa under the window on the 360 cm wall: 360 − 215 = 145 cm remains beside it, enough for an 85 cm armchair with 60 cm between them, but the TV unit now faces the window and the door swing lands 30 cm from the sofa’s arm.

In the comparison view both show “None detected”, and you enter 0 extra cost for A and 180 EUR for B (a narrower side table). A wins on route and cost; B wins on seating. The numbers do not decide for you, but they make the trade-off visible.

Common mistakes

Comparing arrangements with different furniture without noting what would have to be bought or sold.
Keeping ten near-identical alternatives. Delete the ones you have ruled out; each room can hold up to 20.
Treating “no conflicts detected” as proof that a layout works in daily life.

Limits

Alternatives belong to one room. To experiment with a whole home, duplicate the project in My Home and change the copy.

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