Since every room is different, having one interior design rule for arranging furniture is unrealistic. However, there are universal furniture arranging rules that are applicable to use in a lot of spaces.
Here are 5 furniture arranging rules for a successful room interior design according to Apartment Therapy:
Keep heavy objects far from the entry point when possible
For smaller spaces, a good interior design furniture arranging rule to follow is to put heavy or bulky objects as far from the entry point as possible. This will take away the visual bulk by keeping it a long distance from your eyes and allowing more view of the rest of the room.
Aim for balance
Distribute visual weight to make the room feel balanced especially for small spaces. If you have a heavy piece of furniture but don't have another one to balance the weight, you can use the interior design furniture arranging trick which is incorporating bold or dramatic design elements to balance out the visual weight and make up for the missing heavy piece.
Don't crowd the entry
Same as the first tip, keep the entry way as free-flowing as possible. Keep bulky pieces of furniture away and don't let items sit too close to the door or potentially be in the way of the traffic flow.
Don't always push against the walls
Putting furniture up against the walls will make a room feel surrounded and a little too airy in the middle. A good interior design furniture arranging tip to apply is to pull furniture pieces away from the wall and use pieces as visual dividers to break the space into smaller seating arrangements. For more centered spots, stools and tables are great pieces to use.
Think about movement through the space
When doing interior design furniture arrangement, keep the pieces in positions that make the movement in the space smooth and as obstacle-free as possible. Arranging pieces and creating too many "small" traffic aisles between walls and furniture is a common mistake. To fix this, you can squeeze furniture together to create wider main travel aisles in the rooms; this will help generate obvious and intentional traffic flow.