Living Room Layout

[SuzySunshine]

Ok, as of tomorrow we will have been in the house for a year - I'm still struggling with the layout of our living room.

This is our only living room on the main floor - there is a living room/entertainment room in the basement but we don't use it. So this room has to have our TV in it - as you can see from the layout the cable outlet is across from the fireplace. The fireplace is to high to put the TV above it. There isn't really anywhere else by the fireplace to put it because of the windows which means the fireplace ends up across from the TV??

At this point we have a couch, an overstuffed chair, ottoman and a rug in the room in addition to lots of lamps (there is no overhead light), and end tables.

I don't know what to do with this room ??

These are the pictures from the previous owner.

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This is the floorplan, the little nook is all bookshelves and windows.

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HELP!!

[houseelf]

This really is not my strong suit, but I love floating furniture like what you have shown in the pictures. It is so elegant and the opposite of the tiny living spaces that I grew up with. It is a beautiful room.

[SuzySunshine]

Floating furniture? I don't know what that means. Obviously not my strong suit either.

And this is the previous owner's furniture - I'll have to take current pictures tomorrow when its daylight. Right now we have a couch on one side of the fireplace at a 90 degree angle, and the overstuffed chair on the other side with a rug in the middle so that means they also sit at a 90 degree angle to the TV, not ideal...

[OrionGrad]

How much TV watching does your family do?

[SuzySunshine]

As a family? Not much but DH & I watch after the kids are in bed and the kids do watch some cartoons sometimes.

[OrionGrad]

What if you had two sofas facing each other (like this) with the tv on the wall opposite the fireplace.

[ladymoreta]

I'm certainly not known for my design skills, but I agree that the couch at a 90 degree angle to the TV isn't comfortable. I don't ever just sit and watch a fireplace, so I definitely wouldn't worry about seating for that unless it's separate chairs. Maybe if you do something like the pictures, but turn the couch to face the TV wall and scoot it over a bit? Maybe add a narrow table behind it to tie it in with the reading nook? It's a really pretty living room!

[moonlight]

Damn. You don't have a good wall in that room for a tv. What abou putting it in the corner to the rt of the fire place? Not sure how the seating would work.

[poky]

Yeah, that room has too many windows and doors to be a good TV room. You say there's an entertainment room downstairs that you're not using...do you mind if I ask why not? I'd seriously consider using it, if the room in the pictures is the only other option.

[MsSassyBaskets]

You could separate the room into two "zones" - one to the right of the fireplace with the tv angled in the corner and the couch floating mid-room, angled facing the TV? I think if you're going to bother having a tv in this room, it should be comfortable for watching. If the tv is nonessential and you don't want the seating to face it, put it in another room.
Then you could have a second "zone" to the left of the fireplace with an area rug, a couple armchairs, and some play space for the kids? But that makes it a very casual room, and it downplays the central feature of the fireplace. If you want the fireplace as the central feature, rather than a comfortable spot for watching tv, then I'm just not sure that the tv fits. Wherever a tv goes, it tends to command the attention of the room.

I just realized I'll be struggling with this same thing in a few weeks... our new living room has doors on three sides and a decorative fireplace on the other.

[SuzySunshine]

The basement is cold and the fireplace down there doesn't work - it would take 5 figures to get the chimney lined to make it useable. An expense we're not willing to spend and in the winter I love using a fireplace. Someday it will be the movie room with a proper TV, sound system, seating, etc. but that isn't in the budget for the foreseeable future.

I also don't like/see the reason for a formal living room - so if you can't put a TV in this room what do you do with it? I hate wasted space. We are having one of the windows in the LR replaced in the next month and once that is done then we'll start looking at window coverings as well.

I tried to take pictures this morning of how we have it set-up now but as Sandy pointed out, to many windows and they didn't turn out so I'll have to do it around lunch when it has more natural light and less glare.

UGH!!

[SuzySunshine]

I've also thought about having the mantel shortened so we could put the TV above the fireplace...

[GreyhoundsRUs]

What about converting the downstairs fireplace to a fake log one?

[moonlight]

I've also thought about having the mantel shortened so we could put the TV above the fireplace...

I think that's a very good idea because it would solve so many problems. Don't give up! I'd hate to see you waste a room as well. If you put the tv in that corner you might need black out curtains for that window? Maybe not if you only watch it at night?

[Auspicious]

I'd probably try to find a way to run the cords and put the TV on the 5'0" wall and then put the sofa parallel to the tv with one arm of the sofa right where the TV jack is in the wall, and then the big chair and ottoman floating (not pushed up against a wall) between the other end of the sofa and the doorway, so they're grouped around the TV. That way the furniture faces the TV but your back isn't directly to the fireplace. (Well the chair will kind of have its back to the fireplace, but the grouping won't be "closed off" to the fireplace.)