O.K. -- if the TV is not placed over the fireplace -- then try to find a corner TV cabinet and place it in the far-left hand corner -- in front of the unused door.

Then you could float the large armchair (you might have to remove the rug or perhaps switch its direction and put the front legs of the sofa and the chair on it)

Then use your credenza as a bar -- with a few larger mid-century artworks (or just one larger, longer one) above it. Add a larger lamp at the far right-hand side.

First the architecture of your home is really lovely!

Do you not like your current arrangement now that the fireplace is functional? If not, what exactly is the problem (ie: not good enough view of fire from couch, etc)?

If you put chairs flanking the either side of the fireplace and maybe wall mounted the TV and either downsized the TV stand / credenza, you could add another chair near the TV. When the TV is on you would still have some optimal viewing from the couch and could turn chairs as needed. When the fireplace is the focus, I would think you could still enjoy it from all the seats in the room.

teacats - hmmm...hadn't thought of a corner cabinet. It might be a bit too small of a space to fit the TV but I'll take some measurements. The other issue though is that that door is a French door, so the back of the cabinet would be partly visible from behind. Definitely a viable option though.

pricklypear - thank you so much! We recently rearranged the room and I don't find it to be that bad, but DH is not a fan of having the couch in front of the rad - he doesn't like how it sits away from the wall. I agree that mounting the TV on the wall where it currently is is a great alternative to mounting it over the fireplace. The reason we're trying to figure this out now is because we're getting speakers mounted in each corner of the room (clearing out the huge floor speakers to provide more seating space) so it makes sense to have the TV wall mounted at the same time. Questions is where?

If we float the couch facing the fireplace it means we have to mount the TV over the fireplace. Leaving it where it is allows the TV to go either over the fireplace or on the wall where it currently sits. If we got rid of the credenza do you think it would be too crowded to have 2 couches facing each other perpendicular to the fireplace? If so I like the idea of a chair to the left of a smaller credenza, providing more conversational seating.

If you are concerned about the back of a corner cabinet -- then simply staple simple black linen on the frame of the cabinet .... OR find a regular cabinet that would fit across the opening of the unused door (staple fabric on the back) and add a turntable for the TV itself to get the correct angle for viewing .....

Placing the TV in that corner (left of the fireplace) would open up the whole seating area -- and you could (in the future) find a clean-lined small sectional plus a swivel chair (both can be found in mid-century styles on Craigs List or in vintage shops)

IF you choose to mount the TV above the fireplace -- again -- you would have the whole seating area -- so you could do two loveseats facing each other -- plus a armchair .....

One thing I noticed is that the rug is floating in the room. I would pull it back and at least have the front of the sofa feet on it.

Looks like you already have great advise on everything else. Just wanted to share what I noticed.

teacats - good point about either the corner or over the fireplace giving us the whole area to work with for seating. i think i'm just really hesitant to put the TV that close to the fireplace though for smoke and heat reasons.

aktillery - such an obvious thing that i never even noticed! if we centered the rug on the fireplace hearth, that would probably make any seating floated parallel to the couch's current location less obtrusive too.

we met with an electrician this morning who (to no surprise) confirmed that it would be much easier for them to mount the TV on the wall where it currently is and would make any cable/hook-up changes between the TV and equipment situated below it much simpler in the future. I think eventually we'll switch the credenza out for a small cabinet that would act as a large side table to have on that wall with a chair like pricklypearcactus recommended.

Our living room is precisely set up exactly the same as yours and we have the TV on a credenza in the same place as you do. I don't believe there's any way to improve upon the arrangement you already have.

Thanks barbie08075. Glad to know we're not the only ones working with this sort of layout!!

I would turn the carpet so it it lengthwise in front of the fireplace, but back a bit.

Put the sofa in the very center of the room, facing the fireplace, and set so that the front line of the sofa is where the left edge of your credenza is now.

Then I'd get a nice sofa table to put behind the sofa and put a plant, pictures, whatever on that.

Move the credenza to another room.

Coffee table in front of the sofa, One chair facing the sofa on a diagonal at the right (from the sofa) corner of the coffee table. Second, larger chair square facing in the left end of the coffee table, in front the window. Side table next to that chair on the right (of the chair, so between the chair and the left-hand arm of the sofa.

For the TV, I'd get one of those wall attachments which allow you to pull the TV out and then angle it anyway you want, but you can push it back against the wall when you're not using it, and I'd put it to the left of the larger chair, on the wall between the window and the door to the left of the fireplace.

Put a large plant in one of the corners next to the entrance to the room, and either a second plant or an interesting piece of artwork or something in the other corner.

You're creating a square sitting area in a rectangle room by doing this. Get a second rug for behind the sofa. Doesn't have to match the other rug.

Tibbrix - thank you so much for the wonderful suggestion and apologies for the delayed response. We had talked about pulling the sofa back as you recommended with a sofa table behind it. I like your point of doing that to create a square space in a rectangular room!! Brilliant.

Unfortunately after reviewing all of the quotes we've received for this Springs list of projects, any electric costs for installing speakers and moving (let alone mounting) TV connections are just not feasible now, so we'll have to leave the TV where it is for now, but once we do have the ability to move things around, these suggestions will be really helpful. I measured the corner to the left of the fireplace and it's a little too small for our new 40" TV (go figure the 26" we just replaced would have fit just fine!!), but I'm thinking maybe a swivel mount inside a cabinet might do the trick to tuck the TV into that space and open up the seating.

Thank you all for your help!!

Have you considered a good quality sound bar and woofer for the flat screen instead of additional speaker?

Here's another option for the floor plan. You need a larger size rug for this room to anchor it properly whether you keep the existing arrangement or change it up.

I, too, would leave the room the way it is (lovely, btw). I don't care for TV over fpl either ergonomically or functionally. What's more, it draws attention to the TV, when id rather use that space for art.

Consider, too, that the amount of time you spend watching a fire is likely to be far less then watching TV. Once the novelty of having it work wears off, you may only light it 5-6 times a year or less!

alicia, you can mount the TV yourself. It's easy to do.

Watch this video.

Here is a link that might be useful: Installing TV on articulating arm, hiding cables