I meant to say that this is the "piano/sitting" side of the L-shaped room so i consider it our 'living room' and the tv/couch side (which is behind & to the right of the two fern print chairs) is what I call the 'family room.' So the loveseat & front door area are visible from the FR sofa, which is probably why I keep looking at it and obsessing about things like where the table would hit the window sill. ;-)

OK. I know you have said rearranging the furniture is out, so humor me............

Is it possible to put the piano on the wall where the chairs are now? Then put the couch on the end where the piano now sits? Chairs in front of the window? With that cabinet by the door moved between them. Bring the chairs forward a bit and tilt them slightly in towards each other. A big rug to bring all the pieces together?

I would not replace the bookshelves with new narrow ones. They would still crowd and dominate the piano and bulk up the room. Do you really need two bookcases in the room? Can they find better usefulness in the family room?

The darker legs on the chair look better than having them "match the floor". Having no contrast would not look as good. In fact it may be better to stain the wood legs on the couch darker to match the chairs.

I like end table "B" the best. The are a lot of harsh lines in the room and the oval softens things. With a piano in the room and contemporary furniture something in a fresh, clean lined, traditional balances it out.

Dilly Dally- Thanks! No, the piano doesn't work on that wall. I tried that before I moved the piano to its current spot (using tape to mark the piano on the floor since moving the piano is hard to say the least!). I'd actually prefer to have the piano on that wall b/c it's an interior wall. But because the chair wall is the shortest wall in the room, if the piano is on that wall it ends up too close to the back wall (where the piano is now) and obstructs access to the loveseat.

The bookshelves do not fit in the family room. There are too many windows and doorways for even one bookshelf to fit (and i could only get one in if I eliminate some seating). Eventually we will expand our 2nd story and I hope to put built-in bookshelves in the landing, but for now I have to keep most of our books downstairs.

Yes, I plan to get an area rug. I'm waiting until I find a chair for the family room side, so I can decide whether to move the FR rug to the LR, or keep the FR rug where it is and get a new one for the LR.

I would put curtain panels on the windows behind the love seat to soften the room and give it more life. It might also solve the problem of the height of the side table. The drapes (good place for a tight budget is Penney's) and carpet will add a great deal of interest to the room. The book cabinets do crowd the piano. I would also hang a larger, much more dramatic piece of art over the piano to add some drama there. The chairs should be angled and pulled closer to the love seat, and I'd pull the love seat out a little to make the whole into a cozy conversation area. I think you need more color in the room. Perhaps rust-colored window panels and pillows to match. Right now everything seems bland. I don't see your personality in the room. Unfortunately I can't see the tables or chairs so can't give an opinion on that. I also think a couch instead of a love seat would look better in that space, but you did mention a tight budget. I do think that area will look more substantial though if you have curtain panels. Good luck with your project.

I would turn the piano at an angle so the player may see the others in the room, face the furniture to the piano player and place book cases (non interactive furniture) to the player's back. Room looks long, so you can even pull the piano forward into the room creating a space for the piano, player and the guest together and a second space to the wall on the other side of the player for sheet music, books and such.

Hmm, curtains would help with the side table size issue. Will definitely have to give that some thought. I like the simplicity of the roman shades in this room, and have only had these about a year, so I'm not sure if DH will be open to taking them down & having curtains installed. Great idea though ingrid.

Totally agree that the art over the piano was too small. Looks like a postage stamp from a distance. I lost the piece that usually hangs over the piano, and some other art I was storing, when our basement flooded in the fall. I also think the personal photos on the piano were making the piano less of a focal point, so I took those off.

Is this any better? Or is something even larger needed?

Before:

After:

Bodica--the room isn't as long as the photo makes it look; from the front door to the side wall is only about 12 feet, and the chair wall is about 10 feet. Which way are you suggesting that it be angled, towards the windows or towards the chair wall? I tried one angled layout when i moved the furniture and it didn't work but I can't remember where I tried angling it.

Another person trying to move your furniture! LOL

Can you take that small cabinet away from the doorway? Then turn the loveseat so its back is to the end of the room where you stood to take the pix, and center it opposite the piano. Get a console table behind it that will serve as a lamp table but also define the entry area. Get a small rug there by the door, a rectangular runner to create the sense of an entry.

Move the one chair down the wall a bit, and take the other one and put opposite the first chair, this time on the window wall. You will have created a seating area with the loveseat opposite the piano, and one chair on either side of the loveseat. Small tables by each chair would be nice, and i would angle the chairs a bit to face the loveseat. You could use the floor lamp by one of the chairs, too.

The bookcases are too short in comparison to the piano, so everything feels heavy and squatty at the end of the room. Consider taking the two art pieces by the chairs and hanging one above each bookcase to add height. Then add a full greenery planter on one bookcase, a collection of three vases or candlesticks on the other to add to the illusion height. The larger, long pix over the piano is nice, but hung too high. Hang it no more than about six inches above the piano.

An area rug would be nice to create a cohesive feel between all the seating.

Another alternative for arranging the furniture,but perhaps a bit more unusual. I would take the two bookcases, put them side by side, and put them right by the entry door, facing the end of the room where you stood to take the pix. They will create an entry half-wall of sorts, and I am thinking that they should be about the the depth of the wall space between the door and the window.

On the other side of the bookcases place the piano, so that it is back to back with the bookcases. essentially,it will no longer be visible from the entry, because it appears that the piano is no wider than the width of the two bookcases together.

Then put the loveseat on the end wall where the piano is now. End table on the right side, just the floor lamp on the window wall end. Put the two chairs on either side of the loveseat, facing one another and angled a bit to the loveseat, and a round or oval coffeetable or ottoman in the middle.

You can keep the roman shades and add panels. I agree that the fabric will help soften the room. I also think Les's suggestions are terrific and hope you will try them or even use Arrange-a-Room to check out the ideas. I've found the slider things a great help in moving heavy furniture.

Can you post a photo of the other part of the L-shaped room please? I know you said you swapped everything to get a better arrangement, but perhaps there is still something to be done? And I wouldn't even be playing with art over the piano or buying a rug right now, because, with those bookshelves flanking the piano and the loveseat taking up have the long narrow space the way it is now, your piano is not going to be the focal point no matter how you do your art. It needs the shelves gone and I'm just hoping there's some other spot in your house you haven't thought about yet for your books.

Red

Thanks everyone. I definitely understand the temptation to re-arrange. I literally spent months playing around with layouts on arrange a room & other software and then as soon as we got rid of the armoire I spent the night/early a.m. moving all the furniture around to try different options; it's a challenging space b/c it's small, has un-even wall widths, and way too many passageways & windows.
Les's 1st suggestion has potential (tried it when i moved the stuff the 1st time although i didn't have the chairs yet so it was harder to visualize). But it makes the room look smaller & only leaves about 30" to pass on each side of the loveseat(the short wall and passage to the other side means i have to float the loveseat so that it's even with where it is now, just rotated perpendicularly). But I will try it again tomorrow to see what DH thinks. 2nd suggestion won't work b/c of the disparity in wall widths.

The cabinet by the door will definitely go once I find an end table; it's just there as a placeholder. The bookshelves will be gone soon (hate them in that spot--they used to flank the armoire on the chair wall--- but I needed someplace to store books in the interim).

Hmm, was wondering if roman shades would work with panels; will keep that in mind, thanks andee.

Red--Good point re: delaying the art & rug. I was out shopping for rugs again this weekend (have been looking since I bought the chairs a couple weeks ago) but having trouble pulling the trigger with other aspects of the room still in flux. Will probably just return that art or move it somewhere else.

I've had two ideas re: bookshelves since posting. One is getting custom corner units from the unfinished furniture store, tall enough to end at or near the ceiling, ending about 12-16" away from the piano. Similar to built-in corner china cabinets I've seen in other houses in my area, except that these would just hold books and not have doors. The other idea is to put a single ceiling-height bookshelf in between the two chairs (instead of an end table), and then flank the piano with two low bookshelves (around the height of the keys). It would be even better to just have 1 tall bookshelf between the chairs and leave the space on either side of the piano empty, but I think we have too many books (DH has boxes of books that he put in storage when we were planning to sell the house; I need to get him to go retrieve them next weekend so I can see exactly how much shelf space we need). Would those ideas work? If I go the custom route I will have to wait a couple of months to get them.

I need to go to bed and my camera battery is dead, so I will take pix of the other side of the room tomorrow.

It occurred to me when looking at the pictures that corner bookshelves might be a good option. Can you (ugh) empty one of the bookcases and angle it in a corner to give an idea of what it might look like?

I do not think using corner bookcases will solve the problem. Right now the piano/bookcase thing going on looks like an altar at the end of the room.

How about, slide the piano over to the right and angle it. Slide that bookcase over to the left so it is right next to the one on the left in the corner. The player would be facing the corner but since it is angled it is more "friendly". The two bookcases pushed together will form one "whole". Put the CDs in pull out baskets to cut down on the cluttery feel the bookcases have with so many little things stored there. Edit books if you can.

This arrangment will eliminate the 'long hallway' feel it has now and the 'piano as a bullseye' pinpoint at the end of the room.

Hi, just a newbie/lurker here, I have a small square room with 2 doors, a closet and two nice size corner windows and feel your pain. ;-) That said,(Please forgive me)I really want to re-arrange your room and can't help myself. :-O

Could you replace the chairs with the bookcases side by side. Then place chairs on either side of the couch facing each other, or eliminate the chairs and add a ottoman coffee table. Curtain panels with the roman shades, different shaped end table, a rug and the contrast chair legs all sound like wonderful ideas and I am writing these down for my own use.

kay