We are in the finial stages of plans for our dream house, based upon the 1999 Life Mag Dream house. I've enclosed a link to the plans below. The downstairs is all open except for an "away" room right inside the front. The LR is approx 14 x 19 I think, and as you can see has a large bank of windows on the south facing wall (back of the house). We are (almost) a family of 8 with a large extended family, so adequate seating is very important. While TV watching is not a primary family function, we do watch movies fairly often, so we want the TV IN the room....where it is located is not as big of a deal. The specs call for a 9 ft ceiling. We currently have this entertainment center in black.

It is 9 ft long and approx 6 1/2 ft tall. We would really like to reuse it for the time being. The current plans call for it to be somewhat centered, with a window seat to the right of it, and the fireplace diagonally in the left corner. The architect designed a wall around the entertainment center to make it appear more built in and to give a side wall to the window seat. However, because of the 9ft ceiling and the 6.5 ft height, there would be a large open space above it that we are not sure about. Also, Hubby does not like how it feels unbalanced and how our primary seating (a large black leather sectional, which would have the back portion parallel with the kitchen island, and the side wing portion under the bank of windows) puts the seating in a weird angle to view the TV. (However, our TV does swivel, so I don't see that as much of a problem). We have tried playing with the layout on another 3d program, and have done various options including the fireplace center, the TV on a left angle, and the large window seat as is; keeping the TV center, but getting rid of the large window seat and just flanking the entertainment center with two single windows (I don't like this as much because I really like the window seat and don't want to lose its function or its extra seating potential).

I found this pic here or online elsewhere and really like it. If we swapped the fireplace and entertainment center, using a similar looking fireplace (with stone surround and hearth - though it would probably need a black mantle to match the black entertainment center) on the left diagonal and our current entertainment center in the middle (where the fp is now), and made the bookshelves on the right our window seat, either facing straight into the room, or wrapped around the corner like one below, would that work?

I really like the looks of this layout from Houzz. If money were not an object and we were not trying to reuse our own entertainment center, we'd probably go with something like this. I think the corner window seat would work and help balance the corner fireplace above, but hubby isnt as sure.

traditional living room design by san francisco architect Gast Architects

Again, if we didn't want to reuse our current entertainment center, something like this could work, if we made the cut-out spaces on the wall smaller higher windows, and lost the window seat.

traditional living room design by detroit interior designer Dwellings

Any suggestions or advice will be welcome.

Here is a link that might be useful: link to first floor plans