What are absolute "must haves" in the room? Do you need to keep all of the furniture? Are you willing to take out the cabinets? I think that would help tremendously. I know they are great for storage, but aesthetically I don't think they work in the room.

I have thought of removing the cabinets but, I will not be able to do that at this time. Everything will pretty much have to stay, aside from end tables, and please ignore the milkcan. The plants can also be moved.

Hi Sandra,

I thought the same thing about your cabinets when I saw the room. It really sucks all of the light out of the room. If removing them aren't an option, would you considering covering them with something that makes them lighter. Not necessarily painting them, but maybe some sort of light canvas.

-I also think it would provide more room if you got rid of one of the chairs in the living room.

-Behind your couch, I think you should pick either the paintings or the mirror. They look kind of ackward side by side like that. Also, with whatever you choose, maybe raise them a bit on the wall, so that they don't look like they're "crowding" the couch.

Sandra, not sure but is there room to move your couch to the left wall? (referring to the first pic) Then you could put two chairs on the wall where the couch is now? I am terrible at "eyeballing" as my husband calls it...so I may be totally off base as far as measurement goes.
My LR is kinda like yours...long and very difficult to arrange things in. I have tried everything too, and it seems I am limited to one or two arrangements. I have fewer pieces now since I weeded things out a few years ago, but still it's hard with the shape of the room!

Choclot, yes I would love to take those cabinets out but, cannot at this time. Even with them out I still can not figure how to make a new arrangement. The chairs have to stay since the recliner is mine and the leather chair Dh. That's where we sit to watch tv. The room is not that small 12x22 but, it has the front door and kitchen doorway, that makes a path across the room. We do not use the front door, except to let the dog out, so any ideas how to change this configuration?

Liz, if I turn the couch it fits right up against the wall with the mirror. Then the chairs will not fit. Thanks for the idea though.

Sandra, can you move the TV to the wall opposite the window? I know with Cable sometimes that's not possible. If so I have a couple ideas.

Consider painting out the bottom trim and the cabinets AND the walls in a soft neutral color. Just doing that will help to visually unify the room -- and get rid of that choppy look.

Try to find another spot for the fish tank. Switch the sofa table to that spot!! Move out the plants -- and push the sofa back against the wall so that you use every inch of available floor space!!

Place two matching lamps (or one standing lamps and one table lamp) on each end of the sofa. Then you can re-adjust the two chairs around the room.

Clear the space around the TV -- and simplify the area by adding a small but tall bookcase or shelving unit on the right-hand side.

Can the tv go where the fishtank is? It seems like it would be less awkward to watch tv if it was on that wall?? Put the closet doors back on; paint that whole cabinet wall and the door trim the same color as your wall color. I agree to putting the sofa against the wall by removing the table behind it.

I would reorient the entire room. Since that appears to be the entry space, it seems very odd to have the tv as a part of that area.

I would put the fishtank where the tv is. Take the sofa table that I think might be behind the couch and put that where the fishtank is with a lamp on it, the mirror over it, some accessories on the table, one of the trees beside it on the right side to soften that wall space.

I would put the new tv on the short wall where the single picture is hanging right now. Put the couch on the window wall, with a table on the end closer to the entry. Put the two chairs down on the end wall with an end table and lamp between them. The artwork will need to be moved around, but that should wait until all the furniture is in place. Keep the red ottoman for the leather chair, but perhaps push it against the wall that will hold the tv, when the ottoman is not being used. The brown ottoman could either stay in front of the couch.

I agree that it would be great to either paint the cabinets out to the wall color or stain them a darker tone for a more modern feel to match your furniture. If you like, you could think about adding some moulding to give them a paneled door look for a more current feel. I would change out the hardware (including hinges) to ORB or black. You could replace them, or just spray paint them with paint for metals.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I really should take another picture of the room so you all can see it better. I have tried the couch in front of the window, but, the window goes clear into that corner where the mirror is, so, in order to center the couch , I have to push it clear down to that corner, then there is not room for the chairs. They stick out in front of the couch. Let me take some more pictures and I will post them Monday. Thanks again! Oh, and moving that fish tank "AIN'T THAT EASY" ya know!!! LOL

Perhaps you can caddy corner (sp?) your sofa and keep the tree behind it. Then perhaps that would open up some room for the chair(s). I would also paint the baseboards and the wall of wood to a nice cream and add some molding. Take out anything you can that you do not absolutely love or need. There is so much in the room that a good cleaning out of stuff would help. That alone should make it look more roomy.

Just curious, how many ppl live in your house? If you really do not need all the furniture then you could do move some of it out. Maybe it might be comfy to sit on the couch and prop your feet up to watch tv?

HaHa! Just me and DH! I think the pictures really make the room look cluttered, but, it really doesn't seem to be in real life! I will work on it. Sorry, no paint on woodwork. We just put new down when we moved in. I really need to do something with that wall of cabinets though. I don't like them and they sure don't look good in this picture!

Personally I would get rid of the blue recliner and the red ottoman. I think the couch, leather chair and brown ottoman would be lovely. You really have to much furniture. Like aktillery asked, how many people do you have in your house? If it's only the two of you and you absolutely don't want to get rid of your recliner, then get rid of the couch and the red ottoman.

I would put the couch facing the mirror wall (future tv wall). And the leather chair angled on the window wall also facing the tv wall. (put the big tv on the left corner until you can replace it with a flat screen).
Keep the brown ottoman as a coffee table. If you have a sofa table put it behind the couch to define the entry way. Put the doors back on the closet. Paint it if you don't mind painting the wood but I think once you simplify your furniture everything will look better.
You could also add a warm (golden) color to the walls and that will keep the closet from standing out so much and make everything cozier.

Gosh, I just thought of something!!! There is no carpet in the closets. If we were to remove them, I don't know what I would do with the floor! The carpet is only 4 years old!

mlraff,
Monitors, monitors, monitors! The chair is a sagey green color. The ottoman in front of the leather chair actually matches the sofa which is burgundy. It just has a throw laying on it. The ottoman/coffee table in front of the sofa, is sage green. I have had the sofa with it's back to the front door before. I kinda liked that but, it doesn't leave much room to get around to the kitchen door. I have to put the one end of the sofa right up against the wall where the window is. I am thinking we need a smaller sofa. This one is really big and overstuffed. Maybe I can talk DH into a new one.

Your couch doesn't have to be centered in the window - don't let that hang you up.

It just looks weird to me when it isn't. I will give it a try again. I AM IN THE MOVING FURNITURE MOOD!!!!

I have thought of removing the cabinets but, I will not be able to do that at this time.
Everything will pretty much have to stay, aside from end tables,
The chairs have to stay since the recliner is mine and the leather chair Dh. That's where we sit to watch tv.
Oh, and moving that fish tank "AIN'T THAT EASY" ya know!!! LOL
Sorry, no paint on woodwork. We just put new down when we moved in.
There is no carpet in the closets. If we were to remove them, I don't know what I would do with the floor! The carpet is only 4 years old!
Suggestion: Your couch doesn't have to be centered in the window - don't let that hang you up. Your response: It just looks weird to me when it isn't.

Sandra, I have to ask, what kind of ideas you are looking for? Everyone is focusing on the room arrangement, but maybe you are looking for some other kind of advice - accessories, wall paint, color scheme? What is it about the room that bothers you?

Well, I think I read all your comments Sandra and I didn't see anywhere you mention if the TV could be moved. So I'm going on the assumtion that it can't be moved. At least not from that corner.
Could you possibly move it to the right of where it's at and angle it in the corner? If so then you could angle your sofa in the opposite corner. Hopefully this will not give an off ballance feel you said you get if the sofas back was against the window wall, but not centered on the window.
Once you find the correct angle for the sofa you could place one chair on each side of it. I'd face them toward each other for asthetics sake. You could always angle them toward the sofa when company is there for conversation and the TV when viewing it. Here's a visual just incase my discription doesn't make sense.
{{!gwi}}
Just a thought.

Wow! When we bought our house, we had a "problem room" that was long, narrow, and had built-in cabinets. Our rooms are very similar. Weird. The first thing we did was take out the cabinets. My husband used a crow bar and it took him only an hour. It opened up the room and let in tons more light. Then we installed some canned lighting in the ceiling where the cabinets were. Amazing difference.

I had a hard time putting your pics together in my mind to create the whole room (not your problem, I'm horrible at that). I think you'd have a lot of luck "breaking up" that room, which is what we did. We used our largest couch as a divider, and it turned out really nice. It also made the space feel bigger, or at least we were getting more function out of the space we had. I'd be happy to send you pics if you're interested in seeing what I'm talking about. I'm also not very good at describing things. There really is a lot of potential there. Good luck to you!

Sandra, did you figure out what to do with your furniture? Just curious what you thought of my arrangement.

Thanks so much for all the ideas! Yes the tv can be moved. I am going to post pictures of how I moved it over the weekend. I am home today with the flu! Yuck. Give me a little while and I will see if I can get the pictures on.

Sandra, I hope you are feeling better soon! I spent a week in the hospital and have been recouperating at home the last nine days still on antibiotics. I know it's not fun to be home sick when there's things you want to do around the house.

Thanks, justgotabme. I am still home from work. I can't get my camera reader to work on this new computer, so I'll have to wait til I get back to work to post.

Is there a way you could put the sofa with it's back forming a hallway from the door? So it faces the back wall? does that make sense. Put your console table behind it. so when you walk in the door the console table would be on your right. Then move the tv somewhere opposite the window and put the recliners by the window? You could then put the door back on the closet for now, but I would consider taking that whole thing out and perhaps then you could create some built in bookcases or something and you may be able to add carpeting in a way that it won;'t show. i don't know much about carpeting though i am sure someone could tell you how to do it. They also have those cool new big carpet squares if you put in built ins you amy just need to add a strip of those and you could do something cool that looked like a border or something artistic. Okay I am sort of just thinking out loud here.

Kathy, I have had the room like that several years ago, but, it just makes it seem smaller. I will get some pictures posted soon of the movements I have made.

Graywings, I guess I am just looking for some different arrangements for the furniture. I do not want to paint at this time. Also opinions on the accessories. Thanks for all the help.