Furniture Placement in a Living Room

dam1990

14 years ago

Hi everyone...I have been coming to this forum as an "observer" for the past year and love it!!!There seem to be quite a lot of talented people here. I need your help with furniture placement. I haven't bought anything yet, but will be buying soon. We have a long narrow living room...the longest wall is 19ft, the shortest is 12 ft. The wall that measures 12ft has a built in wall unit and a 3 way fireplace. The wall directly in front of it measures 13ft across with a 9 foot window. The wall across from the 19ft wall measures approx. 11.7ft with a 7.3ft opening that meets the 3 sided fp. I hope I am explaining this well. I was thinking of placing a sofa in front of the unit and maybe 2 wing chairs and a small table near the window...I am trying to keep the room more on the formal side, but having said that and the fact there will be a tv in the built in, someone will always be in it. I need some seating, but not an excessive amount..please help...I need ideas!!

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Comments (8)

Oakley
14 years ago
I'm not understanding this part: "The wall directly in front of it....(meaning the 12ft. wall with the wall unit and FP)..." That's where you lost me. lol.

Our old LR was 12 x 20. Our TV was centered on the 12' wall with book cases on each side. We put our sofa on the opposite 12' wall with end tables.

We also had a very long window and I just put a bench there for flowers, and company who would need extra seating.

The other 20' wall had two chairs and a table between them.

With the sofa on the shorter wall at the end of the room opposite the TV, made the room more spacious.

A picture would really help.
dam1990
Original Author
14 years ago
Sorry if I created confusion...the room is basically a rectangle with an opening on one of the longer walls. I tried to post a picture, but the pic is a pdf and I don't know how to convert into a jpeg for this site.
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funkyart
14 years ago
I have a 12' by 22' living room that is even more broken up as one of the short walls is a staircase and the other is a fireplace wall. There is an entry door in addition to the opening into the dining room. I have broken it up into two spaces-- one seating area around the fireplace and one in front of the tv which is one of the long walls flanked by the front door and a double window. It isnt ideal-- and I keep trying to come up with another arrangement... but I don't know how I could have the sofa on one short wall and the tv on another-- that is an awfully long viewing distance for even a larger screen tv.
User
14 years ago
I'm so relieved to see that I'm not the only one with this problem. Our room is 12 x 23, with a sliding glass door on 1 12ft wall, the foyer & kitchen entries (2 larger openings) on one 23 foot wall & a larger sized window on the other 12 ft wall. We haven't done anything to the room furniture wise since moving in because I am clueless as to how to furnish this room! We have a monstrocity of a tv and a hugh sectional that I want to replace with more appropriately sized furnishings, but everytime I think ok, let's figure something out, it's just too overwhelming. UGH!!!!
Oakley
14 years ago
Funkyart, the TV being opposite the sofa on the short walls was no problem for us. Well, we do have large TV, so maybe that's why. lol. But even when we had one of those old console TV's with a smaller screen, viewing wasn't a problem then.

We also had a large openig to the DR on one long wall, and the front door and large window on the other long wall, which made that wall basically useless. I did put a chair and lamp between the door and window.
funkyart
14 years ago
I am glad it worked for you-- but it definitely wouldnt work in my house with a 42" screen-- the picture would be ok, i guess (though I want a bigger screen as it is) but the volume required would make my head spin. The long narrow room shape is terrible for acoustics and especially bad for surround sound.

That's fine. It isnt an option in my house since both short walls are occupied (fireplace and staircase).
pam-md
14 years ago
Your rooms sound just like the living room in our old house. I spent 15 years trying to figure out how to best place furniture in that room. The only thing that ever worked was having 2 separate areas within the 1 room.
lucillle
14 years ago
What a grand idea!!! 2 separate areas!!! That might relieve the cluttered feeling I am getting in a similarly sized living room which had pieces of furniture squished around the perimeter. Although putting furniture in the room rather than on the perimeter does not intuitively increase the feeling of space, two small grouping might just do that.