since we've had kids we always stay home for christmas day. my mom and mil were big on this. mil- always had to travel across Ma. to her grandparents for the day. they got to be there for about 2-3 hrs and then return home. no presents from her grand parents and no chance to open them at home before they left. no turkey dinner either. pretty sad tale of woe, she didn't wish that sort of xmas on any one. my mom said it was important for us to have our own traditions. so we stay home. usually our family gets together sometime over the holidays, but no matter whose house we're at everyone has a 300-400 mile drive-- so we usually have to commit to a weekend of guests. my wife and i have always giving everyone in both our families an ornament for christmas. we try to stay under $5. for these, but are on the look-out whenever we travel during the year or pay attention to what people are interested in, or some significant event in their life that year. for the kids, it gives them a collection so when they leave home they have something for their own tree. for the adults it avoids having to buy a fan-tab-u-lous present. since we live the farthest away from all our relatives, ornaments are easy to ship. when kids were little we usually send their moms & dads a check so they could do the shopping for us, now we send the ornament and a gift card. we've tried a gift exchange where we draw names, but my youngest brother whose kids are 10-15 years younger than the rest of our kids thinks that his kids get gypted (everyone still gets his all kids presents, because they still get a big thrill out of opening them, and no one else has kids under 10 anymore)with this method--so we all get everyone a present-- an ornament works nicely there too. at home because my kids are autistic and don't deal with their routines being changed, we eat xmas dinner at dinnertime. so we have plenty of time in the morning to get up and open, play, watch tv, before we have to cook. we usually let the boys open their stocking(usually all the goodies are consumed for breakfast) as soon as they get up, but they wait until we get up to open presents under the tree. We we join the land of the living-- about 8am, we get out the cranberry bread, stollen and panetone the coffee and hot chocolate and start unwrapping: kids first, then mom and dad. about 11, we'll make 'brunch'-- eggs and sausage, toast and juice. then we get started at dinner. about 4pm we put out a relish tray and cheese and crackers so we can make it until dinner time. since my wife and i arew both in food service, and the week before christmas is the busiest time of the year. we usually have a tradition of doing laundry all day long every holiday while watching football games. on christmas eve we usually have seafood for dinner about 10:30 PM after finishing wrapping and then go to service at the church, so that when we get home we can go to bed!!!! sometimes we'll exchange a special present when we get home from church. diggerb

I would move the tv to the corner where the bookshelf is now, on the other wall, and put the couch on the wall where the TV is. It would be much nicer to look into your room and see seating, rather than the tv. The TV and cabinet can sit at an angle across that corner, be hidden by the full wall, and be visible from the couch and other seating. And no, things don't have to be centered on the walls at all. Move the bookcase to sit under the half-wall. Put a lamp on the left side of it, where the full height part of the wall is, to create some light in that corner at that end of the couch. Move the floor lamp to the door end of the couch. I think using the ottomans as a coffee table is a great suggestion. Those will also be more likely to be used as extra seating if they are out,rather than tucked against the wall and covered with things. A tray, as mentioned, gives you stability for drinks,etc. On the other wall where the couch was, you should have enough room for a pair of chairs as long as they aren't too bulky. A table between them with a lamp for lighting on that side of the room will be a help. If you have an IKEA nearby, a pair of these, with washable slipcovers, might be a good choice: ektorp chair You could always get a second set of slipcovers. As for art, I think the grouping of family photos would be very nice, and bring some color into the room. I would do all in the same simple frames, with warm white or cream matting. That grouping could go above the couch, which will be the least busy wall in the room. On the other side, where the tv and chairs are, I think you could get away with nothing, or think about a couple of wall shelves with some of your small items from the mantel, perhaps other smaller pieces that are special to you. I would hang them once the other furniture and lighting is in place. Above the fireplace, a round mirror would be perfect to break up all the square lines of the fireplace and doors. Down the line I would get rid of the panels on the doors and mount woven wood blinds there. Also in the future, I think you need to get a larger rug. For now, though, see what looks best once you have moved all the furniture into place. I am thinking that you will likely do best with it anchored under the front legs of the couch in the new location.

A lot of these LRs would be considered huge around here too. My old house had a 14x21 FR where we "lived" (though we moved the TV to LR in front of house when DD was born). It had a wide doorway to kitchen (didn't bother me for FR furniture but made eat-in kit not eat-in since table/chairs would be *in* the doorway, dumb pendant lamp wasn't centered on doorway but was in the traffic flow w/o a table under it). Also 32-ish" door to garage we used all the time, and single French (best way to describe) to deck, plus FP. Left me 1 wall for sofa and 1 corner for chair but it worked. New house has 13x21-ish (open to 16ft kitchen so whole room 37ft) FR with bay (adds about 5ft at center), also has opening (all open) to kitchen, a slider instead of hinged door so you'd think it would be better for furniture but just that 1ft makes it hard to navigate, plus the fact that we have a table in one corner by kitchen. I think we're going to have to put the slider there, move the double window to where the slider is now, then we can put LS in front of window (it's in front of slider now since tree is in bay). Maybe even add on a true bfast nook bumpout, just to get the 40" table and 4 chairs out of the way. I think (depending on doors, FPs, etc. plus your furniture) that something more square, even if same sf, works better than a skinny rectangle. Like 17x17 instead of 14x20?

Great values they are teaching . I used to have a similar family at my Dallas house . The kids always did a canned food collection . And they all did FFA projects , the cutest little mini goats and they would teach them tricks .