Desperately need help with our living room layout!

9 years ago

We've lived here for a few months now and our living room is driving me crazy! It's the place we spend the majority of our time, but it's honestly just starting to give me a headache. We are renters, so we can't do anything too permanent.

The fireplace is clearly the focal point of the room, and my first thought was to mount the TV over the fireplace. But, that's a little bit too permanent for us, so this is what we've come up with so far.

I'm planning to get an armchair and ottoman combo for the open corner with the two windows. The ottoman in front of the couch is going and we plan to get a coffee table. But it just doesn't feel right to me! The room is also awkward because of the two doorways side by side. I just need someone creative to help me come up with a solution!

I'm thinking a rug may help ground the room, but not sure of the size. If I got an 8x10 rug it would fit perfectly up to the TV stand and slightly under the couch, and would be just slightly longer than the couch, but the arm chair we plan to put in the corner would not be near the rug. Would that look okay, or would it be strange? I could splurge for a 9x12 rug, but am afraid that may be too big. And if we change the layout of the room, this might not even matter.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

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Comments (6)

blfenton
9 years ago
Your idea for the 8' x 10' is fine. The corner furniture doesn't have to fit on it. If you are renters and so perhaps may move again, an 8' x 10' rug is a more useful size of carpet for the future.

It's tough being a renter in terms of bringing your own colours and personality into a space and an area rug would be a good way of doing that. I actually like your ottoman (I think) with the colours and pattern that I see of it. COuld you get a chair that would go with it and keep it as a complementary ottoman in the corner.
jlc712
9 years ago
A rug will look nice and visually tie things together. You could pull the floating couch forward a bit, and put a sofa table behind it, so the couches are in more of an L shape, and that will help with placement of the rug.

That's a nice corner for a cozy chair with a side table. A chair on each side of the fireplace would also look nice.
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k9arlene
9 years ago
I'd put the TV catty corner on either side of the fire place and move the long sofa to the current TV wall if you move the TV to the right of the fire place. Otherwise leave the sofa where it is. You might think that the TV looks bad in front of the window, but I have my family room arranged this way and it completely isn't an issue and you have good TV viewing from both sofas. Try it and live with it for a while before you invest in a rug.
tibbrix
9 years ago
I'd put the TV catty corner in the corner where there is only one window, and put the large sofa in the center of the room, facing the fireplace. Get a console table to put behind the sofa so that it looks finished when you walk into that area. You can put knickknacks on it, a lamp if you can figure out how to get it plugged in, etc.

Then the love seat pulled out from the wall where the TV is now and centered between the end of the arm of the sofa and the FP. Or, even better, move the love seat somewhere else in the house and get two chairs (with ottomans? for one only?) and put them side by side in that area with a small table between them. So you've created an L-shaped seating area for conversation and TV watching that is its own space, so to speak.

Coffee table yes. But because you've got wall-to-wall in there, I'd get a SMALL rug to put under the coffee table only, a rug that extends beyond the coffee table by 2 or 3 inches. Area rugs don't look good on wall-to-wall carpeting, esp. carpeting with some pile to it, as yours appears to have, as it gets lumpy from people walking on it.
caityrose10
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks all for the advice!

I think I will first try to pull the couch forward. My concern with that is losing walking room where that opening is, and the couch just being right there when you walk in the front door. (The first picture looking straight on at the fireplace is what you see from the front door). Still deciding on the rug thing. I was thinking a bigger rug would help ground the space, but I see the point about a smaller one. And a smaller one would be cheaper...

I considered moving the TV to one of the corners, but the cable thing is on the wall where the TV is now. We can't really move that, so if we moved the TV, the cable cord would have to run all the way along the wall to the corner with the windows. If we moved the TV to the corner where there is only one window, then the cord would run in front of the fireplace. Unless there is a way to easily move the cable outlet thing. (As you can tell, I'm helpless!). I really like the idea of moving it to the corner, I just don't know how!
k9arlene
9 years ago
I would move the TV to the corner with the 2 windows. It's really not a big deal to run the cable along the baseboard.

Desperately need help with our living room layout!

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Desperately need help with our living room layout!

Comments (6)

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