Can you crop and share a photo of the just the "Great Room" so we can see it larger please? My tri-focal eyes are having a hard time reading the small print. If only Houzz would allow for larger pictures.
Love the TV cabinet!

Good point. I'll do that and post the new pic below.

This section is approx 100" x 100". With this layout, it would be a bit more difficult to include a lounge chair that faces the TV. Maybe a reduced size sectional would be more successful.

Let's see if this is any better ...

Thank you, Beverly! That doesn't look like a bad layout to me, but my fear is that the space will be pretty tight once we're actually IN it. I have a feeling that the wall unit will take up MOST of whatever wall we put it on. I like that you incorporated what appears to be a sofa table behind the sectional. We will have floor plugs in the space, and I do want to be able to use lamps here.

Is there any way to make the door to the terrace a slider? It would give you a tiny bit more room in the great room.

Doesn't the "great" room have to also accommodate a dining table? Where will you eat?

If the entertainment center is too big/overwhelming, could you mount the tv on the wall. I, too, would do whatever possible to keep from mounting over the fireplace. Also, if you put it upstairs, do you think you will use that room alot? Since it is upstairs. ???

Unfortunately - no, Oly. It will be a single French door, and it's going to cut into the footprint of the space a bit. We can't make any changes at this point per our contract, so we're committed to what's in the plan.

The console is only a smidge over 6' wide, but it's 88" high

rmsaustin - We are using the "Flex Room" as our formal dining space, but DH and I will eat just about all of our meals at the kitchen island. There are just the two of us. I realize that the location of the Flex Room - being down the hallway and not adjacent to the kitchen - may seem a bit odd. The only reason that I really want to designate this space for dining is because I'm unwilling to give up my dining set, a Stickley mission oak table, chairs, and hutch. Most of the furniture I've lived with for years is - well, CRAP. The Stickley is not, and I treasure it. :-) Probably what we'll do here more often than dining are things like working on projects, paying bills - anything that requires a bit of space and a flat surface on which to spread out.

Tina - We would consider mounting the TV on the wall, but as DH pointed out, then what do you do about the components? We could use just the console portion of the wall unit and ditch the top portion, I suppose. I have a feeling we'll use just about every square inch of this house since it has such a small feel to it. We may actually be better off with putting a smaller TV on the wall in the Great Room, then using the large TV upstairs with just the console. (I have a feeling that top portion is going to overwhelm any of these spaces.)

Oh, Beverly - you're so good at this! The ceilings are 10' or slightly over. We currently have it in the TV room of our 1940s home, with its low ceilings. I suppose it DOES overwhelm the space in that room - but I've gotten used to it. ;-)

This may be a stupid question but is there any way you could eliminate that tiny terrace and door off the great room and instead add that under roof square footage to the front porch? I realize that could add a bit more $$. But, not having another door to work around for furniture in the great room will make a huge difference on furniture placement. Plus, it's so nice to have more room for some porch furniture. Edited to add...just noticed your reply of no changes. Darn!

Yeah ... We modified a few things before plans were finalized, and now we can't make changes without incurring significant $ penalties. That's just how this builder works, darn it. Oh well ... We'll make it all come together somehow, I'm sure.

Even though it's going to be quite different than what we're used to, I can't even tell you how excited I am about this little postage-stamp-sized home! :-D

will you have/need a dining area? Look on pinterest and there are a bunch of console tables that convert to dining tables. Small spaces make double duty stuff very useful.

If you don't need a seperate dining room you have a few options there on different layouts in the great room. The flex room could become a big walk-in closet/dressing room to the master. The six feet (or so) original master closet jutting out into the great room could be part of that room.

It's not so much that we really "need" the dining room, but I'm still having a love affair with my dining furniture and just can't bring myself to part with it. Once we get it in the house, however, I may start to quickly fall OUT of love, as I think it's pretty much going to FILL the flex room. DH is concerned that we will never use the space to dine in. We rarely use our dining room in the current house -- but I do so enjoy seeing my furniture in it every day. So I guess what I'm saying is that time will tell, but for now I'm determined to at least see how the Stickley looks once it's in that space.

And who knows? Since we'll finally (finally! finally!) have a functioning kitchen with a NEW stove and oven - instead of an adorable-but-persnickety range from the 50s - we might actually enjoy cooking and baking, and having folks over. (Maybe.) ;-)

I so appreciate the input received. You've all given me food for thought, and if you have any other thoughts for how to best make use of the space, please do share. I've got my initial intent going, but I'm definitely not opposed to other considerations! The only thing I would reiterate is that we can't, at this point, make any changes to the current floor plan itself.

What if the sectional is placed against the garage wall and the TV unit opposite that/ You would then have room for a game table in the corner between the unit and fireplace.

Auntjen, I haven't rread everything that is posted but I did see you were going with a single French door that is already in the contract. If you make it an outswing door you can use all the space on that wall. Because it opens onto a terrace there should be no problem doing that. We have double French doors in our lr and it's wonderful to have use of the extra space.

Suero, I'd like to see how that would look drawn up. I don't know if having the sofa and TV on opposite walls would make the distance too far -- probably not though, now that I think about our current set-up in the house we're in now.

Beverly - I like that layout very much. That would enable us to use a couple of chairs that we already have, and we're going to NEED a bookcase somewhere, as we're losing the built-ins that we have in our current home. I really appreciate you taking the time to do these mock-ups for me. It really helps me envision possibilities.

Thank you, Holly-Kay! I had not even considered that, and I assume an out-swing door is just as easy to install as an interior-swing - ? Will definitely look into that, as it's a super idea.

Good idea Holly-Kay!! Our french doors also swing out to our sunroom.

The French door will be treated with plantation shutters to match what will be on the windows in the Great Room - similar to this photo. I guess there's no issue with this and the way that the door swings, is there? Seems like a silly question, but you never know ...

Don't know if your terrace is screened or what part of the country you live, but if the door swings out to the terrace then there is no way for you to have the door open and have a screen door to keep out insects.

I loved your old house, but am also jealous you're building a new one! Love new houses. My two cents would be to keep your flex room as your dining room for now - You will either decide you don't need it later and you can make it into a little cozy den.

I like your TV cabinet. I do not like wall mounted TV's with all kinds of wires hanging down and then you still need to buy a cabinet for the cable box or whatever you use. I also like that it has some space for a few accessories! For your furniture, if you want to go minimalist, I'd go with the sectional and sofa table that was done by Beverly in first photo. If you choose a more streamlined sofa - not an overstuffed one you'll be surprised how big it can be when you downsize the arms.

I also like the idea of a nice sofa with a sofa table behind it and two comfy club chairs with a table in-between facing the TV. I also like the little accent chair in the corner by the fire place. The sofa and three chairs will give you lots of seating without looking crowded.

To comment on the statement above about "wall mounted TV's with all kinds of wires hanging down". If done properly, by placing an outlet and wire chase behind the tv mount, there will be no wires hanging down. The wire chase will route the wires from behind the tv, through the wall and then back out again behind the components cabinet, where they can be plugged into the cable box, etc. It would be best to do this during construction, but it can be done afterwards too by any electrician.

Thanks! We will be meeting with an AV specialist during construction to determine where boxes and outlets should be placed for electronics so will address the best locations then. I'm really glad the builder has someone on his team focused specifically on such issues.

Really liking both layouts that Beverly shared. The second would enable us to use some of our existing furniture, but I'm also drawn to the uncluttered feel of the first.

Re not being able to screen the door if it swings outward - not really a problem, as we weren't planning a screen there anyway. We won't ever just leave the door open. But it's still a good thought!

Have you clarified what 14' 16" means in the plans? (e.g. Whether it is a misprint or whether it means 15' 4")

I like the layout Beverly posted at 10:05 yesterday!

I like the look of the sectional, less cluttered looking, that is the main reason I have ordered a sectional for our space.

I think many of us don't LOVE sectional, but sometimes it really is the best solution in a given space. We used one in our TV room and it works well for the room and the way we use it. Scale and size of a sectional are very important. My friend has a large sectional that barely seats 3 people, 4 if they are all related and close! We can fit 6 comfortably in ours, leaving the corner seat empty.

Well, DH and I have spent much of the day talking about how we're going to make the best use of this space. Current thinking is that the dining furniture is going to be such a tight fit in the Flex Room, and we really don't use our current dining room anyway (maybe twice in the past three or four years!), so we'd make better use of that space by creating a little sitting room with a pair of chairs where we can read. Maybe bring in a bookcase to house our books that we otherwise aren't sure what to do with.

DH doesn't like the idea of a sectional in the Great Room. He's wanting two chairs that will face the TV, much like we have in our current TV room. I'm having a really hard time envisioning that. Any thoughts?

I think we're figuring out we are more "chair people" than "sofa people"! I want our home to work for US, but I don't want it to look odd.

Beverly, do you have any design suggestions using a couple of comfy chairs aimed at the TV?

Gosh, I had no idea that downsizing would be so difficult to figure out!

I can see two upholstered chair and a half’s along with a
cool wood chair with upholstered seat in another area as well as a cool ottoman
across for extra seating. Maybe something with a slight barrel shape without being a full barrel.

To me regular sized chairs with no settee or sofa might look
dinky.

I think we're figuring out we are more "chair people" than "sofa people"! I
want our home to work for US, but I don't want it to look odd.

How about 4 chairs with a center coffee table? Maybe have a couple of the chairs swivel.

4 chairs with coffee table

I'm heartened to know that others can see chairs and not a sofa or sectional in this space!

Justterrilynn, I like the way you describe "beefier" chairs, and Cindy, I like the direction you've gone with the four chairs! I actually thought of this rather famous GardenWeb photo and wondered if I could pull off a similar arrangement.

Or maybe an arrangement like this, with two matching chairs opposite the TV, and a third wooden chair opposite the two chairs and next to the fireplace? Could bring in an ottoman for the other sure if space allowed.

In these pics, I'm imagining that the wall to the right holds the TV and the wall to the left is where the door to the terrace is.

I think you could easily pull it off. The flexibility 3 or 4 chairs offer makes a lot of sense for your room with the fireplace and TV setup, not to mention the adjoining kitchen area.

Auntjen, that's ZuZu's Room! I've saved that picture for years.

How can you leave your darling house?

I don't believe I can delete this thread, but wanted to say that the point is now moot. We are not building as planned.

It's ok ... may have something else in the works. :-)

What's happening?

I don't really want to say much until all of the contractual stuff is out of the way. Let's just say that obligations were not fulfilled, so we are now looking at other options. I was devastated initially, but this may actually be a blessing in disguise.

Sorry you are going through this. I know building can be very stressful. Hope it all works out...either way.