Are you going to reuse furniture you already own, buy new, or some of each? How many people do you need to seat? Other needs, like a piano, desk space, or stereo with speakers?

I'm planning on buying new and using some old. I have two side tables that can be used. I'm more concerned with seating placement in terms of couches/chairs. The number to seat is up in the air, but I'm hoping to entertain in the space. Having said that, being in FL entertaining most times will be an indoor/outdoor affair.

No other needs for the space.

Cpart, I'm having a heck of a time seeing where everything is in the floor plan you posted. When I magnified it it got even blurrier. Can't see where the fireplace is. Maybe you could color code entries and fireplace?

I would eliminate the pillars. Float a sofa across fireplace with a sofa table behind it to hold two lamps. On the side where the lanai is I would use a sofa bed/chaise. Opposite that would be two chairs.

I can't tell from the floorplan either whether the side where I propose putting the chairs has Windows or not.

This is what I meant above plus a sofa table behind the sofa (ignore sofa style).

you would obviously add coffee table, side tables as necessary, rug, etc.

Justerrilyn, I'll get you a larger color coded drawing in the morning. Thank you.

Thank you Lily's Mom,

What about most of the time, when it is just you? Will you be using the living room, all the time, for the 2 of you? So, it is for 'cozy' and 'company' ?

Most nights after dinner, we retire to our offices. Or DH will watch in the living room with the dog. On weekends we like to watch movies together, or at times we'll watch the news together, etc. It all depends what time of the year it is. When it's not baseball season, which is most of the winter, we do spend time in the room together more.

We have family or friends stay with us for 3-5 days about once a month during season so the living room is definitely used a lot more then. We will also have guests over several times a year.

Do you prefer a sofa? or Sectional? Does anyone have to have a recliner or certain size of anything.

Definitely sofa's. No recliners needed in the living room. I'm in love with Stickley furniture.

Stickley Prairie Spindle Settle 89-234 · More Info

Would you like a ceiling fan? In Florida, I would recommend one. With a 10' ceiling you could choose something in the Arts and Crafts style, or something simple and white, to fade into the ceiling. Either with or without a light kit. (You need one in the bedroom, too. If your a/c every goes out, you will swelter.) It will look best right in the center of the room/ceiling

What about other ceiling lights? I see 3 choices.

1- no ceiling lights, only wall sconces.

2- 4 recessed lights of some kind, one in each corner of the room, for some extra general light at night (I know the lights shine down and not generally - it's more of an expression)

3- Two - Four of those neat craftsman one bulb ceiling lights. The ones that might only have one or 2 rings of the chain to hang. Not only would they shine, down, but since they are not in the ceiling, they would throw light around, also, and could be put on a dimmer switch.

I am meeting with a lighting designer when I get to FL next week so am not so worried right now about what my lighting options are. I want to get my basic furniture layout figured out so I can then figure out the rest of it. Right now I'm planning on a center fixture with four fixtures in the "corners" but again that may change depending on what I work out with the lighting designer.

I will definitely have a fan in my bedroom, in our offices, in the guest bedroom and on the lanai. As for the living room and dining room, I may opt out of having ceiling fans. Not sure yet.

I see your main problem as being where to place the floor outlet. It's a concrete slab, correct? If you put it in the wrong place... an area rug covers it. Right?

The problem is if it's in the wrong place, then there might be wires that the dog or others can trip over.

When you watch tv, do you like to

stretch out on the sofa,

sit on the sofa and maybe tuck your legs up,

sit in chairs,

or all of the above and add an ottoman?

I think it would look nice and make it easy to move around the house if you have a sofa perpendicular to the fireplace, with a sofa/console table behind it, and facing the lanai. This creates a natural passageway from the offer to the kitchen. Then two chairs opposite facing the sofa. Swivel chairs, so they can turn to see the tv, the lanai, and the kitchen.

One of my favorite layouts, but it's not seen much (surely there's a reason) is two loveseats facing one another, perhaps with a chair or two at the end, all facing a rectangular coffee table. My other favorite is four comfy chairs around a coffee table.

Thank you smm.

I would eliminate the pillars.

I'm wondering why you say I should eliminate the pillars since they are a hallmark of so many craftsman houses.

Float a sofa across fireplace with a sofa table behind it to hold two lamps. On the side where the lanai is I would use a sofa bed/chaise. Opposite that would be two chairs.

Thank you. It's a good idea for the space.

Thank you bp.

Usually when I watch tv, I do all of the above.

Here is a larger version of the living room that is hopefully easier to read.

The red is the sliding doors which will pocket into the wall when open. This side faces south into the lanai.

The yellow is the windows on the north wall.

The pillars would make furniture placement limiting. I had them in a previous home and didn't like that I couldn't fit a sofa in front of the tv/fireplace like you have with enough space on either side of the sofa. I'd try to incorporate other craftsman elements or even try the pillars elsewhere. Separating the family room and kitchen with pillars was the one thing I didn't like in my previous home.

Another option is two sofas facing each other or a sofa across from two chairs. That'll give you the area between dining and family room clear but will put heavier furniture in front of both the windows and linai sliding doors.

The pillars are lovely as you have them, cp. A sofa for watching the telly wouldn't be set that far back from the screen to be an access problem - unless you are planning a 90 inch monitor!

What size monitor do you plan? This will help determine optimal distance away.

You may also want to decide the size of couch - 2-seater, 3, sectional?

I'm working on this now for my own build, but I will have a basement, so outlets can go in any time, here. Each end of my sofa would have an end table with lamp - I'm going to assume you'd like something along those lines? I'll draw up some suggestions when I'm at the computer (not on the kindle) later.

That Stickly sofa is lovely!

I think two 75 " sofa's would work in an "L" and then do two open back chairs on the lanai side.

Maybe not these but along this idea with going a tic smaller and open.

Could a center post sorta like this but in the craftsman style in your head be done instead of each side? Maybe a bit more open in design?

Or, pretend this isn't a kitchen island but modified and instead of side columns. It would be handy for electric outlets as well.

Not to scale but with a column arrangement slightly off center and not on sides for better flow. The one chair is too close to sofa but you get the idea.

The pillars do limit furniture placement and walking from great room into the kitchen area. We also have a great room (bit larger than yours) with two cedar posts, but they are centered. We rarely walk between them, rather to each side to enter kitchen. That said, our kitchen is set up differently than yours, with an island horizontal to the sofa table/sofa, so each side makes more sense at our house. I do worry that yours will end up feeling a bit like a maze if you put the sofa/sofa table at the kitchen end of the great room though.

Are you building on slab? If not, I taped off sofa on great room floor with painters tape to see exactly where I wanted two floor outlets placed before electricians started work.

In our room, we have chair w/ottoman (table) sofa w/sofa table & two lamps (table) recliner facing FP/TV. Square coffee table. At FP, I have upholstered chair (round table) FP, chair1 (metal round/small table) chair2. Chair1 & chair2 are French chairs sat at 90 degrees. I have a matching chair to the upholstered in the DR and can pull it to great room if needed.

fwiw, I didn't get the furniture arrangement to my satisfaction for awhile because I kept trying to fit both upholstered chairs and both French chairs in the room. I couldn't block the flow from foyer into the room or doors going on to back veranda. I finally gave up on the second upholstered chair being in the room all the time, and I like it much better now. It's still a bit of a maze from foyer (around one French chair) to get across the room, but placing sofa facing lake/back of house would have created a HUGE block.

For light fixtures, Hubbardton Forge are well-made and gorgeous, but not inexpensive. I used them almost entirely in our home. One guest room has a Craftsman style semi-mount fixture. I haven't seen their portfolio in awhile, but it might be worth your time to look.

To keep things flexible, you could buy a pair of sofas, such that you could arrange them facing each other or in an "L" shape. The smaller tables can be arranged once you get there too, they are always useful elsewhere in the house. Ditto with one or two "personality" chairs.

Your only big constraint is lighting, and you should do that in reference to the architecture, not the furniture. Since the design is Arts and Crafts, you could go with 4 Gamble house style Japanese copper pendants suspended from a wooden or moulded ceiling. Certain types of chandys might work. I would definitely include a brass floor outlet or two for future flexibility, it gives you the option of floor reading lamps or a sofa table with a pair of lamps.

Check your local codes, the fireplace wall may require outlets in the baseboard, as there doesn't look like you have free wall space there.

I never feel I have enough seating when I entertain. In this space, I would probably do a long sofa facing the fireplace, with 2 chairs with their back to the slider, and a slightly shorter sofa across from the chairs, back to the windows. I'd also do a long console table under the windows.

BTW ... I love the columns, and the pocket door sliders are brilliant ....

This isn't exactly to scale but to give you a sense of limitations with the pillars. Imagine having the 3 ft wide pillars. It limits the entry into the room and having to go around the sofa to enter. If you don't want a sofa to directly face the tv, you can do the arrangement of sofa on lower wall facing another sofa or two chairs.

Each square is 1 feet. For the sofas, I used these dimensions.

Thank you smm.

The pillars would make furniture placement limiting. I had them in a previous home and didn't like that I couldn't fit a sofa in front of the tv/fireplace like you have with enough space on either side of the sofa. I'd try to incorporate other craftsman elements or even try the pillars elsewhere. Separating the family room and kitchen with pillars was the one thing I didn't like in my previous home.

Thank you Allison.

The pillars do limit furniture placement and walking from great room into the kitchen area. We also have a great room (bit larger than yours) with two cedar posts, but they are centered. We rarely walk between them, rather to each side to enter kitchen. That said, our kitchen is set up differently than yours, with an island horizontal to the sofa table/sofa, so each side makes more sense at our house. I do worry that yours will end up feeling a bit like a maze if you put the sofa/sofa table at the kitchen end of the great room though.

I will have to disagree. The living room is 20'10" long. Taking off 18" for the fireplace and 3' for the walkway along where the pillars are, that still leaves a space that is 16'4". Also the pillars/cabinets act to separate the kitchen from the living room so it's not one giant open space. I prefer having some separation. :)

Also my intention was not to put furniture at the kitchen end. The focus in the living room is not the kitchen end but the fireplace wall and the sliders out to the lanai. :)

Thank you artemis.

The pillars are lovely as you have them, cp. A sofa for watching the telly wouldn't be set that far back from the screen to be an access problem - unless you are planning a 90 inch monitor!

What size monitor do you plan? This will help determine optimal distance away.

I'm thinking probably a 50".

You may also want to decide the size of couch - 2-seater, 3, sectional?

Ideally I'd like to get as much seating as possible in there, without the room being overly crowded. In my condo we could only fit 5 people sitting in the living room, or 7 if we brought over the dining room chairs and then it would be quite squished. Having this much room is such a luxury to me which is what is throwing me off. LOL.

I'm working on this now for my own build, but I will have a basement, so outlets can go in any time, here. Each end of my sofa would have an end table with lamp - I'm going to assume you'd like something along those lines? I'll draw up some suggestions when I'm at the computer (not on the kindle) later.

That Stickly sofa is lovely!

Thank you.

Thank you justjerrilyn.

Moving the bookcase/column to the center would change the whole look of the house and not create a craftsman look.

Additionally it would mean I'd then be walking into either my dining table on the right side, or my kitchen workspace on the left, so would be poor for my kitchen design. Now when you walk into the kitchen you walk into the space that separates the dining area from the kitchen work area.

Additionally my house is a U shaped house and my friend's entry is along the back of the left side of the U, as is the pool entry and DH's study. That would mean each time someone wanted to come from the friend's entry hallway to the living room, they'd have to run an obstacle course around the dining room table to get to the living room.

Honestly, I've spent months (since March of 2015) designing the house with lots of help from the building a house forum as well as the kitchen forum. I'm not changing the entry to the kitchen from the great room.

I like the idea of the L shaped couches but wonder if I like them because it's what I had in my old condo or it works best for the space? Obviously for TV watching the couch facing the TV works best but then again, the TV isn't the main focus in the great room. Or at least I hope not. I'm hoping it's more of a convo room.

I think the open back chairs would be the way to go if I did use the L shaped seating.

I think you can make it work with the pillars and still have sofa facing the fireplace. You'd get a slightly smaller sofa. My suggestion for the daybed was to keep the lanai wall visually as light as possible without a heavy furniture piece blocking it. Same with the two chairs on window walls.

Are you building on slab? If not, I taped off sofa on great room floor with painters tape to see exactly where I wanted two floor outlets placed before electricians started work.

Yes building on slab, so have to figure it out beforehand. Otherwise I'd do as you did. Wish I had the luxury to do so.

In our room, we have chair w/ottoman (table) sofa w/sofa table & two lamps (table) recliner facing FP/TV. Square coffee table. At FP, I have upholstered chair (round table) FP, chair1 (metal round/small table) chair2. Chair1 & chair2 are French chairs sat at 90 degrees. I have a matching chair to the upholstered in the DR and can pull it to great room if needed.

Would you be willing to show a picture?

For light fixtures, Hubbardton Forge are well-made and gorgeous, but not inexpensive. I used them almost entirely in our home. One guest room has a Craftsman style semi-mount fixture. I haven't seen their portfolio in awhile, but it might be worth your time to look.

I love Hubbardton Forge. I have a bunch of fixtures that I took from my condo. I have a chandelier that I bought from Mission Studios, similar to the link. Only I have straight rods instead of chain and I used the craftsman light globe. I'm not sure yet if I want to put that in my living room or over my dining room table. I also have three pendants that I will either use in my hallway to my bedroom or over my island. I'm just worried they are too small for the island.

These are the sconces going on either side of the fireplace. I also already have these fixtures that I brought from my condo.

I have 3 Glasgow Sconces and 2 Mission Sconces where the top part of the glass is red and the bottom is milk glass.

The 3 Glasgow sconces had been used in our condo bathroom and the 2 Mission ones had been used in our entry foyer in our condo. So I still need to find a place for those too. I know first world problems. LOL.

Thank you scone.

To keep things flexible, you could buy a pair of sofas, such that you could arrange them facing each other or in an "L" shape.

Would you recommend a particular size?

The smaller tables can be arranged once you get there too, they are always useful elsewhere in the house. Ditto with one or two "personality" chairs.

Agreed

Your only big constraint is lighting, and you should do that in reference to the architecture, not the furniture. Since the design is Arts and Crafts, you could go with 4 Gamble house style Japanese copper pendants suspended from a wooden or moulded ceiling. Certain types of chandys might work. I would definitely include a brass floor outlet or two for future flexibility, it gives you the option of floor reading lamps or a sofa table with a pair of lamps.

I think my best bet then is to do a center chandelier with four suspended pendants? I would love to do the wooden or molded ceiling but the layout of the fireplace in relation to the built ins by the kitchen don't match up. My original thought was a coffered ceiling. Won't work. Oh well, at least it saves me money.

How does one decide where to put the floor outlets? I do have 2 in my specs.

Check your local codes, the fireplace wall may require outlets in the baseboard, as there doesn't look like you have free wall space there.

Good point and I will definitely check.

Thank you aimeekm.

Thank you again smm. That helps to see but the question is would the furniture be so far apart?

Thank you sena. That helps to see it. The slider wall is wider though with no hanging wall space but it definitely helps so much to see it! What program are you using?What would your thoughts be to have an L shaped arrangement?

I think you can make it work with the pillars and still have sofa facing the fireplace. You'd get a slightly smaller sofa. My suggestion for the daybed was to keep the lanai wall visually as light as possible without a heavy furniture piece blocking it. Same with the two chairs on window walls.

Thank you. I agree about the lanai wall and love the idea of a daybed. There are some fabulous antique ones if I can find one. We definitely want to see it. Well eventually. It will take a while to make it the oasis I imagine. LOL.

Honestly, I've spent months (since March of 2015) designing the house with lots of help from the building a house forum as well as the kitchen forum. I'm not changing the entry to the kitchen from the great room.

Um please forgive me. I didn't mean to come off snippy.

I found this pic on Houzz. It has two sofas across each other but crowds the window wall and back wall. You'd need aisle space behind any furniture along window walls and linae walls. Room planner is a good 3 D program. Or good old graph paper with furniture cut outs you can play around with.

I'll try to sketch out some options for you. The houzz app floorplans I did above don't take into account the aisles needed, space around furniture, distance of coffee table etc.

That's definitely a more narrow room.

Here's a TV distance viewing guide. It seems you may want your TV within an approximate 6 - 12.5 feet viewing distance, according to this, if you have a 50 inch TV. Consider it just a guide -- but it does allow for people to sit and watch at varying distances. Comfortably.

It gives you PLENTY of room for traffic flow, considering other chairs and such that may be in this room, without having to worry about your lovely pillars.

http://blog.sitaphal.com/tv-buying-guide-led-lcd-plasma-smart-android-tv/

Edit: I've been under the weather today, so I didn't try to draw anything up yet.

Thank you artemis. Feel better and no rush as you know, I'm still waiting on those darn permits.

Ok here it is more to scale. The stickly sofa is 7 ft but a tad deeper than what is depicted here. I couldn't change the depth without changing the length. The pillars are represented by the large boxes. I put a stickly sofa along patio wall but you can do the daybed there if that's what you like.

I hope this helps. To help with flow, you can eliminate the side tables next to the sofa that's facing fireplace. Otherwise, I think the flow into the room from the kitchen is tight.

Smm I believe it's reading tight to you because in reality there will be 19' between the edge of the fireplace and the edge of the columns. You have the distance at about 15'

Cpartist, you've put so much thought into this home that it's going to be delightful to watch it come together. (You will share progress photos, right?)

You could try homestyler.com for laying out the furniture, columns, etc. Its a free, easy online program that will do aerial and 3D renderings to help you visualize the space. It won't have a lot of stickley style furniture, but you should be able to find something in the size range for reference.

The couch example is lovely, and is nice for setting a cup of coffee, plate of goodies, or a book on the arm. My one caution is child related, so this may or may not apply based on if you'll have pint sized visitors or not. Our friends had couches like that, and the wooden frames were down right dangerous to the kiddos that would come over. Little ones got hurt on the sharp corners more times than I could count. Couches are soft seating in most homes, and those hard edges came as a painful surprise to the children that frequented their home. I'm not even talking about rough housing, but just normal everyday kid movement. The corners were right at kid noggin height, so a quick movement toward mommy or daddy's lap would land them with a big bruise or poked eye. Ouch!

Thank you sena. That helps to see it. The slider wall is wider though with no hanging wall space but it definitely helps so much to see it! What program are you using?What would your thoughts be to have an L shaped arrangement?

You're welcome))

This is the program I'm using. They also have a free trial version.

Here's an L arrangement with measurements.

I think keeping the L (seats+side tables, whatever) around 11'x11' would give you enough room on every side of the GR.

Thank you smm. My first plan had a smaller great room and I knew from our condo I wanted it bigger for visitors. When we were designing it, I'd walk into friend's spaces and take out my tape measure. Thankfully they're all good friends. LOL.

Thank you laughable moments.

Cpartist, you've put so much thought into this home that it's going to be delightful to watch it come together. (You will share progress photos, right?)

Yes I will definitely be sharing progress photos. I'm planning on starting a thread in the building a home forum and once the house is completely finished, I can put a thread here showing it all decked out.

You could try homestyler.com for laying out the furniture, columns, etc. Its a free, easy online program that will do aerial and 3D renderings to help you visualize the space. It won't have a lot of stickley style furniture, but you should be able to find something in the size range for reference.

I will definitely look into homestyler when I get back from my trip to FL.

The couch example is lovely, and is nice for setting a cup of coffee, plate of goodies, or a book on the arm. My one caution is child related, so this may or may not apply based on if you'll have pint sized visitors or not. Our friends had couches like that, and the wooden frames were down right dangerous to the kiddos that would come over. Little ones got hurt on the sharp corners more times than I could count.

My step daughter just got married one month ago and is planning on trying to have a kiddie immediately (she's over 40 already), so that's something to definitely keep in mind. Thank you.

Thank you so much sena.

Now all I need to do is decide which way I like it best. Too many choices. In my condo I was really limited in how I could make it work so it was much easier. LOL.

I think right now I'm leaning towards two sofas in an L shape facing towards the lanai. Then I can get the bench, or two ottomans, or two chairs with backs to the sliders. If I do that, then I'd put the electrical floor outlets on either side of where the couch facing the fireplace would be. I can always move the furniture around still, so it's a question of figuring out where the couch goes along the side and putting the outlet next to it. Of course the outlet can be partly covered by the couch too.

Just a suggestion when you finalize seating, people often prefer a single chair vs sitting on a shared couch. It's nice to have the option of two chairs for such people.

Also, speaking from experience a sectional is great when it's just immediate family but when we have visitors I always feel like it's too close for comfort. I know you aren't leaning toward one but thought I'd throw that out there. Can't wait to see your progress!

Thanks smm. Excellent thoughts about the single chairs. Will definitely have a few for those who don't want to "snuggle up".

No worries about sectionals. I have a personal dislike for them. I know others love them and that's fine, but I just don't see them working in a craftsman house.

Always curious about everything I found a sectional in Mission style. Is that the same thing as craftsman? Anyway here it is.

http://oakonline.com/mission-style/

Yeonassky, that's a modern day version of a mission style sofa. There were very few sectional sofas back in the day. And to be honest, the wood with the shiny finish is all wrong for the style too.

Would you be willing to show a picture?

FP end:

Opposite end:

So you can see how far sofa table is from kitchen:

Our great room is approx 21' x 27'

We had a rather low-back sofa -- sectional, actually -- with low-back chairs that pulled out from the sofa table behind it. People *will* eat in front of a TV; this confines the mess. The 'el' ran in front of a window wall.

Remember: Nobody sits on an ottoman. The center of a 3-cushion sofa is least desired seat. If nobody's going to lie down on it, I'd skip the sofa in favor of chairs or love seats.

Is there a 'reading chair' with good light and a table? Two? Game table?

The problem with love seat is only 1 person will sit on it. No one wants to sit side by side without an arm rest on both sides. Hence the two chairs :)

Thank you Allison. That room is absolutely stunning. And I love the unfitted kitchen.

Thank you chisue.

Remember: Nobody sits on an ottoman.

Good point.

The center of a 3-cushion sofa is least desired seat. If nobody's going to lie down on it, I'd skip the sofa in favor of chairs or love seats.

DH sometimes likes to lie down on it. And sometimes I will lie down too. We both like to sprawl. But I understand your point.

Is there a 'reading chair' with good light and a table? Two? Game table?

No game table. Definitely one of the chairs will be a 'reading chair' and yes I have good reading lights.

In our condo we had a three seat sofa and a 1 1/2 seat loveseat that could actually seat two. Usually my stepdaughter and her fiancé (now husband) chose that seat. Or DH loved lying on it with his legs hanging off the end. The sofa faced the TV and the love seat created the other part of the L so when he was lying with his legs dangling his head was in a perfect line to watch TV. LOL.

A three cushion sofa is great for lying on - and it sounds like you'll be doing that when without guests. My parents had a long sofa, a love seat, and individual chairs. Invariably, the love seat was the last item chosen by company. Maybe the couple's just didn't want to be that close! I've not noticed my friends being reluctant to sit, all three at a time on my current 3-cushion sofa - Each cushion is fairly wide.

Stickley also has some round end tables that look great and would be easier for a toddler to navigate around.

Pls incorporate this into your house somewhere - stickily daybed so we can swoon over it...

And this narrow drop leaf table would be nice between two chairs stickily small drop leaf

I disagree that no one sits on an ottoman, at large gatherings it goes in age order.. the older teens get the ottoman and the younger kids get the floor...

Oooooh nice finds!!

I can see relaxing on the daybed and looking out onto the lanai with breeze catching your face with a nice book or glass of wine!