Living room layout help please!

7 years ago

Hello! My husband and I moved into our new home about a year ago. We are finally in a position to buy new furniture and are looking for some help. Our house kitchen, dining room, and living room are very open to each other and are only divided by a fireplace (the back of which houses the refrigerator and some upper cabinets). Ideally in the future we would either move, or remove the fireplace and replace with a kitchen island with seating. Also considering taking basement railing out and replace with either a half wall or full wall for more storage and options.

Problems we would like to find solutions for:

-walk throughs make it difficult to arrange furniture

-size of room is quite large

-fireplace being across from front door makes it difficult to pick focal point

-no foyer, front door walks right into middle of room

-would like to make it family friendly i.e. good layout and safe for children possible play space

- would like to make it friendly towards entertaining

Drawing should be close to scale, note fireplace is the wall between living room and kitchen, program didn't have that option.

Picture are after painting before moving in.

We currently have the TV and some short bookshelves against basement railing with couch on opposite wall. A rug that goes almost to front door and two chairs in front of windows. We like the openness, however it feels quite far from TV and not really working.

Any thoughts and ideas appreciated!! I will share some options we are considering in comments. Open to all suggestions!

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Comments (5)

turner58800
Original Author
7 years ago
One option considered is dividing the room in half. TV on west wall, and where basement railing currently is, adding a desk or two for office space and future homework stations. Adding a drop station and rug by front door to define the space?

Cons: Doesn't really allow for focus on fireplace. Isn't really good for entertaining.
turner58800
Original Author
7 years ago
Similar to first option...full built-ins on west wall for TV, desk, and storage. Bookshelves against basement railing for storage and height. Still allows path from kitchen/garage to master bedroom or front door.

Cons: Not sure it really defines entry? Couch seemed floating when we attempted last night (we did only move TV and couch though), Husband still thought too far from TV
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justgottabme: Yes! excellent plan! The Tv needs to be in that corner next to the fireplace -- either mounted on the wall or sitting on a console or cabinet. Having a cabinet in that spot would anchor that whole corner. And more excellent ideas above too! Love the idea of bookshelves in each of the corners -- perhaps just try basic Ikea Billy shelving -- or other build-it-yourself shelves (try stores like Targer or Walmart)-- just to see if that plan will work for you? Or look for vintage shelving or bookcases on your local Craigs List! Swivel chairs can be found -- check your local Craigs List! But for now -- once you move the TV -- try placing one sofa facing the fireplace -- and another one facing the window -- forming the classic L-shape.
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Hi Lucy, I'm Poorvi. I've generated a mock-up of your room. I tried my best to keep Serena&Lily in mind while designing the layout for you. I didn't want to block those beautiful large windows, hence gave a floating seating arrangement. Place the couch a walking distance away from the window facing the fireplace. Make sure you have enough space for movement. I have placed two sofas in an L shape and two chairs facing the sofa, thus creating a cozy conversation space. To achieve symmetry I placed two storage units on either side of the fireplace. You could also use low storage consoles to achieve a similar look. Let me know if this was of help to you. I would love to get your feedback.
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laughablemoments
7 years ago
Your second sketch looks like it has potential. How about scooting the couch a little closer to the tv so that you could put a sofa table behind it? If this is the entrance that the family will use all the time, the right sofa table could double as storage for shoes and such, and define the "hallway" to the kitchen. An area rug will also really help ground the arrangement and get rid of the floating feeling that the furniture gave you last night. The bookshelf storage unit along the stairs make sense, but another option would be to put a bench there for folks to sit on while taking their shoes on and off. It depends on what you need most.

Is it imperative to have desk space in this room, or is there another spot in the house where desks could go? I find that my kids' desks collect clutter, and I appreciate them not being in my main living space. One little one of ours is using a secretary desk in our dining room, which is nice because all of her busy little projects can be quickly tucked away. There is no space in her room for a desk right now, so this has been a good work-around.
turner58800 thanked laughablemoments
turner58800
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you for your response! It is not an entrance we use very often at all, just to get mail on Saturdays, if we want to swing on the porch swing, or if we have company over that aren't close friends. Everyone else uses the garage entrance currently.

My only 'concern' with moving the couch forward would be it blocking the fireplace from view of both the couch and the front door area? It really is in a troublesome location. Does it being a focal point of the room even matter?

A desk is not imperative, I just thought it fit nicely in the corner. Do you have other thoughts for that space? Currently children are too young for homework, so it would be used as a charging base for our laptop. But I was thinking towards the future. I would prefer for them to surf the internet out in the open until they are much older. Other locations could be considered though if it doesn't fit/work.
turner58800
Original Author
7 years ago
We currently have a reclining sofa, so if we keep it a console table wouldn't work...but have talked about getting a sectional. Is this what you were thinking?