Long narrow great room in our new home - needs an overhaul - help!
Hi everyone,
We've just purchased our first home (yay!). It's a row townhouse so unfortunately has quite a long narrow configuration on the main floor.
The floors are honey oak which i don't love, but we likely won't change them because they are in great condition, and I think we can work with them once we change some things around. The colour of the walls need to be changed - i was thinking a gray perhaps. Thoughts?
The other issue is the width of the room. Near the front of the house where the bay windows are, it's about 9 ft wide. As you move toward the back of the house it widens a little bit to 10 ft 2 inches. The total length until we get to the kitchen is 33.5 ft.
The current owners have used one of the bedrooms on the second floor as a family TV room - we will likely also do this until our little family grows (so far just me, my husband, and our 1 yr old puppy), so we don't *need* a TV in the main floor great room, but if you can think of a way to incorporate it we'd be happy to hear it. The current owners have the room set up so that the living space is near the front, near the bay windows, and the dining room closer to the kitchen. I was thinking of flipping that around because there's an extra foot of width i could use for the living space, and i could probably fit a circular dining table in the front of the house near the windows.
My style is 'contemporary' - i like greys and neutrals with some gold accents. We are really starting from scratch here, so will need to purchase a ton of furniture (our current condo doesn't have space for a dining table, and our current sectional will go into the family room)!
I'm just wondering what my options for the layouts are given the size of the room, as well as the honey oak floors (I'm open to other wall paint ideas, anything to get rid of the orange they currently have).
The photos here are from our listing so include the old owner's furniture. We don't move til January so have some time to really get this right! I definitely want to be careful of over crowding the space.
Also IF there is potential to include a TV anywhere in the great room, where would you put it? Also any tips on updating the kitchen that won't break the bank? It looks a bit dated with the dark counter top and cabinet colours.
Thank so much in advance!
Comments (7)
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Fireplace in long narrow great room
Comments (12)Have you checked out Houzz? There are a bunch of ideabooks you can search through for ideas on furniture placement. I got a lot of ideas of how I wanted to arrange space in our new home from there. https://www.houzz.com/magazine/great-rooms-with-great-viewing-stsetivw-vs~788724-Rooms-With-Great-Viewing https://www.houzz.com/magazine/the-new-smaller-great-room-stsetivw-vs~372809-New--Smaller--Great-Room You can also do a search on "great room" or "open plan" or something similar to pull up photos with large rooms and take a look at how they're used. That might get you thinking about how you want to use the space. I'd be hesitant to decide on the fireplace location until you have a firm plan in place. When I was looking at homes, the fireplace location was a huge consideration as it really affected how I'd be able to arrange the family room, place my TV, etc. How nice to get to decide from scratch where you want it! Another thing I've been doing is mocking up a floor plan of each room on a piece of paper, and then cutting out pieces of furniture to scale. That way I can arrange the furniture in the space and get an idea of how much room it'll take, what will fit, etc. There are online programs that do the same thing, but it's easier for me to do it this way. I can move it around and visualize the scale better. But I think you're already in your home? If so, then I would either arrange your furniture in the space (or if the furniture isn't in the space, mark it out on the floor with sheets, tape, etc). Again, you'll get an idea of scale and see how to best use the space for your needs....See MoreLong and narrow living room, need help picking and arranging furniture
Comments (8)One idea might be to add a very short wall on the left as you enter the living room so the opening to the living room is the same width as the entry ... and, by doing that you could put wall to wall built ins on that end of the living area, with or without a tv, and still create two separate sitting areas. I don't understand the "bar" against the solid wall behind the pantry and refrigerator. If you changed the pantry to a "butler's pantry" with a pass thru window, that would have made more sense. Is your "bar" a cabinet something built in? Have you considered either closing or narrowing the door between dining and living room and/or creating your pass thru bar there with your piano in the adjoining corner adjacent to the fireplace near the dining room wall? https://www.decorpad.com/search/butler-pantry-pass-through...See MoreNeed help with long narrow open concept living room PLEASE!
Comments (9)It's gigantic. I'd be trying like hell to avoid that. I'd use the dining table in the dining room for a combo desk /office. I'd buy more flexibility.......comfortable flexibility. A tv can mount flat to the wall, With an IR repaeater, it needs no console beneath. The cable box can go anywhere. I'd get a nice deep and comfy 84 inch sofa, put a console with lamps behind. Add two super comfy chairs and ottomans. A nice generous, light and open cocktail table. Lie down! watch the tube! Put your feet up! Add a little ottoman for a perch at the cocktail table. People love to sit and reach a snack. Add a low table between the chairs at the fire......open and light. Ten x 14 rug to ground everything. ( dotted line ) Go set yourself up in the dining room, to work, and just clean up when you have guests !! No matter the sprawl, no more than three folks will ever sit on that beast of a sectional : ) Two chairs and a total of three ottoman plus at least two on a sofa............for gatherings gives you seven seats. A smashing piece of art over the fire too....See MoreHelp! LR/DR Overhaul--Need Help w Flooring & Layout
Comments (4)I agree with jck910 on hardwood throughout. The color of your floors and table are very nice. New floors that color would look great with Scandinavian design. Do you have a budget? After flooring, I would look for 2 medium sized couches to start with. You can place them in an L shape or across from each other. Then a coffee table. Do a layout with cutouts on graph paper to check sizes. A nice rug will help bring it all together. Here is a colorful picture for inspiration and one showing some wall storage....See More
decoenthusiaste
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoThe scale of your furniture will be immensely important. Loft/apartment sized pieces will save you a lot of space and heartache. Personally, I would try to use the kitchen as the formal dining space, making use of the long wall for a settee, a trestle table and chairs. A round dining table is going to require 36" of space all around for chairs to scoot out and to navigate around. Taking advantage of the wall and a slim table will make a big difference. Then you'll have all the rest of the space in the front to make two seating areas; one for TV up front where there is a wall for the TV on a credenza, a 3-seat sofa and a chair. The middle area by the stairs would be for cocktails, conversation, reading with a nice pair of chairs, floor lamp and area rug.
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