I'm going to side with DH on this one. If you mount the TV on the bathroom wall, then you'd have to put the couch directly opposite it, which would break up the room and make it feel cramped. I might mount the TV on the stair wall with a sectional in the bottom left corner. That corner also has the least natural light, which makes for a better viewing experience, and is farthest from the office to minimize noise issues. You could put a rug with toy shelving in the bottom right and the 2 exercise machines near the bathroom wall (I'm assuming you're referring to ellipticals/bikes rather than multifunction exercise machines that take up a ton of floor space).

There is something nicer about having the TV area tucked into the corner, but it does make us 'display' our exercise equipment which is not so lovely (bike and eliptical). Thanks guys, food for thought!

...wow. ER612, that could work too.

A few more...

Whatever you decide to do, I would, personally, want the toys as far away from the stairs as possible for safety reasons, and tucked into that lower left corner to keep them out of sight when the area gets a bit messy. :-)

Of the layouts proposed by ER, my favorite is in the latest batch of 4 (upper left quadrant), right above my post, except I'd put the toys where the exercise equipment is, and have the exercise stuff by the stairs/bathroom wall. I especially like the symmetry of the TV/furniture arrangement with the windows.

Do you want to be able to watch TV when using the eliptical and bike?

I watch series/netflix, which keeps you wanting to come back to exercise the next day to watch the next episode!

Hey Jay - I like what ER is doing too! Hope that they can help you. :)

I like option #2, and option #3. Interesting because I hadn't thought of option #3.

I think the bottom left nook makes the most sense for a play area. If you had no play area, then I'd use it for tv/couch area.

IMO for a TV, I never want a window over/close to it or else it messes with my eyes and ruins the TV picture. Same thing with a glare, don't want a window behind you to reflect off the TV. That's my ideal opinion, otherwise there's always curtains!

I know what you are saying sprink1es, but in our case I am sure that the TV will be mainly used at night when the windows shouldn't have any impact. After much thought, I think I would rather hide the exercise equipment from view when first coming down the stairs, so that makes #2 the winner for us! We will also have blinds on all the windows, so that we have the option to watch TV comfortably during the day.