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Home Decorating Design Dilemma living room

Help with how to arrange furniture in this room

6 years ago

I'm attaching a floorpan of our great room. It is open to the kitchen on one side, has huge floor to ceiling windows on one side, a stone wall fireplace with built-ins on one side, and the remaining side has only a half wall and the rest is open which leads into the foyer, dining room, and office. We have been in the house 4 years and have had it set up a certain way but never loved the furniture arrangement. We are now bringing that furniture down into the basement and starting from scratch in the great room. Here's my dilemna. This is our main "family/hangout" area so the TV is an important part of the room. The TV is large (70") and is mounted on that half wall (11' wall). It can ONLY go in this area because of the stone fireplace on the back wall (it's too high to mount it over the fireplace, nor do I want to because I don't want to cover up the gorgeous stone work). I need help arranging furniture that does not cut off the room or make it seem smaller. We currently have a sectional but I feel like it cuts half the room off so it doesn't feel as open to the kitchen, and then the other side of the room seems empty and off balanced.. I'm open to all suggestions. We are fine with getting another sectional, or freestanding couches, chairs, etc., whatever. I just want the room to feel open and spacious, allow us to watch tv comfortably, and also highlights the stone fireplace as the focal point of the room. Bonus for anyone who can draw over the floorpan with furniture placement ideas. Really I just want to see as many different furniture arrangements as possible and to see what others would do with this room given a blank slate. I'm purposely not attaching pictures of the way it is set up now because I want to see what people come up with just based on the layout. Greatly appreciative for any help or opinions!!

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Comments (4)

decoenthusiaste
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Here is a favorite room of mine here on Houzz (pretend the doors on the right are your 11' wall with TV) There are 4 swivel chairs to turn toward TV, and I would use a 3-seat sofa facing the FP with a sofa table behind it to help fill space between sofa and island. If you prefer, the two chairs facing the TV wall could be regular arm chairs while the two on the TV side of the group could swivel.
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sb04 thanked decoenthusiaste
mindshift
6 years ago
If you are going to have a TV in this room please do not put it over the fireplace. When the TV is especially large, the fireplace seems to be the only place large enough to fit the TV. However, consider being in a theater and sitting in the front row. Your neck gets tilted back and the picture is distorted. True, your TV is not a big as a theater screen, but you will still be looking up. Ideally, a TV should be set where (while sitting) your eyes are level with the bottom 1/3 to middle of the screen. Try to fit your TV into one of the built in spaces or put it on the 11' wall.

It's OK to have two focal points in a room. IMO, the eye should wander over a room so that every bit of design is noticed. I would use color and pattern and art to achieve this. I agree with decoenthusiast that chairs make it easier to change the focus from conversation to TV.
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I'm not clear on why you don't like this placement? To me, this looks ideal - kids zone at the end of the room with shelving and baskets for storage, TV on wall by windows with couch facing it. You have a nice set up for ease of conversation and looks warm and inviting.
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We think you are on the right track, your design just needs some tweaking. Here are a few ways in which you can get the look you want. Get rid of the big chair by the window in exchange for something smaller, and put it next to the chair on the left. Change out the TV console for something longer and thinner. Then add some great artwork over the fireplace. Next add thicker window treatments to the windows, and get a longer coffee table. Perhaps when you get a coffee table and the TV console look for something in wood instead of black. Also we recommend taking down the four pictures above the TV. Instead you can hang two vertically on each side of the TV if you want to keep them. Note the set up below? We think this arrangement would work, except flip the chairs to the other side. Layout: Window treatments:
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Hi Nita, For a family room with large openings like this, you might want to consider a circular/organic shaped sofa as a center piece and leave the circulation around it . Because linear sofas are difficult to align with the walls, and they would not be as successful in creating a center place where the family can gather together. Hope this helps!
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I don't have an easy route to a mock-up right now, but I think I'd be thinking about an L of furniture along the left wall and then extending out into the room (whether a sectional or two couches or whatever). That encompasses TV and fireplace, clears both sets of doors, and leaves room for a coffee table and some other options, without impinging on any of the walkways.
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arcy_gw
6 years ago
With out seeing your room set up, I think you are correct a sectional reduces walk ways and sets up a huge barrier in a room. Setting up a room like the inspiration two pic up wastes a lot of space to make sure it doesn't cut off a room. Get new furniture.
sb04
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you for the comments.

decoenthusiaste - That is a gorgeous room!! I like the idea of swivel chairs.

mindshift - I have no plans to put the TV over the fireplace. That was what I wrote about in my original post...the TV is way too large to put over the fireplace, we have a beautiful stone wall which I absolutely will not cover up with a TV, and the custom built mantel is set up too high for optimal viewing. All of those reasons are why I will NOT put the tv over the fireplace. That is my dilemna, the TV must remain mounted on that 11' wall, so I'm trying to figure out how to arrange the furniture for optimal tv viewing but also that allows the room to be open and spacious while the fireplace is still a central point of the room.

arcy_gw I'm not sure which picture you are referencing? You mentioned something about the inspiration pic two up?? Not sure what you mean. And yes, we are getting all new furniture for this room so I have a completely blank slate.

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