Small Living Room (front door in the middle)

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

I have a 156”x198” living room that the front door opens up to. (middle townhouse) Is it a good idea for the TV to be on one side and the couch to be on the other? We originally had the couch on the wall facing the window where we put the TV in front of. We also lack a good amount of natural light. We are also thinking of getting a sectional but I fear that the space will look too crowded. Thoughts? ((we are in the process of re-doing our whole living room...disregard the kitchen table, someone is about to pick it up))

Featured Answer

Denita

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

@Rachel Heilig, I think one of the things you can do to work with your center door entry and flanking windows is to change your window treatments to a drape that is more substantial and a color that blends with the wall or white like below. The higher placement helps to visually raise your ceilings.

Having the drapes much wider than the window gives you an area for furniture placement like the green chair and potted plant shows below. It is like adding a soft wall of curtains for your furnishings. Right now, that whole wall appears disjointed because you have the front door and two window openings. This is a way to close the opening without losing the light.

The furniture placement below gives you a good idea of what to do with your space. Just imagine the door below as your front door. Substitute the console and TV for the FP. An area rug pulls the room together. First step IMO is dealing with the curtains to create that soft wall :)

Refreshing Renovation · More Info

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Comments (23)

Laura Hill
4 years ago
Just getting the ball rolling... can you post pics of the rest of the room from different angles?
torreykm
4 years ago
No to the sectional and we could use some more photographs of the space.
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Please post the floor plan to match the pic for sure. This is not a big space and IMO not big enough for 2 seating areas and in the drawng you show a single door but it is a double one. Is this entry used daily or only for guests ? The furniture you show id no to scale you need at least 13 ft to do the TV , sofa and coffee table and allow walkspace behind the sofa . Use graph paper draw the room to scale then use that same scale to cut out furniture and move it around to see what actually fits You need to be able to wak bewtween the sofa and coffee table and between the coffee table and the TV then you need space behind the sofa for the entry . I hate sectionald but maybe the only answer here only you can figure that out unless you post a real to scale drawing. Are there windows in the space for instance and where are the doorways to the rest of the house all those things affect layout of furniture .
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Rachel Scott
4 years ago
Curious to see your solution. I'm in the same boat and didn't realize how hard it would be to figure out. My apartment is probably half the size of this too! Oh man. This photo helped me visualize things a liiiiitle better. Just wanted to share with you too.
rachel_heilig
Original Author
4 years ago
Currently taking off our popcorn ceiling AND we had tint on our windows that we just noticed! So hopefully that will brighten things up a bit! ALSO any help on g16 bulbs for the ceiling fan? Do we need bright white LED??
rachel_heilig
Original Author
4 years ago
!
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
4 years ago
If you're buying new furniture I'd suggest a couch that has material instead of leather, and please no gray, brown or black. Go for straight, classic lines and pretty colors or at least a light beige. Find a large rug (I would go with a timeless Oriental rug that is considered a neutral and will go with any style of furniture) which should be about 12 to 13 feet long for your space. That will give a unified look to the whole room in spite of the splitting tendency of the door. Large pieces of good art, books and plants will enhance your decor and give it warmth and character.
Elle
4 years ago
It's a good idea to put the couch and tv on opposite walls. That way you can use the space in between as a walkwat, instead of requiring two walkways and wasting space. It also never looks good to block a window with the tv.
No sectional. Put a chair facing the couch on either side of the tv. Or a chair to the left of the tv and one at 90° to the couch (facing window, kind of like your armchair is now). Then put a bench under the window closet to the tv. It will be good for taking shoes off and many even have storage underneath.
Elle
4 years ago
For lights... first of all, replace the boob light with something much better- the boob lights make everything look yellow. If you don't NEED the ceiling fan, replace it with an identical light and get a nondescript stand fan for the corner. Wayfair has great prices on light fixtures.
Second get 3000K LED lights for both. They are cool enough to mimic sunlight but not so cool that your living room isn't cozy anymore.
rachel_heilig
Original Author
4 years ago
(Only 1 coat) this is Ultra White from Valspar. Our living room doesn’t get much light so I thought the brighter the better...BUT it might look too cool for me. Should I go for more of a warmer white? It definitely brightens up the space but I like more neutral/wooden/earthy colors to fill up the room. Was I wrong to go for this color? The last photo is at night. Any recommendations are welcome! ALSO: our ceiling is finally rid of popcorn!!!!!
rachel_heilig
Original Author
4 years ago
(First photo is nighttime)
Elle
4 years ago
Your room looks great, particularly your floors, but I do think a warmer white would be more homey. We just went through agony picking an offwhite for our tiny house and settled on BM Cloud Cover. It's perfect because in the daytime it looks clean and bright, but at night it's a little warmer and very cozy. like that it doesn't go too yellow.
Close seconds were BM Dove White and BM Swiss Coffee. You might prefer dove white because it's a bit more gray. Swiss coffee had more color to it- just a bit tan.
rachel_heilig
Original Author
4 years ago
I never thought whites could look so different!!! It’s such a challenge!
Elle
4 years ago
Picking a white proved hundreds of times harder than any "color" for us. But you did pick one of the whitest whites around. Virtually any other white will be warmer just for fact of it having more tint to it. It will still feel nice and bright.

PS ... it's white dove not dove white...
rachel_heilig
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you!! Would it be okay if we just used that as a base color or not??
Elle
4 years ago
What do you mean base coat? Like as a primer? Sure. You can probably get away with only 2 coats of the new white. I always recommend 2 coats for white because weird things happen if you go even the eensiest bit lighter in one spot than another.
rachel_heilig
Original Author
4 years ago
Progress! We still need all new furniture but this is a start!!!!
blubird
4 years ago
It's a cute start, but the woven shades appear to be different colors on my monitor.
rachel_heilig
Original Author
4 years ago
It’s just the photo, same color
HU-256520428
4 years ago
This is so helpful

i Have been look all over for a solution.

i have the small problem
Aisha Nelson
4 years ago
This is so helpful

i have been looking all over for some solutions and ideals

I have the small proble too.

Above comment is me

some how I login two different accounts
Eva Luna
4 years ago
Hi Rachel, did you figure out furniture placement? I have a similar issue to you and wondering how you handled it. Also, do you find yourself lacking some sort of entryway? I live upstate NY and a coat rack is a must. Also struggled with how to add that to the space.
carolanneboyle
2 years ago
I love love love the cheery yellow front door! It makes the room brighter and happy.

I am looking for ideas on how to work around a middle front door as well.