Just moved in, confused on how to utilize my living room. Ideas?
Hi there!
We just moved into our new condo and trying to figure out how to best setup our living room. What you see in the photos is all the furniture we have now (basically couch, coffee and end tables, and TV). We still need to buy a TV stand / mount and a dining set, but we are stuck on two things:
1) Where to place the TV and position the couches. We have a fireplace in the corner which is nice focal point, but putting the TV on the wall near it (where we have it now, put it on a stand) would block the windows, and I think our 75" TV is too big to put on top of the fireplace. Alternatively, we could wall mount it on the opposite wall (and turn couch the other way), but then it takes away from the fireplace and the longer couch will get close to it. Any ideas, what would you do?
2) We're not sure how to fit in a dining area with our setup, it feels like adding a dining table will make it too cluttered. We haven't purchased a dining set yet - do you have any clever ideas to make it all "flow"?
We're trying to go for a modern / contemporary look and starting fresh so budget is not a huge issue, up for suggestions!
Full living room + end of kitchen counter. TV on left (on the floor now) + fireplace in the corner.
Take 2, showing the current setup
Here's the other wall, thinking of potentially wall mounting TV here and turning the couches:
Comments (14)
jck910
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Trying to redesign my living room.. so confused..
Comments (1)Yes, post a floor plan and tell us something about your furniture. I'm having a bit of a problem visualizing the amount of room you have on each wall. We aren't professional decorators, but we know how to live small. I suspect the TV is the most important factor for you. Living small wasn't going to let me get rid of the big TV either. But I did realize that my 5 year old elephant needed to find another home. I just bought a flat screen and cannot believe how much room there is now. Decided not to wall hang it, but I was able to get rid of the monster TV and furniture that was holding all. In your situation, wall hanging the TV may be a first step in freeing up area space. You could mount the TV on the east wall if the air intake is located floor or ceiling heigth. I know the struggle that comes with the rest of the equipment, if the air intake is on the floor you could use furniture that has legs to hold the equipment, this would allow space below for the air flow. If you have awful carpet and are not going to change it, pull it up along the wall and run the TV cable along the carpet strips to new TV placement. Don't pull carpet too far beyond the strips or you will have a tough time putting carpet back on. Sometimes these strips aren't right next to the wall, so you may be able to nest the cable between the strips and wall. Push carpet back and hammer back on. If carpet runs across a doorway/opening, just feed the wire under. I've done this in an office space, and it worked well without any issues with the carpet for 3 years. Or, buy a large area rug...which would also be a solution to the bad carpet...run cable under the rug and duct tape it to carpet. Area rugs can be placed anywhere in your room and there are tons of options/prices. Laying one at an angle would give you even more length to work with for hiding the cable. Also, try a search on TV decorating. There are a lot of photos available for ideas. Apartment living search might bring up a bunch too....See MoreAdvice please on how to utilize the space in our living room? Or make
Comments (12)I'd center a sofa table under the window, with either some plants or lamps on it, and then push the sofa up against it. With all of those built-ins, you've got ideal toy storage, game storage, blanket storage, more than enough storage, and even better, it is behind doors. Once the couch is pushed back, you can experiment with the chairs, either flanking the fireplace, or flanking the couch. It's hard to tell what exactly will work best from the photos. Are those vertical blinds on the large window? We have a window very similar to that. Our home came with vertical blinds on the picture window that drove me bananas! We replaced the blinds with a single solar shade that rolls up and down with a chain; so much better! Our couch sits up against the window and we can now close the shades without climbing on the couch. (Pictures here.) You could do stationary curtain panels on each side of the windows. I like your paint and trim colors. It looks like you might be gravitating more toward lighter, brighter colors, so you could paint the built-ins white and lighten the space (the wood will be more forgiving of little ones, though...)...See MoreLiving Room/Dining Room/Fireplace design/utilization
Comments (1)Hello Lauren, Marcie here. Yes, this is a challenge. Can you do me a favor and take some more pictures? Please start with your back to the wall that the TV is against and then move around to fireplace to capture your dining room. Please give me the measurements of that space including the area with the shelves on the wall and your dining room. Marcie...See MoreHelp!! Just moved and need help designing my living room!!
Comments (4)Giavanna, I think your best best is to first settle on a look you're going for. Go through Houzz photos (do a search on Open concept living rooms) and create an ideabook of things you like. Do you like modern styles? Traditional styles? It looks like you have kids, so family friendly will likely be important. I think we need a bit more to go on before we can give you good advice....See MoreA B
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
groveraxle
5 years agoWith luck, you can find a media cabinet that is this long and this low. I couldn't find one (I didn't really look, to be honest), so I took two Ikea PS cabinets and stuck them together.
Don't line a bunch of small stuff up on the mantel, ever. Looks like you have art you can hang.
groveraxle
5 years agogroveraxle
5 years agoA B
5 years ago
l pinkmountain
5 years agogroveraxle
5 years agoPinkmountain is right about scale, but it would apply even with a smaller TV. The space over your mantel requires art and/or objects that are in scale with the fireplace and the wall above. A bunch of objects, all the same size, lined up and evenly spaced like little soldiers will NEVER look good.
Here is your TV mounted without a media cabinet. You can do it, but it would be better with a console underneath.
groveraxle
5 years agoSomething like this at 79" could work. If it's too tall, you could take off the legs.
Wade Logan Beallsville 79" TV Stand & Reviews | Wayfair · More Info
Dawn Stout
5 years agoDawn Stout
5 years ago
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