Please help me arrange my living/dining area!!!

5 years ago

I need help. I have no design savvy and my living/dining room combo is driving me crazy. I have rearranged the furniture over and over again but it never feels right. A few notes:

I need to squeeze a LOT of functions into this space, but I am convinced it is possible, even though it’s small. Here’s what we need:

- comfy seating for 6

- good tv viewing for 4

- storage for and a place to play games and puzzles

- room for a piano and music stand

- storage and a play area for toys

- bookshelves including a home for rotating library materials

- a place for music, CD player, record player, and storage for cds and records

- mail sorting station

- small home office space for laptop, bill paying, coorespondence

- dining area seating 4, but able to seat 6

- storage for lots of kids craft supplies

- crafting station separate from the dining table

- place for school papers and doing homework

We have to make do with a mismatched selection of ikea and Craigslist furniture for now, but I really want to make the most of it. I can spend a few hundred, and I can potentially trade out some of the pieces for “new” thrift or ikea type pieces. I also want to have an “ideal” arrangement in mind for the future when I can acquire some new pieces.

This is the living room arrangement we’ve been using:

It works ok but I still don’t feel like it’s “right.” It looks like a closed living room in an open space, and the flow from the entrance is odd.

We have never figured out the dining room and don’t have appropriate furniture in it since we can’t decide on an arrangement. Sorry about the junk everywhere. I’m in reorganization mode and moving Everything around.

Heres a very rough drawing of the floor plan:

I’m sans kids for a few hours and plan to spend it moving things around and planning. Any help and ideas greatly appreciated! Many more design dilemmas to come as we try to make this horrid split entry a home!

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My House

5 years ago

https://www.heytherehome.com/create-built-family-room/

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Comments (14)

My House
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Please stop buying cheap furniture that does not give you great storage. Get a quote for built-in wall cabinet /big TV space and save towards that goal.

Reclaim & reorganize the space as an adult space, not a kitchen, kids playroom, or bathroom. Store their toys in a toy cabinet in their room. Get the low storage units out of the space. You need TALL storage. Consider built-in cabinetry for floor to ceiling storage capability. Organize the other rooms to make items fit in their proper spaces.

You have MANY low storage units that don't hold a lot and waste valuable real estate in your square footage. Invest in better storage solutions.

Remove the table and add shelves to that half wall

Buy and install an over the range microwave:

Hang drapes higher & wider than windows to make the windows look bigger

large sectional seating with the longest side against the window wall. Below is a quick pic for size, "like this but no chaise.

Wall mount mail station. You don't need a desk to pay bills. Pay bills once a month at dining table. Store cabinet in garage or closet.... Out of sight https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/606242/Realspace-22-D-4-Drawer-Vertical/?cm_mmc=PLA--Google--File_Cabinets-_-606242&gclid=CjwKCAjw-dXaBRAEEiwAbwCi5gfmuzo7a8OXhg_tvoKy1KZLC8fs_FcqXTp47GsRrsZZR71e_XR8KRoCc9sQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Built-in cabinet wall for tv area

Roll-away closet / garage & under bed /couch storage for craft supplies. The key: put it away!
Elizabeth Boisvert
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks for the response! Some of these solutions will definitely work. I do plan to remove most of the regular toys from the low Ikea units, but I don’t really want to purge the childhood from the space. My kiddos love to craft, and I will not allow that in their rooms because they need supervision, so a good solution for crafting and craft storage and display is a must. Likewise, the games and puzzles are family things, so there has to be room for them. I think a good storage coffee table might work for the puzzles and games. I really like the one you pictured.

My main issue, though, is the basic furniture placement. I can’t even begin to thing about these other storage issues until I can solve the ridiculous puzzle of where to place the seating and tv while still leaving room for other activities. I have moved the couches and tv around and around and it never seems to work because of the limited tv placement options and the multiple room approaches.
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My House
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Mount the TV on the wall (opposite the half wall)

large sectional along half wall & window wall

Buy large floor fan for the corner

You have little kids, Don't spend a ton on a sectional. Buy one knowing you will replace it in 6 years- dark colored .

https://www.ashleyfurniture.com/p/jayceon-3-piece-sectional/APK-64904-R3.html?mrkgcl=1069&product_id=APK-64904-R3&google_pla=true&mrkgcl=1069&mrkgadid=3218719717&product_id=APK-64904-R3&adpos=1o6&creative=166021052321&device=t&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CjwKCAjw-dXaBRAEEiwAbwCi5h99j6faImV4l0fE4wn4YJxJEdWV0pWbYv0SvhnyqFj4doMj5C67bRoCSbAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CK3m_5DztdwCFQgrTwodpqUOcg

I understand kids crafting with supervision, but the "craft item storage" need not be visible in the room at all times.

View ready-made stock storage cabinetry at Home Depot type store. Take your wall measurements with you. Check out their over the range microwaves while you are there. Compare prices with IKEA wall cabinet storage systems.

Make a plan for your home. Have patience.
Elizabeth Boisvert
Original Author
5 years ago
Something like that would be perfect, although I think we would need a larger tv to make it work. It’s a really long viewing distance from wall to wall, which is why we haven’t kept any arrangements like that. Where would you see a piano in that arrangement? On the wall next to the tv? In the corner or toward the dining room? A piano is a must and we have plans to get one in the fall.
Elizabeth Boisvert
Original Author
5 years ago
This is what I settled on for the moment, by the way. I like how the angles make the space partly open to both the entryway and the dining area, and I would replace the Ikea units with a low wide console that would also contain just a few toys. But then I’m left with an empty area by the half wall. That desk in the corner is the stand in for the piano. Or perhaps swapping the piano in where the tv is now and putting a low corner fireplace tv stand on the half wall?
Elizabeth Boisvert
Original Author
5 years ago
My House
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
An upright piano- here against the wall between dining & family area

Remove tthe short storage that's perpendicular to each other

Remove the table/ piano stand-in

Place couches at right angles to each other in the corner (family game tower corner) place game tower in corner where TV was

****Buy biggest TV you can first. ****.

Afterward, determine the width for vertical storage (with or without doors) on both sides of TV

https://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/rooms_ideas/planner_bestauppleva/index.html#S59196694
felizlady
5 years ago
Your only hope is to have everything behind doors or in drawers unless it is currently being used. Pull it out, use it, then put it away. It will take a lot of reminders to train each family member, including adults, to put things away. Because you use your space for so many activities, you have a lot of what appears to be clutter simply because it is visible. If you cannot replace your storage units right now, at least go buy matching deep baskets fit to hold everything in the open shelves. Your family members can pull the basket out and take it to the area where they will use it, and returning the basket to the shelf will be easy. It will give a unified look while containing the stuff. As the kids grow, edit out the things they no longer use. Each person may have his/her own shelf if that works...adults up high, kids down low.
Elizabeth Boisvert
Original Author
5 years ago
Yes, definitely more closed storage will help the clutter issues. The reason we haven’t done that yet is because I’m not satisfied that I have a good vision for the basics. None of the furniture in the dining room is intended to be there. Its just holding stuff while I try to figure out what I really want. The living room functions are mostly in place already, but the dining area needs to somehow incorporate desk/workspace and tidy storage for craft supplies, school stuff, and adult office work.

For the piano: I’m concerned that it will eat a lot of space in that spot leaving a gap that I can’t fill with anything. I’ll artange the furniture as DK Hass suggested above and then take another photo. Sorry about the clutter in the photos. I’m pulling out all sorts of stuff that needs rehoming do it’s in that “worse before it gets better” state.
torreykm
5 years ago
You have lots of great ideas here, but one I disagree with. Do not purchase a sectional for that room.
Elizabeth Boisvert
Original Author
5 years ago
Oh, why do you think no sectional? What would you see instead?

Here is the new living room arrangement:

I’m wondering what to do with the large gap between the couches.

Another question is the huge empty expanse shown in the second photo. With everything I need to squeeze out of these rooms it makes me uncomfortable not to utilize that space.

I stored the games and puzzles in the bench, but would like to replace it with a large square storage table.

Where would be the best place for books? What about the record player, records, CD player, speakers, etc? What size/shape rug? Charging station for devices? Blanket storage? Magazines? Lighting? Those are the things I can think of that will need placement in the living room section of the space.

Thank you all so much, by the way. I am very much not a visual person, but I’m ver sensitive to how my space feels, so having all of your eyes really helps. And thank you for not being judgy about our junky stuff. The house requires our money in other ways right now, so we just have to make do.
PRO
Hebah Designs
5 years ago
1- build cabinets or ent-center (with plenty of storage) on that wall, mount TV.

2- small sectional (with short arm facing TV) and 2 chairs or ottomans

3- Use an square ottoman or a square table with hidden seating, instead of a regular coffee table.

3- Remove EVERYTHING from the dining room, and install a round table with 6 chairs.

4- Turn that Desk/console-table wall into shallow storage wall.

5- Get a bench with storage, instead of the green storage unit

*** try to stay consistent with the white wood
My House
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I like the two couches at right angles. An oval or round table should go on the corner between them. An area rug will expand and ground the space. As in this pic:

Area rugs would ground the family seatimg area from the dining area

Pull the table out and away from the kitchen door

I suggested a sectional because I was thinking of two little kid's cuddling with you while watchIng movies. It's your choice, obviously. Here is a family room loft from the blue model home above